QUALITY AND RELEVANCE REFORMS IN THE GENERAL EDUCATION SYSTEM OF ARMENIA

1.        Abstract

The break up of the former Soviet Union inevitably led to the collapse of traditional trading relationships leaving the economy of Armenia in a fragile condition. Subsequent natural disasters, armed conflict with neighbours and a trade and energy embargo compounded the situation. Therefore, at the start of the nation’s education reform programme, the priority was to establish more favourable systems for funding and governing schools. As a result, the first phase of reform focused on structural fundamentals.

This phase saw the successful implementation of decentralization strategies. Most significantly, school boards with significant degrees of autonomy were established in parallel with a more effective per capita funding system.

Whilst ‘quality’ was not addressed directly, the first phase did see the remarkable success of the new Textbook Revolving Fund. Through providing schools with high quality textbooks on a medium-term cost-recovery basis, the dire shortage of textbooks in Armenian schools has been resolved – not just for the immediate future but also in the longer term when new textbooks will be needed for a revised curriculum.

Armenia is now implanting the second phase of its educational reforms wherein raising educational quality is explicitly addressed through:

·          Curriculum reform and establishment of educational standards;

·          Reform of educational assessment systems and practices;

·          The professional development of teachers;

·          The introduction of ICT in schools and across the curriculum.

Outputs thus far are significant. A national curriculum framework has been produced and subject syllabuses are in production. A national assessment centre has been established and is currently being developed - its first task being to pilot a new school graduation/university entrance examination. A substantial teaching training programme has been designed to touch all ‘quality areas’. Some schools have received new computers for ICT teaching and learning and many others are in line to benefit in this way.

However, none of the second phase inputs has yet reached a stage where we are able to see an impact on quality. None of the inputs has ‘gone to scale’, curriculum reforms will, by their nature, be slow to work their way up the system and assessment reforms are still at the pilot stage.

We will be monitoring our progress towards improved quality by which we mean:

·          Improved attitudes towards learning and educational achievement in our classrooms.

·          Improved levels of learner achievement in traditional areas of education.

·          Acquisition of new, relevant competencies (knowledge, skills and values) by learners.

Whilst we have no clear evidence of success against these criteria thus far, we are optimistic that we are traveling in the right direction.

2.        Basic Country Data

Armenia is an ancient country which has emerged through difficult times with strong traditions of education, culture and entrepreneurship

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Location

Armenia is a land-locked country located in the southern part of the Caucuses. It occupies the north-east of the Armenian plateau between the Caucuses and near-Asia. Armenia shares borders with Georgia in the north, Azerbaijan in the east, Iran in the south and with Turkey in the west and south-west. It has land area of 29,743 square kilometers.

Population

Emigration and reduced fertility rates have reduced the population from 3.8 million ten years ago, to about 3.2 million today. 67% of the population is in urban areas whilst 33% is rural. Indeed, almost 35% of the population lives in the capital city, Yerevan. 97% of population are Armenians. Ethnic minorities include Yezeds, Russians, Assyrians, Greeks, Ukrainians and Kurds.

Religion  

Armenia was the first Christian country having adopted Christianity as its state religion in 301. Today, almost all the population remains Christian.

Languages

The state language is Armenian which is one of the Indo-European languages. Russian is also widely spoken.

State and Political System

Armenia is a democratic Presidential Republic. The declaration of state independence was adopted on 23 August, 1991 and a referendum on independence was held on 21 September of 1991. On 21 December of the same year Armenia became a member of the CIS. 

The Administrative-Territorial Structure

Armenia is divided into 11 administrative regions (marzes) including the capital Yerevan, which has the status of a separate marz. There are 929 ‘communities’ in the country - 870 of which are rural. Local self-governance is carried out in the communities.

Major Industries

The major industries in the country are: manufacturing (67 %); production and distribution of electricity and water (2.1%); and mining (10.9%).

Economic Situation

Following the break-up of the former Soviet Union, independent Armenia inherited a distorted, inefficient and obsolete economic system. It was strongly affected by the collapse of the central planning system, the disruption of traditional trading arrangements, and the sudden break of well-established economic ties with other states of the former Soviet Union. Economic and social problems were compounded by the devastation caused by the 1998 earthquake, and by the economic siege resulting from conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The latter resulted in a de facto blockade of Armenia with the disruption of the main transportation and communication routes and a severe and prolonged energy crisis. These conditions precipitated a catastrophic decline in output (an estimated drop of 52% in 1992 and a further 15% in 1993). Hyperinflation accelerated to 900% in the last 2 months of 1993. Whilst other CIS countries suffered significant economic declines during this period, the impact in Armenia was far more serious.

Notwithstanding the above, Armenia has, since 1994, established an effective policy framework and made huge strides in reforming its economy. Since 1994, after years of stagnation, GDP has grown steadily. Since the second half of 2000, the economy has shown accelerating improvement, supported by expansion of exports. During 2001-2004, average growth rate in GDP amounted to 12% - more than twice that registered during 1994-2000 and exceeding those achieved in other CIS countries.

3.        Education Policy

Laws and Government Policy Documents on Education

Armenia is justifiably proud of its history of literacy stretching back over millennia. Education has always been, and remains, a national priority. The school has long been the basis of the nation’s political and cultural survival and the incentive for national progress.

Today, one of Armenia’s key goals is the further development of the education system, improving the quality of teaching and learning, and ensuring that its standards are comparable with those of the international community. This is evident from the laws and decrees issued after independence. Article 35 of the Constitution, adopted in 1995, declares that: all Armenian citizens have the right to education; secondary education in public schools is free; and, every citizen has the right to compete for higher or other professional education.

On 14 April 1999, the National Assembly adopted the ‘Law on Education’, which gave a clear direction to systemic reforms based on constitutional principles. Since that time, amendments have been made in line with changing educational priorities.

The ‘State Program for Education Sector Development: Years 2001–2005’ was approved by the National Assembly in June 2001. Its main goal is to ensure the progressive development of education as this is considered the decisive factor for the consolidation of the state and the socio-economic development of society. An education sector development program setting clear development objectives is to be elaborated every five years.

In May 2004, the Government approved the ‘National Curriculum Framework of General Education’. This is a radically new document both in its nature and content. It consists of:

·          The Goals of Education and the Strategy for Education Reforms;

·          Principles for the Organization of the General Education;

·          The Profile of the Secondary School Graduate;

·          Assessment – Definition of Main Principles and Functions;

·          The Selection of Teaching Technologies and Methods;

·          The Use of Information and Communication Technologies;

·          General Requirements for Teachers.

In May 2004, Government approved the ‘State Standards for Secondary Education’, which define:

·          learning areas and content components of general education;

·          general qualification requirements defined for students by learning area and level of education;

·          basic teaching plan, main principles for design of the subject list, the requirements for development and approval of the exemplary teaching plans;

·          assessment methods, scales, procedure for registration and recording of marks.

Financing of Education System

Clearly the transition period had a negative impact on the financing of the education system. However, in recent years the dynamics of public funding of education have been more positive. The share of education and science sector financing in 2004 was 13.3% of the state budget, or 2.81% of GDP. This is still only about half the world’s average and about twice less than in OECD countries. It should be noted that the state financing of the education sector in 1990 was 7.2% of GDP, but in 1994 it had fallen to just 2% of GDP and 4.5 % of the state budget.  Since 1994, the financing of education sector has steadily increased reflecting the priority status of education. However, finance levels are still significantly lower than those necessary to meet real demand.

General education consumes the largest share of budgetary allocations to the sector since this has been identified as the key public priority in both the MTEF 2004/6 and the MTEF 2005/7.

4.        Structure and Statistical Data on Education

Structure of the Education System

The Armenian education system includes:

·          a complex of different level and orientation education programs and state standards that ensure education continuity,

·          a network of different types of education institutions implementing the above programs,

·          an education management system comprising all institutions and enterprises under the umbrella of the governing agencies.

The education system of Armenia represents a coherent structure of educational programs, institutions and organizations. The main components are; preschool education; general secondary education comprising the primary school, middle (basic) school, and the high school; middle professional (vocational) and higher professional education; post graduate education; institutions for increase of professional and teacher qualifications (retraining/in-service training institutions).

Preschool Education

The main objectives of preschool education, as stated in the Law of Education, are:

•          establishment of basis for the child’s physical, moral and mental development; development of communication skills in mother language and ensuring the capability for studying foreign languages based on the obtained skills of the mother language;

•          development of basic counting skills;

•          development of basic behavioral skills;

•          development of knowledge about the surrounding nature and environment;

•          getting to know the elements of own history and culture;

•          arising the feeling of love and devotion towards the motherland;

•          obtaining primary operation skills and capabilities; preparation for school studies.

The state prescribes the main role in pre-primary education to the family, obliging it to ensure adequate conditions for the child’s comprehensive development and care. To assist the family, the state establishes preschool institutions: day care nurseries (for children from 1 to 3); kindergartens (for children from 3 to 6); or a combination of nursery/kindergarten (for children from 1-6).

Following the formation of the country’s new administrative-territorial system in 1996, in accordance with the Law on Local Self-Governance, preschool institutions were placed under the local, self-governing bodies/communities. However, local self-governance bodies both in managerial, professional and financial terms were not ready to organize the activities of preschool institutions, including adequate implementation of educational, training, organizational, managerial and supervisory functions. As a result, the network of preschool institutions underwent significant changes after its transfer to communities. In many rural communities kindergartens were closed because of decreased social demand and lack of financing.

The preschool education network in 2004 was presented by 682 community-based and 18 departmental kindergartens, with an enrollment of 46,141 children, out of which 23,247 were girls. There are also 17 registered private kindergartens with 714 children enrolled. The net enrollment of 3-6 years old children in preschool institutions in 2004 in average for the country was 25%, and the gross enrollment was 28.4%. 5333 educators worked in the preschool institutions, out of which 44.5% had higher pedagogical education.

The number of preschool institutions has been reduced by 47% (1283 kindergartens in 1991) and enrollment has been reduced by 69 % after independence (143,900 in 1991).

General Secondary Education

The goal of general education is the ‘comprehensive and harmonic development of the mental, moral, physical and social capabilities of the students and formation of due behaviour’.

According to the new National Curriculum Framework for General Education it is planned, from 2006, to transfer to a 12-year system of education. This will be provided in three-level secondary school with the following stages:

·          Primary school – 4 years (1-4 grades);

·          Middle (basic) school – 5 years (5-9 grades);

·          High school (upper secondary) – 3 years (10-12 grades)

Currently secondary (complete) general education is implemented in a three-fold, 11-year system including the following levels:

·          Primary school (grades 1-3),

·          Middle (basic) school (grades 4-9),

·          High (upper secondary) school (grades 10-11).

As of the year 2004 there are 1377 state general schools in Armenia, out of which 18 are primary, 148 are basic (8 years) and 1157 are secondary schools. Those 1157 secondary schools have all levels of education (primary, middle, high) which demonstrates that the policy of having separate primary, basic and high schools is not applied widely in Armenia. Besides, there are 62 just high schools of which 36 schools have the status of a college and 26 are vocational.

The private school system is not well developed. Only 33 private schools are currently functioning with an enrollment of just 3436 students and 581 teaching staff. Private schools do not receive financing from the state budget.

The total number of students enrolled in all types of general schools in 2004 was 501,886. The number of students has decreased by 14% as compared to 1991 (583,797 students). The number of school children is continuing to reduce due to low birth rates and migration. In 2004, the country average of net enrollment indicator in primary school level was 93.6%, in secondary school level – 98%, and in high school level – 85.6%. The country average of gross enrollment indicator for secondary education is 92.7%.

The number of teachers working in schools in 2004 was 46,548 - 83% of them were women.

The number of repeaters in Armenia is very low, mainly because the traditional policy of automatic promotion is preserved. The number of repeaters in all grades in 2004 was just 0.1% of the cohort. The dropout rate is also low – just 0.5% in 2004. The most frequent reasons for dropouts are unwillingness to study by students, family poverty, and disability.

Since January 2005, the official teaching load of teachers has increased from 18 to 22 teaching hours per week. The national teacher:student ratio is currently 1:11 and the administrative staff:student ratio is 1:21. These figures are significantly lower than those in developed countries.

Special General Education

For organizing education of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) there are special institutions (boarding or extended day) that implement general and special education programs. Presently 54 public boarding institutions are operating. The total number of children enrolled in special education institutions in 2004 was 10,585 - 52% of which provided full board.

The number of special education institutions has increased by 14.8% compared to 1991 (47 institutions) and enrollment has increased by 19.6%. Enrollment has risen mainly because more children come from socially vulnerable families. There are no private boarding institutions or other private institutions designed for children with special needs.

More efforts have been made in recent years to educate children with physical and mental disabilities in general schools.

Professional Education

The main professional education programs implemented in Armenia are:

·          preliminary professional education (or preliminary vocational education);

·          middle level professional (vocational) education;

·          higher professional education;

·          post-graduate education.

Professional education programs define the content of professional education for certain levels and ‘directions’, as well as the required knowledge, competencies and skills. They are targeted to the preparation of qualified specialists, development of their capacity and skills, improvement of their knowledge and qualifications, ensuring the principle of continuity of general education and professional education levels.

Before 1990/1, professional education was free. However, since 1992, the professional education institutions have started to implement paid educational programs along with the free. Educational institutions define the size of tuition fee independently. The Ministry of Education and Science and other relevant Ministries jointly define the number of paid education places for each year, based on the capacity of institutions, availability of facilities, teaching staff, educational materials and literature, etc. The admission into the majority of professional educational institutions is performed through competition - students pass entrance examinations.

Preliminary Professional (Or Vocational) Education

The aim of preliminary professional (vocational) education  is to train the students for jobs requiring primary professional qualification, on the basis of basic (9-year) or complete secondary education (11-years). The preliminary professional education is provided in upper secondary vocational schools, technical colleges, educational centers, criminal-executive schools and professional schools of other types. Preliminary professional education can be provided by an individual, if he/she has relevant license for it. The procedures for provision of preliminary professional education by an individual are defined by the Government.

The duration of the preliminary professional education depends on the previous education level of the student (complete secondary or basic) and on the profession chosen by the student. It can vary from 1 to 3 years accordingly. Preliminary professional education is provided in 26 upper secondary vocational schools and in 12 middle professional colleges. Currently about 2700 students are enrolled in these colleges. The primary professional education network has undergone considerable changes since 1991 in terms of specialties. This process is closely linked with the economic changes in the country. The professions related to the spheres of services, trade, and food industry are now prevailing in the list of professions, while the number of students in the industrial or constructional professions has drastically decreased.

There are no private technical colleges or other private institutions for provision of preliminary professional education in the country.   

Middle Level Professional (Vocational) Education  

The aim of middle level professional education is to train specialists with middle professional qualifications and provision of deeper and expanded professional knowledge on the basis of basic or complete secondary education. Middle professional education is provided in middle professional education institutions: vocational colleges. Education in the middle professional education institutions is carried on the basis of basic and complete secondary general education in two ways – full-time and distant. Depending on the level of previous education of the students and the chosen profession the length of education can vary from 1 year and 10 months up to 4 years and 10 months. Specialists are prepared in about 100 different professions in the areas of: humanities, pedagogy, health, economy, arts, technologies, etc. The graduates are granted the qualification of ‘junior specialist’.

In 2004, there were 81 state middle professional education institutions functioning in the country with an enrollment of 28,636 students. In addition, 24 private middle professional education institutions are operating in the country with 2479 students enrolled.

The number of state middle professional education institutions has increased by 25 % and the number of students has reduced by 27, 3% against the level in 1991 (68 institutions and 40600 students). Nearly 4300 teaching staff was teaching in middle professional education institutions. 4% of the total education budget is allocated for the middle professional education. Due to the improvements that took place in middle professional education a new list of professions is approved which includes 257 professions grouped in 28 areas. New procedures for introducing paid education were adopted.

Higher and Post Graduate Professional Education

Higher and postgraduate professional education is provided in three-level system through Bachelor, Certified Specialist and Master Programs. All these programs are provided in state and private education institutions (universities) in full-time and distant education forms. In both state and private institutions there are places for paid and non-paid students.

The post-graduate education comprises candidate (aspirant) and doctorial programs.

The aim of higher education is preparation of highly qualified specialists, as well as satisfying the individual’s professional development requirements based on his/her previous complete secondary and middle level professional education.

16 state universities and 73 private universities are currently functioning in the country. Only of 30 private universities have accredited professions. In 2004, 57305 students were studying in state universities and 22016 in private universities. The number of state universities has increased by 14.2% against the indicator in 1991(14 universities); though the number of students has reduced by 28%. Nearly 34% of students are studying on free basis. By way of comparison, the percentage of paid students in 1991 was only 3% of the total number, while currently it is about 66%.

9 universities of the Republic currently are offering candidate (aspirant) and doctoral postgraduate programs and 3 universities offer master programs. There were 576 master students, 1196 aspirants and 28 doctoral students study on free basis, and 1295 master students and 96 aspirants study on paid basis in 2004. The universities’ teaching staff included 12161 professors and lecturers. 28.3% of the pedagogical staff was women.

The state budget allocation for higher and postgraduate education budget is almost 12% of the total education budget.

5.        Reforms in General Education

Government has started reforms in general education in 1997. Analysis of almost a decade of reforms reveals that they can be provisionally divided into two stages:

1^st stage: 1997-2002

This phase of reforms can be described as a stage of basic structural reforms and the laying of foundations for content reforms. The structural changes of this phase allowed not only maintaining the education system in the difficult years of economic transition but also the creation of necessary structures and pre-requisites for further quality changes. The results become even more important when one takes into account that they were implemented against the backdrop of a resource-poor country suffering from depressing socio-economic conditions which, understandably, reduced the motivation level of implementers and potential beneficiaries.

2^nd stage: 2003 onwards

The second phase of reforms continued the structural reforms of the first phase and deepened content reforms aimed at raising ‘quality’.

1^st Stage – Structural Reforms

Government of Armenia has designed and conducted general education sector structural reforms since 1997 on cost efficiency grounds, as at that period there were no prospects of substantial increase in the state financing of education sector. The general education reforms of the 1^st stage were conducted in the following main directions:

1.        Financial and management reforms of the general education system including:

ü        Gradual decentralization of the system and granting schools status of independent legal entity-autonomous status, aiming at effecting the administrative and financial efficiency of the schools and educational improvement;

ü        Introduction of the new systems of: (i) governance through school management boards; (ii) lump sum financing on per capita basis; (iii) accounting and reporting system for autonomous schools;

ü        Increasing general education systems’ efficiency through its rationalization;

ü        Increasing the management capacity of school administration.

The new system of school management requires the creation of school boards. The school board is a school’s collegial governing body and is elected democratically. It is composed of representatives of the parents’ committee and the teachers’ council, along with representatives and members appointed by respective state supervising authority (Ministry or regional government). The composition of a school board is as follows:

·          in schools with up to 600 pupils: 5 = 2+1+2 (number of board members is 5, including 2 members form teacher council, 1 from parent committee and 2 from local community  authority),

·          in schools with 601 to 1200 pupils: 7 = 2+2+3

·          in schools with 1200 and more pupils: 9 = 3+2+4

The new system of school financing allowed making a transfer from the soviet article based rigid way of financing to lump sum financing calculated by a formula where the amount allocated to the school is proportional to the number of the students in the school (per capita financing). The new way of funding increased school financial and economic independence. It allowed schools to form their own budgets taking into account the community’s educational priorities. It also allowed school funds to be used more efficiently leading to considerable savings.

All schools in Armenia have now transferred to per capita financing and management through school boards.

2.   Increase of community and parent involvement in education

At the local level, schools are the most important source of education policy. School boards comprising teachers, parents, and community representatives, who stand for the interests of the whole school community, became the vehicle for framing and articulating school policy. They became a driving force for a genuine partnership among all the relevant parties. This gives a sense of ownership of decisions and actions for the better education of the children. Community participation in school management also facilitated resource mobilization at the local level for school needs.

3. Development of Private Sector Education

A new system of paid services for non-core curriculum activities only was allowed in public schools. The provision of the free-of-charge state compulsory education for each child was safeguarded. A private school system started its development.

4. Revision of the state curriculum and provision of secondary schools with core textbooks.

The curriculum was revised, freeing it from rigid soviet ideologies and introducing new national content. A competitive system of textbook provision was established. The sustainability of the textbook supply was safeguarded through creation of rental scheme and the Textbook Revolving Fund.

The Progress of the 1^st Stage of Reforms   

All cardinal changes initiated by the Government: decentralization, autonomy, rationalization, etc. were complex processes for Armenia. However, they resulted in a major reorganization of the way the school system functions: i.e. makes policy, generates revenues, spends funds, reports, etc. These were also highly political and social processes and their chances of success or failure have more to do with politics and policy formulation than with technical questions of implementation.

Acknowledging the above, the Government decided to implement the reforms gradually and started with a pilot project in 1998. About 10% of schools (154) of Armenia were included in pilot and were passed to a new lump sum - per pupil funding. 154 schools school management boards were established. Pilot schools were selected from three main geographic areas, which were conditionally called “education zones”. The selection of the education zones was based upon the following core principles:

-          the zones reflect the socio-demographic and geographical peculiarities of the region

-          the number of schools included in pilot from each zone were sufficient for the creation of the rationalization possibilities

-          the zones embrace all schools form  the certain geographic area

-          the zones include  both urban and rural communities

-          the schools included in the zone were of different size, types (primary, secondary, upper secondary) and have different geographic location(isolated, high altitude, border, frontier)

This approach allowed us to look at the consequences of reforms from different angles and in different local circumstances. It also allowed us to be sure that when scaling the project up, everything had been taken into account. 

Another element of pilot project was school rationalization which was the central element of reforms, because of decreasing school population resulting to access number of schools and teachers combined with low level of financing. Concurrently the school rationalization program has been always in the center of hot discussions by all stakeholders and was considered to be a very sensitive issue creating massive social tension.  It has also the biggest resistance in the society, thus it was part of pilot project.

The following two levels of rationalization were defined:

1. The in-school level that suggests:

·          consolidation of sparse classes

·          introduction of multi-grade classes

·          reducing number of the school administrative-support staff

·          reducing number of the teachers

·          increasing work load/teaching hours of the teachers’

·          introducing multidiscipline teaching

2. The inter-school level that suggests:

·          change of the school type (primary, secondary, upper secondary)

·          school consolidation

·          school closures

The pilot project was carried for four years and number of schools included in the pilot has gradually increased. During four years of piloting, a full-size capacity building program was implemented for the pilot schools. Schools received a lot of consultation and guidance by both central and regional authorities. Regular seminars and discussions targeted at the problems arising during implementation were organized. But the most important input was a massive training program for the pilot schools funded through the World Bank credit funds. Each school principal received a two-week training programme on management and leadership, and was provided with detailed instruction on new arrangements and requirements on financing, accounting and accountability. One week’s training was provided to the newly established school board members. School accountants received two months of on-job training by professional accounting and auditing companies. And, finally, three-day seminars were organized with joint participation of school principals, board chairpersons and school accountants to discuss division of roles and responsibilities.

In October 2001 after four years of piloting the Government assessed the pilot stage as successfully completed and decided to pass to the stage of transition of the whole school system to the new ways of operation. The full transition was made in four years and finished in 2005. Each year, 200-250 schools were added to the transition process, which has allowed maintaining the same level of capacity building program for schools during the scaling up period.

Results of the structural reforms of the 1^st phase

It is important to highlight the main results of the structural reforms of the 1^st phase.

·          Most of the decentralization of school management has been successful. There have been initial problems, but no more than could be expected, especially when trying to involve parents and community members in the management of schools for the first time.

·          Most elections of School Boards took place smoothly and transparent. In a quite short time period the Board members learned and started to exercise their new roles and responsibilities. In terms of impact, the more mature Boards had a stronger impact on school decisions and in enhancing community awareness and participation. Also, the Boards in urban areas are stronger and have better interaction with regional and central authorities.

·          Under new circumstances selection and appointing school principals becomes the responsibility of the school board. Useful experience was gained during the first year of pilot first round of appointments of school principals in 1999. Around 90% of boards re-appointed the former principals. However, there was conflict about the appointment and dismissal of the principal in some schools especially rural. Some local leaders tried to exercise patronage, or tried to use the boards to appoint as principals people who might influence local and national elections. Thus in the following years the regulations were revised, to limit the opportunity for interference in the appointment of the principals.

·          A general consensus between all stakeholders was that new system offered the schools much more flexibility and freedom to be innovative and creative both in making financial and institutional choices.

·           It has been observed changed attitude of principals in the schools making transfer to per capita financing system. They became careful about spending, and were keen to make savings sometimes by arguing that the government should provide extra money above the formula for some school expenses. New funding and management mechanism have also increased the sense of responsibility and accountability of the school principals, as well as transparency in using the funds within the school. School became motivated to save and use the saving according to their needs.

·          Feedback received on training provided to the school principals, boards and accountants indicated that the training has helped considerably in building knowledge and consensus on the reforms for school autonomy. Training has been generally well received.

·          In general, schools under new management and financial arrangements enjoy a fair degree of autonomy in making financial and institutional decisions.

·          The linkages between the Boards, principals, parents and community functioned smoothly. More and more decisions are taken by the Boards with inputs from community and parents. In general selection of community members to the school Boards encouraged them to take more personal responsibility on solving school problems and mobilizing additional resources.

·          A positive outcome of the reforms has been increased involvement and interest of the parents in school activities. Teacher-students and teacher-parents relations have also become more open in the schools due to continued interaction between parents, teachers and School Board members. On the other hand, with increased school autonomy schools became more entrepreneurial.

·          The development of the per-pupil funding formula and its introduction was a success story. The formula was adopted and used in 1999/2000, and has been modified for 2000/01 to include the increase in teacher salaries. Additional components were added to the basic formula for some special categories of schools. Its success has encouraged higher education institutions to discuss a possible funding formula of their own.

·          Almost all schools transferred to the lump sum funding based on a formula admitted that the new funding mechanism allowed flexibility and was better than the old system where line budgets were used and savings had to be returned to the Government. The old system was discouraging any effectiveness measures. 

·          The whole accountability system has radically improved in the schools. It should be mentioned that the whole concepts of accountability was completely new for the schools in Armenia. For the first time, schools were requested to prepare financial and progress reports. Officials found that the reports, in general, met the reporting criteria.

The major conclusion on the general education structural reforms was that they have proved to be the right way to go in the difficult transition period for Armenian economy. It was a good beginning for a better education.  

Lessons Learned

The decentralization, lump sum funding of the school and introduction of board management was the right way to go. However, some lessons were learned:

·          Low preparedness, readiness and awareness of the main public (stakeholders) about planned reform in the beginning of the process resulted in little support by main population and slow paste of progress at the initial stage;

·          On all levels of governance fear and disinclination of loosing power resulted in creating artificial difficulties and resistance;

·          Sometimes local elite dominates the Boards to a large extent. Thus the Ministry of Education has tried to put emphasis on more information and awareness on the reforms among all stakeholders to ensure that vested interest groups do not control the School Boards and all society groups participate in the Boards elections.

·          Training and consultation though substantial was not sufficient and should be as much as possible.

Groundwork of content reforms

A good basis for education content reforms was setup in the first phase of reforms. Particularly the subject curricula were revised and made appropriate to the new social-political situation in the country, also publishing and provision of textbooks to all students in Armenia was carried out.

Publication of textbooks in the first stage of reforms was supported by the “Education Financing and Management Reforms” project financed through the World Bank credit. In the framework of the project publication and distribution of core school textbooks was implemented. 112 titles of textbooks and 47 titles of teachers’ manuals completely covering the whole state curriculum were published and distributed to schools all through the years 1997–2002. A textbook rental scheme was introduced in 1997, which has allowed providing of core textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education and Science through rental scheme. Meantime, the “Textbook Revolving Fund” (TRF) was created which ensures collection of textbook rental fees and organizes textbook publication based on the schools’ preorders. Since 2001 publication of textbooks is being carried out by the funds collected by the schools and accumulated in the TRF.

The following achievements of the textbook publication and provision scheme should be specifically highlighted:

·          The textbook shortfall has been eliminated in the country. Each student in Armenia is now provided with her/his own copies of all the core curriculum textbooks. Furthermore, all teachers in Armenia receive free copies of teacher guides for their specific subjects and free copies of their subject textbooks. The vital issue of textbook provision for all schoolchildren and teachers has been resolved.

·          The quality of textbook production in Armenia has greatly increased in comparison to the old soviet textbooks. The new textbooks are colorful, better designed and well printed. They meet internationally accepted publishing and printing standards for school textbooks.

·          A national textbook system has been established and it is improving in financial strength and quality of output year by year. The formation of new textbook authorship groups is an on-going process. Armenian specialists are creating not only textbooks in Armenian language, literature and history, but also textbooks in the natural and social sciences, taking into account national goals and peculiarities.

·          Due to the competitive bidding process for textbook selection state monopoly on textbook publishing has been eliminated and replaced by private sector market oriented publishing.

·          10% of the children who come from socially vulnerable families are provided with free textbooks.

·          Textbook revolving scheme has operated successfully since its inception. As of today the funds accumulated in the TRF accounts comprise 90% of the maximum possible level of return. This return rate is outstanding and is unprecedented in former Soviet countries and practically anywhere else in the world. The funds accumulated have ensured continued textbook provision to schools.   

However the most important achievement of the textbook project was the creation of pre-requisites for further content reforms.

Restructuring of the general education system and changes carried  in the 1^st phase established a sound ground for moving towards more substantial content and efficiency reforms resulting in improved quality of the system. 

6.        The Current Stage of General Education Reforms

The 2^nd stage of the development program, currently being implemented, is closely tied to international trends in educational development, which in their turn are related to moves towards a global, competitive market and a world economy. These require changes in societies – especially towards becoming ‘Knowledge’ or ‘Learning’ societies.

The Government of Armenia acknowledges that in this era of globalization, scientific knowledge and qualified human resources are the strategic factor in ensuring country’s growth and competitiveness. Therefore, the Government accepted that the education system has to be involved in broad-based quality reforms in a comprehensive way.

The education reforms of the 1^st stage are currently enlarged to the content areas of education affecting and touching the heart of education: curriculum, assessment and teacher training. To raise the quality of education and to ensure its relevance to the new economy and emerging knowledge economy needs, reform objectives include:

(i)                   improving National Curriculum and state standards for compulsory education, as well as  introducing internationally comparable assessment and evaluation system thus insuring competitiveness of Armenian education and its consistency with international education dimensions;

(ii)                 integrating communication information technologies into the education process and using them as an effective teaching and learning tool;

(iii)                promoting the professional development of teachers with emphasis on advanced teaching practices;

(iv)                improving still further the efficiency and management of the education system

The current stage of general education reforms is supported by the World Bank funded ‘Education Quality and Relevance Project’. This consists of four main components:

o         Curriculum and Assessment

o         ICT in Education

o         Teachers’ Professional Development

o         Efficiency and Management of the Education System

Of these, the first three are primarily concerned with raising the quality of education. The first addresses what is taught and how student learning is evaluated and recorded. The second promotes the use of ICT in education and, in this way, aims to raise the levels of computer literacy in school graduates. The third aims to raise the capacity of teachers and to support them in their professional work.

Component 1: Developing a new National Curriculum, establishing state educational standards, subject syllabuses and a reformed system of assessment.

The objective of the component is raising the quality of teaching and learning in schools by creating a coherent National Curriculum Framework and modernizing the content of general education in Armenia, as well as introducing a new system of assessment and the quality assurance.

The objectives of the component are:

·          elaborating and introducing in schools new National Curriculum with consideration of transition to the 12-year education and including the following set of documents: (i) Policy Guidelines and Goals of General Education; (ii) State General Education Standards by Levels of Education; (iii) Basic Teaching Plan; (v) Subject Standards and Syllabuses; and (iv) Assessment Goals;

·          ensuring increased knowledge and skills of students, such as logical and creative thinking, decision making, as well as practical skills and competencies relevant to modern labor market;

·          modernizing assessment of learner and of the education process; using internationally accepted modern tools and techniques and applying their results for evidence-based policy making in education; developing new systems of summative and formative assessment.

Substantial progress has been made in the field of curriculum and assessment reforms:

·          National Curriculum Framework (NCF) and State Standards for Secondary (SSSE) Education were developed in 2003, widely discussed in professional setting and public and approved by the Government of Armenia in 2004. Those two documents became a basis for further subject specific developments and ensuring application of new requirements towards 12-year education, ICT, core competencies and skills of students, student centered teaching methodologies, etc in individual subject domains. Based on NCF and SSSE subject standards and syllabuses are developed already for 2 main subject areas: Armenian Language and Literature; Mathematics and Informatics. Development of Natural and Social Science syllabi and standards is on-going. During next year development of syllabuses and standards for Foreign Languages, Arts and Sports will be done. Gradual introduction of the new Curriculum and transition to 12-year education in schools will be done from the 2006 academic year.

·           A new Assessment Policy Paper incorporating principles for both summative and formative assessment is developed and approved by the Government.

·          In 2004 the Government has established an independent Assessment and Testing Center (ATC), which is, in essence, a professional and technical production unit, designing, pre-testing and producing examination tests, as well as a statistical processing and analysis unit to gather and provide national data on the effectiveness of the intended, implemented and attained curriculum. The most important function of the ATC is conducting examinations for school graduation and admission to higher education institutions. The new graduation and entrance examination system will be piloted in one region of Armenia by the end of the 2005. All procedures and documents for the pilot are prepared and approved by the Ministry.  New examination system will be piloted on 4 subjects: Armenian Language, Mathematics, English, and History. New tests are prepared by local specialists and ready for pilot.

·          Works on reforming the assessment system are supported by international technical assistance supplied by Cambridge Education, UK.

·          The British Council in Armenia is assisting the Ministry in designing new tests for English Language at Grade 8.

 Component 2: Introduction of ICT into the general education system with the aim of:

·          incorporating ICT in the learning and teaching process;

·          improving pupils’ learning through the use of ICT;

·          increasing the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of teachers to enhance the delivery of the curriculum and reduce time spent on administration.

ICT helps schoolchildren deepen and enrich the education material, receive information directly matching to their individual needs, apply student self-evaluation and student-centered teaching methods. ICT in education is not so much about doing old things better but about doing new things and extending the learning environment beyond the walls of classroom. The specific objectives of the component are the following:

·          increase the level of ICT literacy among pupils and teachers, enhance their basic technological skills;

·          change essentially teaching of ICT and Informatics in schools;

·          build the necessary infrastructure and provide schools with the required hardware and software for allowing integration of ICT into general education;

·          achieve using of ICT in learning of core subjects as a new effective teaching and learning tool.

Progress of ICT oriented activities was quite considerable. 

·          The new NCF document has set up requirements of the use of ICT as new teaching and learning tool starting from grade 6 of secondary school across most of the subject domains.

·          The works on provision of computer hardware and software are also in progress. So far about 180 schools have received computers and other equipment. About 400 new schools will get computers during spring of 2006. The procurement of this equipment is in process. The target is to supply the school system with the computer equipment in the quantities that the average student/computer ratio increases from 1/135 to 1/40. The computers are provided to schools on long term interest free credit terms. Schools have to pay back the cost of computers in 5 years time. The annual repayments made by the schools are used to purchase more computers for more schools. By the end of the first round of the computer supply the accumulated funds will be used to replace the old ones. Thus the sustainability of the hardware provision to schools will be  ensured.

·          A complete school networking plan was developed. Currently 20% of schools in Armenia are connected to Internet by Project Harmony funded through US State Department. During the forthcoming years more schools will be provided with Internet.

·          New educational software in Armenian is being developed for the teachers to be used during their class activities.

·          A massive teacher training program is being implemented for the school teachers on basic ICT skills and on the use of ICT during the teaching process. In average 10 to 12 teachers from each school are trained. The total number of trained teachers by the end of first 5 year school computerization cycle will be about 40% of all teachers in the country.

Component 3: Enhancing teachers’ professional development.

The main goal of this component is to enhance the quality of teaching and learning processes in schools by improving the pedagogical knowledge and skills of teachers.

The specific objectives of the project are to:

·          ensure understanding and applying by majority of teachers the new National Curriculum,  assessment techniques and ICT;

·          increase the use of active and student centered teaching methods in the classroom;

·          create a cadre of trainers that will become the recourse group for the country in the future training of teachers;

·          create school based teacher professional development system through establishment of school-centers located mostly in the regions far from regional centers;

·          enrich school administrators’ and headmasters’ knowledge and information about reforms;

·          increase co-operation and knowledge exchange in-between schools and teachers.

The role of the teacher is crucial in turning an educational policy into reality in the classroom. The goal of the reforms is educational quality and relevance, and this can be achieved only to the extent that teachers understand the changes that are needed from their current practice and are given the means of bringing about these changes. Thus the teacher training is central in the reform agenda of the Government at this stage. 

·          Training of teachers on new National Curriculum and Assessment system will be provided to almost all teachers in the system through centrally prepared trainers. 50 central and about 500 local trainers will be prepared to train teachers and deliver them basic knowledge on new National Curriculum and Assessment system. Prepared trainers in 3 years will conduct 8-day seminars on new National Curriculum and Assessment.

·          Part of the training courses will be organized by the National Institute of Education (NIE).  The other part of training courses will be conducted in the premises of schools. For that purpose about 60 schools from all regions of Armenia are selected. Selected schools will act as centers (school-center) for conducting training for about 21000 teachers working in the schools nearby to those school-centers. During trainings in school-centers teachers from several neighboring schools, forming one training area, will get together. These seminars will takes place in school classroom and teachers will learn content in the real context.

·          The training in school- centers will also be provided by centrally prepared trainers. The coordination of trainers work and schedules will be done by NIE. The content coordination of all trainings will be also responsibility of NIE. The school-centers will be responsible for logistical support in organization of training courses, particularly for: (i) provision of rooms in appropriate physical condition for training seminars with sufficient furniture and some equipment that will be required during training; (ii) provision of food services in school cafeteria and transportation services to teachers; (iii) inform teachers in respective cluster about the schedules of planned trainings. The school-centers will receive special guidelines on organizational and reporting procedures of trainings conducted in their schools.  

Training on interactive teaching methods

·          Training on interactive teaching methods is already in process and is conducted by 30 trainers prepared centrally by international consultants. The training course on interactive teaching methods has 20 days duration and is provided in two, three-day sessions over a 2 year period.  

ICT training

·          The MoES recognizes that current level of using ICT by teachers as a teaching tool is very low. Thus the policy of the MoES is to increase significantly the use of ICT during teaching and learning process by all possible means. Consequently the project component target part of financing specifically to training of teachers in the use of ICT. The ICT course is composed of two parts: basic computer literacy and use of ICT in subject teaching. 

·          Most of the experience in Armenian education system in this area is built through international organizations and NGOs, private schools and organizations. They have trained about 4 % of teachers in basic computer literacy as well as in use of special educational software and Internet in subject matter. Part of those teachers was trained further in Web design. Experience of these organizations is quite significant. In addition to training provided to teachers they have also prepared training syllabuses, modules, and other training materials based on current state curriculum and syllabuses. Besides, they have also developed training methodology. Thus, the Ministry considers most appropriate training of teachers in basic computer literacy and use of ICT through to be implemented through Training Centers and Organizations specialized in the ICT field, which are selected on competitive basis.

·          The training course for each teacher is lasting 3 weeks, from which 2 weeks are devoted to the basic computer literacy and the last week to the training in subject.

7.        Conclusions

The planned quality changes are ambitious – they are diverse and large-scale. However, they are being are conducted within a very short timeframe. It is recognized that the pressures are great, but delay is not an option. Progress is eagerly awaited by politicians, educational professionals and, most importantly, society in general.

Progress, in terms of impact on ‘quality’, of the current stage of reforms is very difficult to assess. Most of the changes are in their initial stages and have not yet reached critical points. For example, new examinations are not yet in place. A Pilot is imminent, but for schools examination reform is not yet a reality. More time is needed for significant impact to materialize and for it to be detected through systematic evaluation.