1. KEY MANAGEMENT ISSUES OF ARMENIAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
Serob Khachatryan
Yerevan State University
AIPRG Conference, Washington D.C, May 17-18, 2008

2. Changing Role of Government in the Education System
Old Role
New Role
Design education development
Develop and implement curricula
Interfere with all details
4. Provide all educational services
5. Act as the only source of funding
Develop a vision
Manage by outcomes, set criteria, and govern nationwide exams
Monitor outputs by evaluating the system and the learners
Consolidate and coordinate beneficiaries
Act as an important source of funding by facilitating cooperation with local authorities and the private sector.

3. NEW DIMENSIONS OF MANAGEMENT
1. Information as a management tool
The Education Management Information System is operating in Armenia since 1999 and collects valuable information on the formal basic education system. It was created within the framework of the World Bank credit project “Education management and financing reforms”.
But the practice of analyzing information and managing the system based on that analysis is not yet established in Armenia. If the collected information is not used in the decision-making process, then its collection is not helpful.

4. 2. Management of investments
Programs in Armenia financed by international organizations are not always becoming sustainable or serving as inputs. It is only logical that the term most frequently used is “international projects”. As a result, there are cases when programs ensuring significant investments are not continued.

5. Strong Individuals, Weak Institutions
Application
Aim
Individual
Institution
Baseline
Perception

6. From Individual Strengthening to Institutional Strengthening
Application
Aim
Individual
Institution
Baseline
Perception

7. 3. Links between Research, Educational Policy, and Investments
The educational policy in Armenia is formed more on the basis of international experience, rather than on research conducted in the country.
The number of dissertations defended in pedagogy has increased sharply. According to official data from the Higher Education Qualification Commission, 31 pedagogical doctorate dissertations were defended in Armenia in , while the number was 100 in

8. Corruption and Social capital
The structure of schools does not promote cooperation between teachers. A significant number of schools have only one specialist per subject, which limits the possibilities of teachers for interacting with other specialists on the same subject.
Newmann and Wehladge (1995) mention that “If schools want to have better student achievements, they need to establish professional communities, based on objectives acknowledged by everyone, cooperative work and collective responsibility”.

9. Management of outputs
A World Bank report (2005) states: “The struggle to improve the quality of public education has shifted from inputs to outputs.”
Despite the gradual introduction of certain elements of an output-based system in Armenia, the system continues to talk more about investments and other processes and management of outputs is not taking place.

10. Value-added assessment approach1.
High proficiency
Low growth 2.
High growth 3.
Low proficiency 4.
Source: Hershberg, T. (2005)

11. Management of human capital
“The quality of teachers is the most important variable with an impact on the progress of students”. OECD “Teachers matter” report (2005)

12. Management of teacher training
The current system of university admittance exams does not attach priority to the factor of selecting specialization, which means that many students admitted to pedagogical universities did not initially intend to become teachers. In this context, pedagogical universities are institutions exclusively offering pedagogical qualifications.

13. Management of teacher induction
It is not clear how a teacher who is willing to work can find out about vacancies in any school. In effect, only a few people have information on vacancies, which is inherent with corruption risks. On the other hand, the absence of public announcements deprives schools from the possibility to collect a large number of applications and to select the best candidate.

14. Management of novice teachers work
In Armenia the principle of “sink or swim” is applied to novice teachers. Novice teachers basically try to overcome the unavoidable difficulties and obstacles of the initial phase by themselves.