Unicef teachers final_eng_mh

Teachers: a sTUDY ON recrUITMeNT,

DeVeLOPMeNT aND saLarIes

OF Teachers IN arMeNIa

unite for children

International education Policy studies

A STUDY ON RECRUITMENT, DEVELOPMENT ANDSALARIES OF TEACHERS IN ARMENIA

International Education Policy Studies

Raisa Belyavina and Ann WileyTeachers College, Columbia University, New York

Tigran TovmasyanYerevan State Linguistic University, Armenia

Ruben PetrosyanYerevan State University, Armenia

Alvard Poghosyan and Armine Ter-GhevondyanUNICEF Armenia

Contents

List of Acronyms................................................................................................5

List of tables and Figures..................................................................................6

Part 1: Background..........................................................................7

1.1 tHe UnICeF sIX-CoUntRY stUDY...........................................................8

1.2 tHe CoMPosItIon AnD QUALIFICAtIons oF tHe teACHInG FoRCe In ARMenIA.................................................................................9

1.3 tHe teACHeR eDUCAtIon sYsteM & ReCRUItMent Into teACHInG In ARMenIA..........................................................................13

1.4 teACHeR ReCRUItMent Into tHe PRoFessIon................................15

1.5 LIteRAtURe ReVIeW on eXIstInG teACHeR ReseARCH stUDIes In ARMenIA AnD tHe Cee/CIs..............................................18

Part 2: Research design and methods...........................................21

2.1 sAMPLInG DesIGn AnD PRoCeDURe...................................................22

2.2 sAMPLe CHARACteRIstICs....................................................................22

2.3 sUMMARY oF CoLLeCteD DAtA...........................................................25

2.4 DAtA CoLLeCtIon tooLs AnD DAtA AnALYsIs..................................26

2.5 LIMItAtIons oF tHe stUDY...................................................................27

Part 3: Cross-national comparative analysis..................................31

3.1 ten-PLUs-one InDICAtoRs FoR teACHeR sHoRtAGe In ARMenIA.............................................................................................34

3.2 tHe MAIn InDICAtoRs FoR MeAsURInG teACHeR QUALItY In ARMenIA.............................................................................38

3.3 tHe ACtUAL WoRKLoAD oF teACHeRs In ARMenIA..........................48

Part 4: Country-specific issues related to teacher quality.............55

4.1 teACHeR sURPLUs..................................................................................56

4.2 UnQUALIFIeD teACHeRs AnD teACHInG PRoFessIonALs...............58

4.3 teACHeR tRAInInG AnD tHe CLAssRooM..........................................58

Part 5: teacher recruitment, development and retention policies in Armenia ...........................................................61

5.1 CURRent CHALLenGes AnD PoLICIes In ARMenIA: An oVeRVIeW..........................................................................................62

5.2 PoLICY ReCoMMenDAtIons.................................................................63

Appendix A: the Republic of Armenia Law on General education................68

Appendix B: Countrywide vacancies by subject in 2009...............................75

Appendix C: summary data on teacher vacancies by marz............................77

References........................................................................................................78

LIst oF ACRonYMs

AMD Armenian Dram (currency)

ASPU Armenian State Pedagogical University

CEE/CIS Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

EFA Education for All

EQR World Bank Armenia Education Quality and Relevance Project

HEI Higher Education Institution

MoES Ministry of Education and Science

MoF Ministry of Finance and Economy

NCET National Centre of Education Technologies

NIE National Institute of Education

OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

RA Republic of Armenia

SOSAP Staff Optimization and Social Assistance Programme

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

WB World Bank

YSU Yerevan State University

LIst oF tABLes AnD FIGURes

Table 1.1 Number of university students studying to be teachers in state and

private institutions, 2008/2009 ..............................................................................................9

Figure 1.1 Teacher distribution by age group ......................................................................................... 11

Table 1.2 Teachers by age group and location ......................................................................................10

Figure 1.2 Teacher distribution by subjects, 2008/2009 .........................................................................12

Table 1.3 Teacher distribution by subjects, 2008/2009 .........................................................................12

Table 2.1 Number of teacher vacancies and teaching hours by marz .................................................23

Table 2.2 Sample characteristics of the 10 selected schools ................................................................24

Table 2.3 List of interviewees and sample size .....................................................................................25

Table 2.4 Summary of interviews and collected data ...........................................................................26

Table 2.5 Teacher shortage rates: Empirical and official teacher shortage rates ...............................28

Table 2.6 Teacher shortages by subject: Gegharkunik and Lori marzes ..............................................29

Table 3.1 Armenia-specific indicators ....................................................................................................34

Table 3.2 Ten-plus-one indicators for teacher shortage in the

Republic of Armenia .................................................................................................................36

Table 3.3 Professionals without pedagogical degrees working as teachers .......................................38

Table 3.4 Examples of subjects taught by non-specialist teachers......................................................40

Table 3.5 Qualifications and educational background of teachers ......................................................42

Table 3.6 Ageing teacher population in the sample schools ................................................................43

Table 3.7 Breakdown of teaching load by school .................................................................................45

Table 3.8 Highest and lowest stavka loads in ten schools ...................................................................49

Table 3.9 Salary compensation scheme for Armenia ...........................................................................52

Table 4.1 Number of state general education institutions:

Student numbers, 2008/2009…….......................................................................................... 57

PART 1

BACKGROUND

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PARt 1: BACKGRoUnD

1.1 tHe UnICeF sIX-CoUntRY stUDY In 2009, UNICEF Kyrgyzstan commissioned a study on teacher quality and teacher shortage that greatly

resonated in the education policy community in Kyrgyzstan. The study was also presented at the Central

Asian Forum on Education, organized by UNICEF in September 2009. The study identified 11 indicators

for measuring real teacher shortage, including number of teachers, teachers with excessive number of

teaching hours that significantly surpass the normal teaching load, and substitute teachers who teach in

schools in Kyrgyzstan. UNICEF’s Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth

of Independent States (CEE/CIS) encouraged the national UNICEF offices in the region to conduct similar

studies on teacher quality and, where applicable, on teacher shortage in their own countries.

Six UNICEF country offices expressed interest in participating in a comparative study on teacher quality/

shortage in general education:

• Armenia

• Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Kyrgyz Republic (with a focus on early childhood education)

• Republic of Moldova

• The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

• Uzbekistan

These UNICEF offices of the CEE/CIS region have partnered with Teachers College, Columbia University in

New York to conduct this six-country study. Gita Steiner-Khamsi, professor of comparative and interna-

tional education, has supervised the research project and provided advice throughout the various stages of

this collaborative research project. Erin Weeks-Earp, graduate research and teaching assistant at Columbia

University, assisted her.

The researchers of this study are from the six participating countries – mostly UNICEF education officers,

university lecturers and government representatives – as well as from Columbia University. The data was

collaboratively collected in March 2010 and subsequently analysed and interpreted by the country-specific

research teams composed of researchers based in the region as well as in New York. The New York-based

researchers (masters or doctoral students from Columbia University) took the lead in writing up the techni-

cal report.

The research team in Armenia consisted of the following individuals:

• Ruben Petrosyan, Yerevan State University, Armenia

• Alvard Poghosyan and Armine Ter-Ghevondyan, UNICEF Armenia

• Tigran Tovmasyan, Yerevan State Linguistic University, Armenia

• Raisa Belyavina and Ann Wiley, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA

The situation regarding teacher quality/shortage varies considerably across the CEE/CIS region. In some

countries of the region, teacher shortage only exists in rural areas and/or for specific subjects or grade

levels. In a few countries, there is an oversupply of teachers for some subjects and in some districts of the

country. In other counties, however, teacher shortage is ubiquitous, yet masked because of creative cop-

ing strategies at the school level. Many of these coping mechanisms or survival strategies of schools – for

example, redistributing vacant hours to other teachers at a school – have a negative impact on student

learning.

This six-country study attempts to identify regional, as well as country-specific, issues with regard to teach-

er supply, teacher quality and recruitment into teaching (graduates from pedagogical degree programmes

who enter the teaching profession). In addition to collecting data on teacher shortage and teacher quality

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at the school level and gathering statistical information at the district and central level, the research teams

also analysed relevant policies and ‘best practices, not only in the participating countries in the region, but

also in other parts of the world that attempt to enhance teacher attractiveness, development and retention.

1.2 tHe CoMPosItIon AnD QUALIFICAtIons oF tHe teACHInG FoRCe In ARMenIA

Education in Armenia has traditionally been highly valued. The current education system was set up dur-

ing the first Republic of Armenia (1918–1920) and was further developed during the years of the Soviet

Regime (1920–1990). The professional teacher training system, which consisted of higher and secondary

pre-service teacher training institutions, was established in 1920. Today, education remains a national pri-

ority and the Government of Armenia strives to ensure that the education system meets the demands of

the new democratic society established in 1991 and is compatible with international standards. After inde-

pendence, the education system was restored and strengthened with assistance from international donor

agencies through a series of reforms that were initiated by the government. A number of laws and decrees

were issued right after independence to reinforce the sustainability of reform initiatives. In addition, indi-

viduals and organizations introduced private provisions of educational services. As a result, many private

schools and teacher training institutions were founded. Currently, there are six state and number of private

pre-service teacher training institutions in the country. In addition, 27 colleges prepare graduates with the

qualification of pedagogue (MoES, 2010, 14).

Composition of the teacher workforce

There are 42,601 teachers working in 1,475 public schools in Armenia; 84.6 per cent are women and 15.4

per cent are men. In Yerevan in particular, the number of female teachers is significantly higher than the

number of male teachers (90.1 per cent) (NaCET 2009). A decade ago, the government recognized the

feminization of the teacher workforce as one of the challenges in the public education system in Armenia.

According to a government report, “The teacher gender misbalance has several manifestations…[includ-

ing] a school feminization process (85 per cent of teachers are female) in the public education sphere,

which is not guaranteeing a comprehensive preparation of a citizen.” However, in the past 10 years, there

has been no government plan to attract more male teachers into the pedagogical cadre.

table 1.1 number of university students studying to be teachers in state and private institutions, 2008/2009

Region Male Female total Male, % Female, %

Yerevan 1,063 9,728 10,791 9.9 90.1

Aragatsotn 676 2,324 3000 22.5 77.5

Ararat 459 2,790 3249 14.1 85.9

Armavir 578 3,208 3786 15.3 84.7

Gegharkunik 794 3,022 3816 20.8 79.2

Lori 610 3,495 4105 14.9 85.1

Kotayk 551 3,269 3820 14.4 85.6

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shirak 698 3,657 4355 16.0 84.0

syunik 486 2,026 2512 19.4 80.7

Vayotc Dzor 259 789 1048 24.7 75.3

tavush 394 1,725 2119 18.6 81.4

total 6,568 36,033 42,601 15.4 84.6 Source: NaCET, 2009, p. 35

The teacher population by age

In 2004, the National Center for Education Technologies (NaCET) was established as the national agency in

charge of the Education Management Information System (EMIS). Its role is to provide Internet connec-

tions, computer networks and equipment to public schools; create an information communication technol-

ogy (ICT) environment in schools; and enhance teacher knowledge and skills on utilization of information

technology (I.T.). NaCET is also responsible for collecting, analysing and publishing statistical data on

schools. This agency produces the Education in Armenia statistical bulletin, which includes data on teach-

ers, classified by qualification, place of residence and age.

Figure 1.1 shows, with data from NaCET, how teachers are classified into one of four age categories: young

(34 years old or less), middle age (35–49 years of age), senior (50–64 years of age), and pension age (65

years or older). The graph illustrates that most teachers are in the middle age or senior group.

Figure 1.1 teacher distribution by age group

Source: NaCET, 2009

Table 1.2 presents a breakdown of teachers by age group with specific information on age distribution by

marzes (provinces). This data also demonstrates that on the level of marzes, middle- and senior-age teach-

ers make up the bulk of the teaching workforce. It also shows that the number of young teachers entering

the profession is smaller than the number of teachers in the middle-age and senior group who are nearing

retirement.

a. Young teachers

23%

b. Middle age group41%

c. Senior teachers

34%

d. Pension age group

2%

PERCENTAGE OF TEACHERS BY AGE GROUPS

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table 1.2 teachers by age group and location

RegionLes

s th

an

25 y

ears

old

25–2

9

30–3

4

35–3

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40–4

4

45–4

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50–5

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60–6

4

65 a

nd

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tota

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Yerevan 378 720 951 1249 1483 1654 1750 1456 832 318 10,791

Aragatsotn 146 209 367 418 491 476 446 275 138 34 3,000

Ararat 144 224 306 404 420 490 561 477 195 28 3,249

Armavir 186 287 403 494 500 542 580 549 221 24 3,786

Ghegark-

hunik 145 326 503 579 604 525 495 396 195 48 3,816

Lori 253 324 452 468 572 595 672 520 216 33 4,105

Kotayk 208 305 456 498 518 549 595 445 209 37 3,820

shirak 230 430 507 555 604 585 639 522 255 28 4,355

syunik 135 227 252 282 330 337 415 356 160 18 2,512

Vayotc

Dzor 61 80 93 109 163 178 150 136 70 8 1,048

tavush 96 144 230 257 287 297 299 278 166 65 2,119

total 1,982 3,276 4,520 5,313 5,972 6,228 6,602 5,410 2,657 641 42,601

4.7% 7.7% 10.6% 12.5% 14.0% 14.6% 15.5% 12.7% 6.2% 1.5% Source: NaCET, 2009

The official retirement age in Armenia is 64.1 Teachers who are eligible for pensions start to receive their

full retirement pay at this age even if they continue to work. In September 2009, there were 962 pension-

age teachers in both public and private schools, or 2.2 per cent out of the total number of teachers. Of

those pension-age teachers, 45.7 per cent worked in Yerevan. The number of teachers with two years to go

before pension was 880, with 37.8 per cent of them working in Yerevan (NaCET 2009).

Qualification of teaching force in Armenia: Teacher education background

In Armenia, 82.1 per cent of 42,601 total teachers have higher education degrees, and 81.9 per cent (28,613)

of those teachers have a pedagogical qualification degree. Teachers with incomplete higher education

comprise 14.3 per cent of the total, and 72 per cent of those teachers have incomplete pedagogical educa-

tion. The highest number of teachers with incomplete higher education is reported in Gegharkunik marz

at 23 per cent, and the lowest is in Yerevan, at 8.8 per cent. Overall, 67.1 per cent of teachers working in

general education institutions have higher pedagogical education qualification (NaCET 2009, 40). It should

be noted that during the 2007/2008 school year, the reported number of teachers with incomplete higher

education was 893 (Center for Education Projects 2008). This suggests that there is a discrepancy in report-

ing, since in 2008/2009, the same figure was 6,081. In 2010, the number of teachers with incomplete higher

education was reported to be 2,053. In the 2008/2009 school year, there were 1,205 (2.8 per cent) teachers

with vocational education degrees who worked in general education institutions. Of those teachers, 139

graduated from non-licensed tertiary education institutions, and 220 had secondary education diplomas

and no higher education (NaCET 2009, 40).

1 The official retirement age will be 65 starting in 2011, following an amendment to the law adopted in 2010.

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Teachers by subject

Table 1.3 and Figure 1.2 illustrate the number of teachers employed in Armenia by subjects taught. Primary

school teachers constitute the biggest group (14.8 per cent). The smallest group consists of German and

French language teachers (0.8 per cent). There is missing data on social science teachers because history

teachers mainly teach social science subjects. As of now, there are no higher education institutions (HEIs)

in Armenia that provide social studies teachers with such qualifications, and government reported data

includes no information on the number of social science teachers.

Figure 1.2 teacher distribution by subjects, 2008/2009

Source: NCET, 2009.

table 1.3 teacher distribution by subjects, 2008/2009

subjects number of teachers Per cent

Armenian language and literature 5,544 13.0

Russian language and literature 3,838 9.0

Mathematics 4,794 11.3

Physics 2,180 5.1

Chemistry 1,540 3.6

Biology 1,556 3.7

History 2,670 6.3

Geography 1,444 3.4

Music 845 2.0

Physical education/training 2,077 4.9

Art 708 1.7

Preliminary military preparedness 1,309 3.1

english language 2,142 5.0

341347584708

845902

13091444149115401556

1977207721422180

26703838

47945544

6312

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000

German Language

Educator/Tutor

Music

Preliminary Military Prepara�on

Other

Biology

Physical Educa�on

Physics

Russian Language and Literature

Armenian Language and Literature

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French language 347 0.8

German language 341 0.8

technology 1,977 4.6

Armenian church history 902 2.1

Primary school teacher 6,312 14.8

educator 584 1.4

other 1,491 3.5

total 42,601 100.0 Source: NaCET, 2009.

According to the National Curriculum Framework, of the 8,376 annual teaching hours at the basic school

level (grades 1–9), 53.4 per cent of time is dedicated to Armenian language and literature, foreign lan-

guages and mathematics. Armenian language and literature teachers constitute 13 per cent of the teach-

ing force, mathematics teachers account for 11.3 per cent of the teacher population and foreign language

teachers make up 15.6 per cent of all teachers (this count includes Russian language and literature teach-

ers). ‘Secondary subjects’ are subjects that do not have government-standardized exams, including arts

(5.4 per cent of the total academic hours) and technology/arts and crafts (3.9 per cent of the total academic

hours), among others, including social sciences (MoES 2004, 46). In the 10 schools examined in this study,

administrators place greater emphasis on teacher employment in the ‘priority subjects,’ or core subjects

that are state tested. This will be discussed further in section three.

1.3 tHe teACHeR eDUCAtIon sYsteM & ReCRUItMent Into teACHInG In ARMenIA

In 2005, Armenia joined the Bologna process and became a member of the European Higher Education

Area. Since then, HEIs, including pedagogical universities, are introducing a two-cycle degree system

based on a credit system (European Credit Transfer System). Currently, graduates of pedagogical universi-

ties are obtaining bachelor’s degrees after four years of study, and can then apply for two-year master’s

programmes. This shift to the master’s programme model did not require a drastic change from the prior

model of five-year pedagogical programmes, and new qualifications are not obtained by the graduates of

master’s programmes.

University admittance exams

The current system of university admittance exams does not attach priority to selecting a specialization.

Prospective university students can apply for up to six different specializations, and priority is given to

the applicant’s first preference. Students are accepted on a competitive basis into universities based on

their exam scores and their indicated ranking of a given university. Students are not admitted based on

their professional goals and preferences. As a result, many students entering pedagogical universities are

those who initially did not intend to become teachers.

Another cause for concern is that the university admission exam scores required to enter pedagogical

universities are lower compared to other disciplines of study. For example, the minimum admission score

for mathematics in Yerevan State University is 31 out of 60, and for Armenian language it is 48.3. Armenian

State Pedagogical University’s minimum admission scores for teachers of mathematics and Armenian lan-

guage are 29 and 43 respectively2. This discrepancy is apparent for in other subjects as well (MoES 2010).

Pedagogical education also does not attract students who graduated from schools with honours (UNDP

2007). Applicants often have very limited information about specialization options, since universities have

limited informational orientation events for incoming students.

2 These numbers makes a real difference as the rate of competition is usually very high

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Teacher training system

Tertiary education institutions in Armenia offer pedagogical specializations and degrees. There are three

types of pre-service teacher preparation structures: vocational pre-service teacher training, and higher

education with a two-cycle degree system: bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Students who want to become teachers can obtain pedagogical qualification from six state-run higher edu-

cation institutions, 27 vocational educational and training institutions (ranging from one- to four-year col-

leges) and a number of private universities. Currently, 16,367 students are enrolled in pre-service teacher

preparation programmes. Of those students, in the 2009/2010 school year, 3,280 were admitted into uni-

versities. There are 2,342 students enrolled in vocational education institutes pursuing vocational degrees

in teaching. Also in 2009, over 4,200 (3,308 of them female) students graduated from universities and 972

(953 of them female) completed vocational institutions with a teacher qualification (National Statistical

Service 2010, 224, 214).

A vocational pedagogical degree (9 years of secondary education plus 4 years of vocational education, or

11–12 years of secondary education plus 1–2 years of additional education) is offered in pedagogical col-

leges for one to four years of study.3 The programme is four years for those students who have completed

nine years of compulsory general education (9+4). It is two years for those students who completed 11 or

12 years of schooling. Graduates of pedagogical colleges either obtain the qualification of primary school

teacher (grades 1–4) or preschool teacher.

In the past 10 years, the number of students trained in pedagogical specializations has increased signifi-

cantly. This is due to the fact that in addition to state-run public universities, a number of private universi-

ties now also offer teacher qualification programmes. However, the number of students in pedagogical

training programmes is much higher than the number of teachers hired by schools in the same academic

year. As Table 1.2 shows, the number of teachers under the age of 25 year is 1,982, but in 2009, public and

private universities together graduated a total of 4,202 pedagogues/teachers. The supply of recently grad-

uated students qualified to teach is more than double the amount of teachers of the same age range who

are currently employed in public schools. In Armenia, the demand for new teachers is low and most vacant

teaching positions are usually announced for schools in rural or mountainous areas. In such schools, the

teacher shortage issue is addressed through so-called ‘state order’ (a budget student programme) or by

a programme created by a government decree on Procedures for Assigning Pedagogical Staff to Work in

Remote, Mountainous Communities, introduced in 2003. This decree appropriates some allowances (for

example, to cover relocation costs, housing allowance, transportation and utility supplements) for teachers

from other communities to work and live in remote or mountainous areas. In addition, since1996, another

government programme permitted new graduates of pedagogical universities to teach in remote and rural

area schools as an alternative to military service. Due to reported violations, this decree is no longer in

effect.

Pedagogical training institutions

The Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU) is a key player in teacher education. An overwhelming

majority of graduating teachers come from this institution. ASPU has been working to adjust its degrees

and curricula to meet the requirements of the Bologna Declaration. However, traditional structures of sub-

ject-based departments/faculties continue to be applied. Instructional methodologies and programmes

are still far from contemporary educational and scientific developments.

ASPU’s offered curriculum does not correspond to reform initiatives being implemented in the general

education system by the Government of Armenia since 1997. General education reforms, including cur-

3 Colleges in Armenia are similar to the community college model in the United States.

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riculum change, are implemented at a significantly faster rate than reforms in the higher education arena.

This creates a discrepancy in the training of teachers and the subjects they are expected to teach. For

example, subjects such as social studies are not offered in the pedagogical preparation of teachers. Ad-

ditionally, many facilities, laboratories, and libraries are outdated, and many are relics of the Soviet era.

A big emphasis is placed on teaching the content of subjects rather than on the teaching process. For this

reason, approximately 40–60 per cent of the instructional hours in the pedagogical universities are allo-

cated for subject-specific courses. About 14–25 per cent of hours are given to pedagogy and psychology

courses and 12–13 per cent of instructional hours are allocated to courses in humanities and social science

disciplines. In the Department of Preschool and Primary School Pedagogy, pedagogy and psychology

courses make up about 90 per cent of the curriculum (ASPU, 2010). The hours allocated for the practical

school experience are insufficient and do not allow students to develop and practice their teaching skills.

As a result, the gap between pre-service training and actual teaching practices is vast.

Graduates of Yerevan State University (YSU) also receive teacher certification. YSU has a bachelor’s de-

gree programme with qualification of social pedagogue/social worker and a master’s degree programme

in educational management and supervision. In addition, graduates from 17 subject-specific faculties can

obtain teacher certification. However, few graduates of YSU enter the teaching profession after gradu-

ation. Other major institutions graduating students with teaching qualifications include: Gyumri State

Pedagogical Institute, Vanadzor State Pedagogical Institute, Gavar State University and Goris State Univer-

sity. These higher education institutions are located in different marzes throughout Armenia and serve the

needs of students in those regions and the country at-large. Finally, Yerevan State Linguistic University

prepares foreign language teachers in Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek and other

languages.

1.4 teACHeR ReCRUItMent Into tHe PRoFessIonAs of now, Armenia does not have legislation or policies on procedures for recruiting teachers into the

workforce. The state entrusts school principals with the responsibility of recruiting new teachers for their

schools. Marzpetaran (district education offices) collect information on teacher vacancies and occasion-

ally do place teachers; however, the majority of teachers in Armenia are hired directly by schools. Before

the 2009 Law on General Education, teacher vacancies were not announced through media, including

newspapers. This led to widespread corruption, including bribes and payoffs during the teacher recruit-

ment process. Many cases of these practices have been reported in the local media. As of now, the new

education policy requires that once there is a position vacancy in a school, “it must be filled based on a

competition in accordance with the model procedure established by the authorized body of education

state management and the by-laws of the educational institution, except for the cases in which there is a

candidate who acquired on-demand professional education” (see Appendix A). Prior to this legislation,

available teaching positions were publicly announced only by private schools.

Teacher-related regulations and policies in Armenia

Since independence in 1991, Armenia’s education system has undergone extensive reforms. Changes

have included the adoption of a number of laws and procedures, and the creation of several regulatory

documents. The Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) leadership has changed more than 12 times in

the past 19 years, making steady and consistent progress in the system very difficult. The following narra-

tive outlines five major policies, past and present, that most affect teachers in the current education system

and their role in the classroom.

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National Curriculum for General Education, 20044

Policies pertaining to teacher quality are dispersed throughout numerous laws and regulatory documents

created over the past 19 years. Most notably, the National Curriculum for General Education, adopted in

2004, stresses the importance of qualified teachers in the classroom for the successful introduction of re-

forms in the general education system (MoES 2004b).

The Standards Framework document mentions efficient teacher preparation and trainings, regular self-

education and continuous professional development programmes. The document (MoES 2004a) states:

The state will create favourable conditions for the continuous professional development of teachers

through the provision of sustainable and long-term financial support in accordance with the needs of

schools; the state will also introduce a reliable teacher assessment system…The state will allocate financial

resources for the creation of social and physiological services in schools, which will provide professional

counselling and promote the establishment of a morally and physiologically supportive school environ-

ment…The state will also assist in the creation of inter-school, intra-school, regional and national unions

of educators.

• The Standards Framework document also includes information on the skills and

characteristics that teachers should possess after completing professional development

programmes and self-preparation. It includes the following:

1. An ability to plan work, including:

planning the teaching process efficiently, including planning individual courses and specific separate the-

matic units and lessons; b) creating learning and teaching materials independently or with colleagues.

2. The ability to perform the teaching process effectively, including:

the organization and delivery of individual and small group teaching and learning; b) consideration of

the student’s age, physiological and psychological characteristics as a part of both team and individual

performance; c) the ability to introduce modern methods and approaches in order to ensure the improved

understanding of required educational content; d) the creation of a social and psychological environment

that is conducive for learning.

3. The use of assessment as a tool that will encourage the learner and ensure continuous

development.

4. The use of professional and personal reflection, as a means to continuous improvement

of the learning and teaching process, and the constant assessment of personal perfor-

mance in order to revise and improve lesson plans and classroom delivery.

5. The professional development of skills, including:

a) the design of professional, target-oriented surveys, and drawing conclusions in-

dependently and with colleagues; b) planning and implementing personal profes-

sional development.

• The state will allocate financial resources for the creation of social and physiological services

in schools, which will provide professional counselling and promote the establishment of a

morally and physiologically supportive school environment.

However, since 2004, these provisions have been only partially implemented. Our research reveals that

there may be no active unions of educators, no social and psychological services on either the national or

4 The term ‘general education’ is widely used by different stakeholders in Armenia, but the same system is called ‘public education’ in many other countries. For consistency, we use the team ‘general education’, which refers to grades 1–12.

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regional and intra- and interschool levels, and limited professional development opportunities available

for only some teachers.

Law on General Education, 2009

The most recent legislation on general education, the Republic of Armenia Law on General Education, was

adopted in July 2009 and addresses a number of teacher-related issues. The following (see Appendix A,

article 24, paragraph 3) is a provision on filling vacant teaching posts:

• In case of a vacancy for the teacher’s position in an educational institution, it shall be

filled based on a competition in accordance with the model procedure established by

the authorized body of education state management and the by-laws of the educational

institution, except for the cases when there is a candidate who acquired on-demand

professional education.

Although the law calls for establishing a process whereby teacher vacancies are filled based on a competi-

tive process, the legislation does not state a clear and uniform method to accomplish this. Instead, the

process of hiring new teachers is left to the discretion of district office officials and school-level administra-

tors. Our findings reveal that the practice of hiring new teachers is not uniform in the 10 schools in our

study. However, teacher hiring procedures and regulations are currently being developed by the Armenian

Ministry of Education and Science.

The Law on General Education (Republic of Armenia, 2009) includes clauses specifically addressing teach-

er recruitment, teacher professional development, and promotion and certification (Articles 24–27). To

ensure the effective implementation of these requirements, MoES is currently in the process of revising

teacher recruitment regulations and professional development policies. According to Article 27 of the law,

all teachers in Armenia should pass attestation through simple and/or compound procedures. Teachers

who complete simple attestation should receive a recommendation letter from the school at which they

work, a school survey results report, a teacher training certificate, and proof of participation in other pro-

fessional development activities. The teacher training certificate is a document that a teacher will receive

after attending and successfully completing a training that is organized by a MoES-approved institution.

If a teacher chooses to go through attestation with compound procedures, he or she needs to successfully

complete the additional component of teacher training.

World Bank Relevancy Report: Phases one and two

Two major reforms have affected teacher policy since 2003, and both have shaped the teaching profession

in Armenia since that time. The World Bank Armenia Education Quality and Relevance (EQR) Project and

the Staff Optimization and Social Assistance Programme (SOSAP) were created to help offset the effects of

teacher unemployment. The first EQR Project resulted in the layoffs of 7,000 teachers beginning in 2003,

with the goal of reducing the teacher workforce by 15,000 teachers in total. The restructuring plan was an

effort to more effectively manage resources at the ministry level by reducing educational costs. Primarily,

this meant reducing the surplus of teachers that had proliferated due to the decreasing population and

waning economy. Various components of the plan included closing and/or combining schools, introduc-

ing per capita financing, increasing class size and teacher workload, and a 12 per cent increase in teacher

salaries each year (Kuddo, 2009). The programme was completed in 2007 when the teacher population had

been reduced by 7,000, instead of the planned 15,000.

Phase one of the Education Quality and Relevance Project

The Government of Armenia has stated the importance of the teacher’s role in preparing students for effec-

tively participating in society’s spiritual, moral, social, cultural and economic progress in the 21st century:

“Recruiting and retaining good teachers who are appropriately educated and trained is vital to the provi-

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sion of good quality education and for the development of human resources in the country” (Center for

Education Projects 2009).

Phase one of EQR emphasized the role of educational development as a means for achieving growth and

competitiveness in the global markets. Hence, the government broadened and deepened the dimensions

of the educational reforms by changing the focus from general education to all levels of education: public

(preschool and secondary), vocational, higher and post-graduate education. In higher education, the main

beneficiaries of the reforms have been the pedagogical institutions. Curriculum reform has been the main

focus for improvement and has been extensively expanded in the second phase of the Education Quality

and Relevance Project. Currently, a partnership between the MoES and the World Bank creates a frame-

work and action plan for the reform of pedagogical education in the country.

During the first phase of implementation, the Armenian Government identified two main social and policy-

level issues related to teacher quality: the public’s changing views of the teaching profession, and teacher

professional development opportunities that are linked to career and life development. In the last decade,

the responsibility of the latter issue – teacher training and professional development – was transferred

largely to international educational institutions and governmental programmes. However, many of those

programmes were not officially recognized by MoES as appropriate, and therefore did not lead to teacher

certification. It was not until August 2009 that the new Law on Public Education created a legal basis for

teacher professional development by allowing public, private and international entities to provide teacher

certification for participation in professional development programmes.

Phase two of the Education Quality and Relevance Project

Currently underway, phase two of EQR expands on teacher policies established during phase one. To ad-

dress existing issues in teacher professional development, the government has plans to undertake the

following activities: continue teacher education programmes and guidelines; train one fifth of all teachers

each year in order to increase teacher preparedness and knowledge and to secure Ministry of Education

and Science funding; provide diverse and effective in-service training for principals and teachers; create

and utilize a market of professional development training programmes; develop a financing programme to

enable teachers to participate in trainings; and create a school development network (Center for Education

Projects, 2009b).

Phase two and tertiary pedagogical education

Future goals of EQR phase two are to support ASPU and other pedagogical HEIs. The preliminary technical

assistance package consists of a partnership plan with a teacher education institution in Europe or Amer-

ica. The goal of the partnership is to build institutional development capacity in structure and financing,

curriculum development, staff training on teaching and learning methods, and to provide other practical

training opportunities for teachers.

The government is planning an extensive reform of pre-service teacher training systems as outlined by

the EQR Project. While this project will focus on reforming pre-service teacher training in Armenia over-

all, changes are planned to start first at ASPU. ASPU will be the pilot programme and model for all other

pedagogical tertiary programmes.

1.5 LIteRAtURe ReVIeW on eXIstInG teACHeR ReseARCH stUDIes In ARMenIA AnD tHe Cee/CIs

This literature review provides summaries of reports on the education sector in Armenia, with a focus

on teacher quality. We have conducted an extensive search for documents, reports and other texts that

detail teacher characteristics and present relevant indicators for teacher and school quality in Armenia.

Our review of relevant texts includes country-specific reports on Armenia and regional and international

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research that inform the larger educational context. A number of these reports include information on the

education policies in Armenia.

Armenia-specific literature

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, Educational Transformations in Armenia (UNDP,

2006), outlines the transitional state of the education system. The report identifies a need for MoES to

maintain a clear vision and foster transparent communication to support uniform change across the coun-

try. The report notes the need for a ‘Strategic Plan for Education’ that must provide the framework for a

quality education system and address various needs of the school, including facility and material renewal,

increased teacher wages, student retention, and access and equity.

One of the most recent Armenia-specific studies on general education conducted by UNICEF was a School Wastage Study Focusing on Student Absenteeism in Armenia (Hua, 2008). The study was conducted to in-

vestigate the alarming statistics of drop-out rates in Armenia, which in some instances have increased at

average annual rates of 250 per cent. This report provides a substantive and comprehensive overview of

the major recent policy changes in Armenian education, including the extension of schooling from 10 to

12 years and the introduction of per capita financing. Directly relevant to our study are the findings on the

presumed link between drop-out rates and teachers: the perception (by students and/or parents) that the

quality of education has higher opportunity cost than the potential earnings from working. Poor teaching

is ranked third as a reason for student absenteeism. The report calls for more thorough research on teacher

quality, which makes our study of teacher quality and teacher shortage timely new research.

Some of the most important reports relevant for our research are the documents published by the World

Bank (WB), which provide the framework of programme implementation of the first and second phases of

the Education Quality and Relevance Project and the Staff Optimization and Social Assistance Programme.

These reports detail the collaboration between MoES and the WB in implementing major policy reforms,

including the policy to lay off 15,000 teachers between 2003 and 2007 in the first phase of the EQR project,

and the ongoing measures being implemented to improve education quality and the updating of curricu-

lum and pedagogy. In the WB report, Structural education reform: Evidence from a teacher’s displacement programme in Armenia (Kuddo, 2009), the effects of staff optimization are evaluated and the increase in

teacher salaries as a result of optimization is tracked. This report also addresses some key teacher reten-

tion and attraction issues, including salary increases, better working conditions and increased motivation

for teaching.

The Education Quality and Relevance Project – Completion Report (Center for Education Projects 2009a) is a

key policy evaluation document of phase one of the project. The document outlines the five major com-

ponents of phase one of the EQR project that took place from 2003 to 2009. These components include:

developing state standards and curricula that meet the needs of a knowledge-based economy; integrating

information technology into teaching and learning strategies; engaging teachers and improving teacher

development; improving efficacy and management of the general education system; establishing commit-

tees and groups to assist MoES with management of the system. According to the report, all the stated

goals of phase one of EQR have been met or exceeded.

The report on the second phase of the Education Quality and Relevance Project (Center for Education Proj-

ects, 2009b) outlines the reforms that will be undertaken under this five-year project, which commenced

in 2009. Phase two will build upon phase one and is based on three main components: to improve the

quality of general education; the realignment of tertiary education to meet Bologna Agenda standards; to

enhance project management, monitoring and evaluation. According to the report, achieving these goals

entails expanding the high school network system, focusing on early childhood education, and improving

pedagogical education with the goal of improving teacher quality and the education system.

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Literature on CEE/CIS region

There are also key cross-national studies that have aided our research. A study that has most informed

our research was conducted by UNICEF and examines the progress towards meeting the Education for All

(EFA) Goals in the CEE/CIS region. In Education for some more than others: A regional study on education

in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent states (UNICEF, 2007), there is a fo-

cus on the growing economic disparities and an upsurge in inequality in most countries in the region. The

study investigates how the ‘12 Steps’ to meet the EFA goals have been implemented in the region. Many

countries featured in the report have faced ‘reform fatigue’ brought on by unstable economies. Increas-

ingly inequitable economic conditions have exacerbated disparities between the rich and poor, urban and

rural populations and marginalized people. These issues are relevant in Armenia and the report provides

the inter-regional framework for our research.

A working paper published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),

‘Teacher demand and supply: Improving teaching quality and addressing teacher shortages’ (Santiago

2002), states that there is a need for a greater understanding of what real teacher shortage is within a

country-specific context. The paper includes a framework for teacher shortage indicators and outlines

concerns about the current teacher shortage in OECD countries. A prominent indicator of teacher shortage

is the ageing teaching cadre in a number of countries. Since this factor is also significant in Armenia and

the CEE/CIS region, the report is particularly relevant to our study of teacher shortage. The working paper

also underscores that current policies designed to address teacher shortage focus more on supply rather

than demand factors. As will be discussed in the analysis of ten-plus-one indicators of teacher shortage,

the oversupply and limited demand of teachers is the case in Armenia.

The regional overview document (UNESCO, 2007) of education and the major challenges in the educa-

tion sector in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia provides a good overview of

the region and includes comparable education indicators data that is relevant for a cross-national study

of teachers. This report highlights regional achievements in the education sector and also addresses the

major regional challenges faced today, namely early childhood education, education quality and equity

issues. Teacher quality and teacher shortage is also highlighted in the report as a major concern for edu-

cational development in the region. The fastest growing needs in the region include: a need for teacher

training, solving the challenge of a shrinking pedagogical cadre and creating effective policies for teacher

recruitment and retention.

Lastly, our desk review of relevant literature also drew on an academic report by Akiba, et al. (2007), ‘Teach-

er quality, opportunity gap, and national achievement in 46 countries.’ Although this paper is not focused

exclusively on the CEE/CIS region, it provides a global perspective on the importance of teacher quality

and its connection to student outcomes. The report compares performance on the Trends in International

Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) exam across nations. It presents statistics that Armenia has 100

per cent fully certified teachers, which is contrary to other reports. Data is also included on country rank-

ings: Armenia ranks 33rd out of 39 countries for overall teacher quality.

PART 2

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

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PARt 2: ReseARCH DesIGn AnD MetHoDs

2.1 sAMPLInG DesIGn AnD PRoCeDURe

Research background and setting

This study draws heavily on the research and methodology of the original research on teacher quality

and teacher shortage conducted in Kyrgyzstan. It was the intention of this study to follow the research

procedures and sampling design of the Kyrgyzstan study in order to collect comparable data that can be

analysed in the six-country study. For this reason, the Kyrgyzstan study was used as a model for the school

selection procedure, the format of interviews conducted at 10 schools, the documents collected for data

analysis, as well as the review of the ten-plus-one indicators as they apply to teacher quality and teacher

shortages in Armenia. While the research methodology is based on the original study, this research fo-

cuses on the education issues specific to Armenia and the analysis of the ten-plus-one indicators is a com-

prehensive assessment of the coping mechanisms for teacher shortages at the school level.

This research draws on qualitative and quantitative data gathered in 10 schools in two marzes (provinces)

in the Republic of Armenia. The study builds upon prior publications on Armenia, including the report by

the UNDP (2007), Educational transformations in Armenia, and a UNICEF (2007) cross-national study, Edu-

cation for some more than others: A regional study on education in Central and Eastern Europe and the

Commonwealth of Independent States. These studies examine the policy-level reforms in Armenia and in

the region and call for more research on general education. This report on teacher quality and shortage

complements these earlier studies in important ways by providing school-level data and analysis on the

effects of recent education policy changes. As discussed in the literature review, a number of other studies

have provided background information for this research.

The Education Quality and Relevance Project reports for phases one and two detail the ongoing educa-

tion reforms that are enacted in collaboration between MoES and the WB. As part of the effort to improve

education and teacher quality, a staff optimization process was completed, whereby unqualified teachers

were dismissed. Optimization of the teaching workforce was possible because Armenia has few teacher

vacancies at schools and a surplus of professionals with pedagogical degrees, both employed in schools

and in other sectors. In phase one of the Education Quality and Relevance Project, 7,000 teachers who did

not meet qualification standards were laid off. In 2006, one third of the marzes in Armenia reported no

teacher vacancies, and the number of vacancies that are reported today is small. For this reason, our study

of latent teacher shortages, actual teacher qualification and hiring and retention practices at the school

level is particularly relevant for the case of Armenia.

The data was collected over a period of two weeks in March 2010. The size of our research team enabled

us to conduct interviews simultaneously in two marzes. We also conducted a number of school interviews

simultaneously, with the researchers conducting separate interviews with school administrators, teachers,

and students. To encourage maximum participation and openness of interview participants, teacher inter-

views were conducted without administrators present, and student focus groups were facilitated without

the presence of administrators or teachers.

2.2 sAMPLe CHARACteRIstICs

Selection of marzes

We selected Gegharkunik and Lori marzes for our research because they represent average teacher va-

cancy rates reported at the national level. Table 2.1 shows the number of national teacher vacancies as

reported by each marz in Armenia. Gegharkunik and Lori rank third and fourth out of the seven marzes that

reported vacancies and were selected for this reason.

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table 2.1 number of teacher vacancies and teaching hour by marz5

Marz (province) total number of schools

in the marz

number of vacancies number of vacant

teaching hours

Ranking

syunik 123 44 432 1

shirak 123 39 415 2

Gegharkunik 112 25 317 3

Lori 126 13 155 4

Aragatsotn 125 3 39 5

Vayots Dzor 234 1 18 6

Armavir 168 1 7 7

Ararat 171 0 0 N/A

Kotayk 104 0 0 N/A

tavush 51 0 0 N/A

Yerevan 80 Data not available Data not available N/A

total in

Armenia1,417 126 1,383 N/A

Source: Ministry of Education and Science, 2007–20086

In each of the two marzes, we selected three or four geographical districts of schools with maximum varia-

tion in proximity to the marz centre:

Gegharkunik marz: Gavar district, Martuni district, Chambarak district

Lori marz: Vanadzor district, Tashir district, Spitak district, Alaverdi district, Alaverdi district

Selection of schools

The schools selected in Gegharkunik and Lori marzes reflect maximum variation in the type of community

in which they are located (urban, semi-urban or rural), the size of the school based on student enrolment,

and distance from the marz centre. A wide distribution of schools ensures maximum variation of the

sample size and can provide a representation of the challenges in teacher quality and shortages faced by

different types of schools. The selection of these schools was discussed with the Ministry of Education and

Science of Armenia to ensure mutual agreement that the schools represent a varied sample size of schools

in each marz.

For anonymity of the participants in our study, we will refer to the 10 schools as Gegharkunik 1, Gegharkunik

2 and so on, and as Lori 1, Lori 2 and so on. Table 2.2 shows the characteristics of the 10 schools selected

for our research.

5 For a more comprehensive listing of vacancies, including the breakdown by subject, see Appendix B.

6 This data was provided to UNICEF in February 2010. Data shared with UNICEF in May 2010 from NaCET shows different official numbers of teacher vacancies throughout Armenia (see Appendix C).

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table 2.2 sample characteristics of the 10 selected schools

school number

of teach-

ers

number

of ad-

minis-

trators

number

of stu-

dents

Language(s)

of instruction

Distance

to marz

(prov-

ince) cen-

tre (km)

Dis-

tance to

district

centre

(km)

number of

reported

teacher

vacancies

(from inter-

views with

principal/

vice-princi-

pal):

Gegharkunik 1 63 4 781 Armenian 40 0 0





Lori 1 39 3 475 Armenian 0 0 0

Lori 2 34 3 413 Armenian 51 0 0

Lori 3 9 2 45 Armenian 65 10 0

Lori 4 42 3 460 Armenian 33 7 0

Lori 5 16 2 81 Armenian 25 70 0

total 358 29 3,958 424 146 3

Average 35.8 2.9 395.8 42.4 14.6 0.3

Source: Tarifikazia tables obtained from schools and/or district authorities

Selection of informants

We interviewed five officials in various departments at the Ministry of Education and Science and the

head of the marzpetaran in Gegharkunik and Lori marzes. At the school level, we conducted interviews

with all available principals and vice-principals. At 9 of the 10 schools, we were able to interview at least

six teachers, either individually or in pairs; due to time constraints in the interviews at the Lori 5 school,

only four teachers were interviewed there. The teachers were selected randomly based on who was

available for interview; however, it is possible that the administrators in some of the schools advised

which of the available teachers should participate in the interviews. Convenience sampling techniques

were used for the selection of student groups in some schools, depending on which students were on the

school premises during our visit. In several schools, the principals allowed us to select students random-

ly from classrooms. Table 2.3 offers a summary of the interviews conducted in Armenia.

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table 2.3 List of interviewees and sample size

number of

individual

interviews

number of

pair inter-

views

number

of group

interviews

sample size:

individuals

interviewed in

individual, pair

and group inter-

views

Interviews in government offices

Officials from the Ministry of Education

and Science (Yerevan)

5 0 0 5

Officials from the marzpetaran/ province

level (one each from Gegharkunik and Lori

marzes)

2 0 0 2

Subtotal – Government level 7 0 0 7

Interviews in 10 schools

School principals and vice principals 21 3 27

Teachers 26 17 60

Number of student groups 20 99

Subtotal – School level 47 20 20 186

TOTAL Government and school level 54 20 20 193

2.3 sUMMARY oF CoLLeCteD DAtAThe data collected at the 10 schools is summarized in Table 2.4. Principal and vice principal interviews were

conducted to gather information on vacancies at the school, distribution of work hours and subjects taught

by the teachers, as well as the salary scheme at the school. The interviews with teachers revealed the work-

ing conditions at the school and teacher perceptions on the fairness in the distribution of work hours. The

aim of student focus groups was to understand student perceptions on whether there are teacher short-

ages and subjects not being taught at school.

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table 2.4 summary of interviews and collected data

Marz Type of settle-ment

Size of school

(num-ber of stu-

dents)

Number of interviews by informants

(principals, vice principals, teachers, student groups)

Day 1 Gegharkunik city 781 1 principal, 1 vice principal, 6 teachers, 2 student

groups

Lori city 475 1 principal, 6 teachers, 2 student groups


groups

Lori city 413 2 vice principals, 6 teachers, 2 student groups


groups

Lori village 45 1 principal, 1 vice principal, 6 teachers, 2 student

groups

Day 4 Gegharkunik village 86 1 principal, 1 vice principal, 6 teachers, 2 student

groups


groups

Day 5 Gegharkunik village 142 1 principal, 4 teachers, 2 student groups


groups

Data collected

For each school we obtained a tarifikazia table (druyk matyan),7 which lists the school’s teaching and ad-

ministrative staff and their professional characteristics and salary breakdown. In more than half of the

schools, we also collected salary tables for one or two months, which provides the information contained

in the tarifikazia on a monthly basis. We also received Timetables from several schools, which include

monthly teacher attendance data.

2.4 DAtA CoLLeCtIon tooLs AnD DAtA AnALYsIsWe modelled our interview tools on the interview templates that were designed in the original Kyrgyzstan

study. We made a number of changes befitting the context of the education system in Armenia. Sepa-

rate interview questions were designed for the administrator, teacher and student interviews. Questions

covered a range of topics, including subjects taught in the school, the breakdown of teacher salaries, and

attraction and retention practices of teachers at the school level.

Data collection in the schools was divided between two research groups that went to the two marzes. Each

group included one member of UNICEF staff, one local expert/researcher and one graduate student from

7 Throughout this report, we will refer to the document as a tarifikazia table (Russian) and not as a druyk matyan table (Arme-nian) because this is the way the document is referred to in the original Kyrgyzstan study and in other countries participat-ing in this six-country comparative research.

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Teachers College, Columbia University.8 The data collection took place March 16–19, and also on March 24,

2010. Most interviews were conducted with translation from Armenian to English. Some interviews were

conducted without translation in Russian. The principal and vice principal interviews took place in their

respective offices. Teacher interviews were conducted in vacant classrooms, teachers’ lounges, or the of-

fice of the department head, but always without the presence of administrators. All student focus groups

were conducted in unoccupied classrooms.

Two interviews with representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science took place before research

at schools was conducted. This allowed us to become more acquainted with the current policies in the

education system as well as to review our research plans with MoES officials to ensure that they were in

agreement with our data collection methodology and selection of schools. We had two interviews with the

heads of education departments of the two marzpetarans (district offices) during the data collection phase

and were able to obtain additional documents on teacher salaries and information on local and national

education policies and legislation. We also conducted three more interviews with officials from MoES after

data collection in the provinces were carried out. These meetings were held to clarify questions that came

up during the school interviews as well as to procure national-level information about teacher shortages,

hiring practices by MoES, and to discuss future education policies that will be enacted in the coming years.

The data was analysed in two steps. First, we transcribed all the interview notes and wrote detailed summa-

ries of the interviews. Second, we identified the major quantitative and qualitative findings that emerged

in our research and analysed how the ten-plus-one indicators of teacher shortage apply to Armenia.

2.5 LIMItAtIons oF tHe stUDYThe strength of this study is that it draws on the methodology and research of the UNICEF Kyrgyzstan

study, which was well received by the international education policy community. The study in Armenia

draws on the national and cross-national research that has been conducted by UN agencies, other in-

ternational organizations and academics. It adds to the existing research on teacher quality and teacher

shortage in the country, as well as the working conditions and teacher remuneration policies in Armenia.

The mixed quantitative and qualitative research approach of this study provides an abundance of different

data that can be used to inform policy. The in-depth school analysis allows us to understand the working

conditions of teachers and the challenges faced by administrators on the school level.

However, the in-depth case analysis of 10 schools also has its limitations. Since the sample size is small

relative to the total number of schools in each marz (there are 127 schools in Gegharkunik marz and 168

schools in Lori marz), the scope of real teacher shortages for the country at large is difficult to quantify.

However, the similarities of the challenges faced by each school in our sample size suggest that many prob-

lems exist throughout the country and are not specific only to some schools. This will be further explored

in the next two sections on indicators of real teacher shortage.

There is a discrepancy between official teacher shortage rates as reported at the central level, district level

and school level. There is also a difference between reported shortages and the actual number of teacher

vacancies and subjects not being taught at a school level. Table 2.5 presents the comparison between

the teacher shortage rate as reported by principals, projected by us for each marz, and the official teacher

shortage rate in the two marzes as reported by regional education authorities and collected by the National

Statistics Committee.

8 In the final interview in Gegharkunik marz, no UNICEF staff member was present and the interviews were conducted by a local expert/researcher and a graduate student from Teachers College, Columbia University.

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table 2.5 teacher shortage rates: empirical and official teacher shortage rates

Languages

of instruc-

tion

Distance

to prov-

ince cen-

tre (km)

Distance

to district

centre

(km)

number

of teach-

ers

number of

vacancies

reported by

principals

teacher

short-

age rate,

(empirical,

school-

level)

official

teacher

short-

ages (nat.

stats.

Commit-

tee)

Gegharkunik 1 Armenian 40 0 63 0 0





Gegharkunik average

50 10 43.6 0.3 0.6 11 vacan-

cies

Lori 1 Armenian 0 0 39 0 0





Lori average 33 8.4 28 0 0 8 vacan-

cies

Average 41.5 9.2 35.8 0.15 0.3

It is not surprising that some subjects are more popular to teach than others. Based on the 10 schools

examined, Table 2.6 shows the subjects that are most challenging for attracting teachers.

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table 2.6 teacher shortages by subject: Gegharkunik and Lori marzes

Gegharkunik marz Lori marz

number of

vacant hours

number of

teaching loads

needed to fill

vacancy

number of va-

cant hours

number of teach-

ers needed to fill

vacancy

German 14 Less than 1 – –

Math 30 Less than 2 38 Less than 2

Physics 13 Less than 1 48 Less than 3

History 15 Less than 1 13.5 Less than 1

Physical training 66 3 44 2

Geography 17 Less than 1 41 Less than 2

Chemistry/Biology 8 Less than 1 42 Less than 2

French 10 Less than 1 – –

Armenian Language &

Literature

18 Less than 1 53 Less than 3

Law 18 Less than 1 – –

Chemistry 16 Less than 1 – –

Music 6 Less than 1 – –

Russian – – 20 Less than 1

English – – 26 Less than 2

IT/Computer – – 22 1

Technology – – 21.5 Less than 1

Armenian Church His-

tory

– – 22 1

totAL 231 Less than 11 391 Less than 18

Source: Marzpetaran (district level education department)

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According to tarifikazia tables collected in our research, the 10 schools do not have a shortage of teachers.

In fact, the opposite is true: there is an average of 10 more teachers employed per school than necessary if

all teachers were to be assigned one full stavka (teaching workload) of 22 hours. Administrators explained

during our interviews that it is necessary to employ (what appears numerically to be) an excess of teach-

ers in order to cover all subject areas required at school with teachers who are trained to teach in a given

subject. Some subject teachers who are highly specialized (such as physics and military training) often

have smaller workloads within their subject of expertise because of a limited number of students – usually

in upper grades – who take the subject courses. Nevertheless, despite an excess of teachers who do not

have full stavkas, many schools still experience a shortage of subject specialists and classes are frequently

taught by professionals without a pedagogical education or by teachers trained to teach other subjects.

This is the paradox that defines the landscape of primary and secondary education in Armenia and the

cause of hardship, which is commonly accompanied by financial insecurity for the pedagogical cadre.

PART 3

CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

© ????????

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1 PARt 3: CRoss-nAtIonAL CoMPARAtIVe AnALYsIsBackground: The Kyrgyz study

In 2009, Gita Steiner-Khamsi, Ainura Moldokmatova and Gulzhamal Sheripkanova-MacLeod conducted

research on real teacher shortage for the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic and

published their findings in a UNICEF (2009) report, Survival strategies of schools in the Kyrgyz Republic: A school-level analysis of teacher shortage. Based on the global phenomenon of teacher shortage, the report

addresses this foremost barrier to providing high quality education in the Kyrgyz Republic. Some of the

reasons for teacher shortage in the Kyrgyz Republic are also outlined in the 2006 PISA study (UNESCO,

2009). Research concludes that the common practice of redistribution of teaching hours is not a sufficient

solution to the problem, and evidence is provided that schools are unable to provide the full breadth of

the prescribed curriculum because of teacher shortage. In order to distinguish between officially reported

teacher vacancies and what the Kyrgyz report calls ‘real teacher shortage’, Steiner-Khamsi et al. developed

11 indicators to evaluate shortages on a standardized rubric.

In examining the availability of qualified teachers at the school level in Armenia, we based our in-country

evaluation of real teacher shortage on the 11 indicators developed in the 2009 UNICEF report. The 11 indi-

cators by which we evaluate real teacher shortage were developed based on a “simple standard: a high-

quality educational system should have a sufficient supply of qualified teachers.” As defined in the report,

‘no teacher shortage’ means 100 per cent of teachers in schools are qualified to be teaching the subjects

which they teach. Any instances otherwise demonstrate a ‘real teacher shortage’. Table 3.0, reproduced

from the Kyrgyz study, outlines the ten-plus-one indicators of teacher shortage.

table 3.0. eleven or ten-Plus-one Indicators of Real teacher shortage

Indicators Measurement/Examples

1 A. Para -teacher (non

qualified teachers)

Number of profession-

als (without pedagogi-

cal training) who teach

at school

For example, electrician who teaches phys-

ics, accountant who teaches maths, etc.,

(professionals without pedagogical training)

2 Number of pedagogical

specialists who teach

subjects for which they

were not trained.

For example, Kyrgyz language and literature

teacher (with a pedagogical specialist de-

gree) who teaches biology or subjects other

than Kyrgyz language and literature

3 Number of University

students who teach at

school

This includes both part time correspon-

dence students (zaochnik) as well as full

time university students (ozchnik) who teach

at school

4 B. Qualified teacher Number of teachers at

retirement age

Teachers who continue to teach or are

brought back to the school to fill vacancies;

the retirement age is 63 years for men and

58 years for women

5 Number of teachers

hired from another

school

To circumvent the regulation on the maxi-

mum teaching load (24-27 hours per school),

teachers are hired from another school to

teach at the school. At times these teach-

ers are also hired because the school lacks

teachers with the needed qualifications.

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teaching at the same

school with more than

24/27 teaching hours/

week

Schools need to request permission from

the District Education Department if their

teachers teach more than 1,5 teaching loads.

Some districts officially lifted the ceiling for

the maximum amount of teaching hours

from 1,5 to 2 teaching loads (stavka).


who do not split the

class into groups de-

spite the entitlement to

do so

In a few subjects (foreign language courses.

It. Etc.) schools are permitted to split the

class into two groups to allow for more

effective learning. Schools with teacher

shortage typically do not split the classes

in groups to avoid an increase of teacher

shortage.

8 C. Mismatch between

what si taught on paper

and what is taught in

practice

Number of teachers

with prolonged absenc-

es or absenteeism

The absences can be seasonal or perma-

nent and can be related to other non-school

related economic activities/work (harvest-

ing, trade, etc.)or other school-related

obligations (e.g. principals or duty-principals

in charge of teaching classes, but because

of other obligations neglect their teaching

commitment).


who teach for a shorter

duration than officially

prescribed

The duration of the instructional hours

is shortened regularly to save on human

resources (that is lacking). The reduction in

instructional time applies both to lessons (

35 minutes instead of 45 minutes) as well as

to the school year (shorter school year than

prescribed)

10 Number of teachers that

are listed in the lesson

plan without holding

the actual lessons

This indicator includes teachers that are

kept on the payroll but who have recently or

a long time ago quit the job and moved to

another location.

11 Cancelled subjects and

lessons

Measures those subjects that were reported

as having a vacancy ( or lessons within a

subject that had a vacancy) that were not

taught in the past school year

Source: UNICEF 2009

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1 3.1 ten-PLUs-one InDICAtoRs FoR teACHeR sHoRtAGe In ARMenIA

Armenia-specific indicators

Like Kyrgyzstan, Armenia is a post-Soviet state that inherited the same Soviet-style education system. Yet

in the years since independence, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia have followed different trajectories in develop-

ing education policies, and the countries have been affected by distinct socio-political realities that also

affected the course of the education sector. Due to these factors, the reasons for teacher shortage vary

widely between Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, although indicators for teacher shortage are found in both coun-

tries. Table 3.1 shows that all 11 indicators identified in the Kyrgyz study are applicable to Armenia.

table 3.1 Armenia-specific indicators

Indicators Applicable to Armenia

1. Professionals who teach or teachers with no pedagogical training √

2. Number of pedagogical specialists who teach subjects for which they were not trained (redistribution of hours/additional hours)

√

3. Number of university students who teach at school (predominantly ‘correspondence students’)

√

4. Number of teachers at retirement age (64 years old or older) √

5. Teachers teaching at more than one school, teaching as a second job to earn supplemental income, or working a second job other than teaching to earn additional income.

√

6. Number of teachers with more than 22 teaching hours per week √

7. Number of teachers who do not split the class into groups despite being entitled to do so (based on maximum number of students al-lowed per class)

√

8. Number of teachers with prolonged absences √

9. Number of teachers who teach for a shorter duration than officially required

√

10. Teachers recorded in tarifikazia table who are not teaching or

Number of teachers who are listed in the lesson plan without holding the actual lessons

√

11. Cancelled subjects and lessons √

A detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data collected in Armenia reveals a hierarchy of ap-

plicable indicators, ranging from most relevant to not directly relevant. The relevance of an indicator is

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1determined by the number of sample schools in which the survival strategy was utilized, and how com-

monly it was used as a coping mechanism. In the schools we visited, the most prominent coping strategy

employed by schools is the redistribution of teaching hours. In each of the 10 schools in our research sample,

pedagogically trained teachers were assigned to teach subjects for which they are not trained. In addi-

tion, every school in our sample coped with teacher shortage by enlisting professionals to teach subjects

considered compatible with their professional degrees. In 9 of 10 schools, at least one teacher was listed

on the official tarifikazia table as teaching more than 22 hours, which is more than a full stavka. In 8 of 10

schools, university students (predominantly those enrolled in correspondence programmes) were teach-

ing classes while working toward certification. We also identified retirement-age teachers, 64 years old

and older, working in six schools in our sample. All the schools also had a growing ageing population of

teachers – that is, teachers who will be of retirement age in the coming decade. It is a growing concern that

the number of teachers who will be reaching retirement age in the next 10 years far exceeds the number

of young teachers who are recruited and retained in the system. Due to the fact that most teachers do not

have full stavkas, many are forced to take on other jobs if they can find them.

Less relevant coping strategies include teachers who did not split a single class into two groups despite

having 35 students or more. We identified this indicator in at least two of the 10 schools.9 Additionally, in

the case of Armenia, we consider the practice of hiring teachers from other schools and cancelling subjects

and classes least relevant, since these indicators were identified in 2 of 10 schools. Thus, they cannot be

considered representative of the research sample.

The 11 indicators as they pertain to Armenia are summarized in Table 3.2, and are elaborated in the section

following. Indicators that are most applicable to Armenia are discussed first, followed by an overview of

indicators that are not as pertinent. Section 4 addresses the Armenia-specific issues related to teacher

quality and teacher shortage, and discusses country-specific coping strategies that are unique to Armenia.

9 Although data collected during our research is limited in demonstrating the full scope of this indicator, it is likely that this coping strategy is commonly employed, particularly in the large city schools in Armenia.

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1 table 3.2 ten-plus-one indicators for teacher shortage in the Republic of Armenia

Indicators Measurement examples in Armenia

1A

. N

on

-qu

alifi

ed t

each

ers

Number of profes-sionals without peda-gogical training who teach at a school

In each of the 10 schools in our sample, professionals were working as teachers.

2

Number of pedagogi-cal specialists who teach subjects for which they were not trained

This was the most prominent indicator in our study. Subjects most commonly covered by other teachers are social studies, music, design and technology.

3Number of university students who teach at a school

This happened in two ways: 1. teachers pursuing their first university degree; 2. teachers with professional degrees ‘up-dating’ to pedagogical certification.

4

B.

Qu

alifi

ed t

each

ers

Number of teachers at retirement age

Several teachers chose to remain employed after reaching retirement age and collected a pension in addition to their teacher salary. A significant percentage of teachers will be reaching retirement age in the next decade.

5Number of teachers hired from another school

Very few instances; however, many teachers have other jobs outside of their pedagogical duties.

6

Number of teachers teaching at the same school with more than 22 teaching hours per week (one stavka in Armenia)

A full stavka/teaching load is 22 hours. There is a significant number of teachers teaching 23–25 hours or more. Armenian language and literature, math and physical training teachers often carry the highest teaching loads.

7

Number of teachers who do not split the class into groups despite being entitled to do so

By official policy, classes should be split for the following sub-jects if there are 35 or more students: foreign languages, I.T. (computer class), technology (arts & crafts class).

8

C.

Mis

mat

ch b

etw

een

wh

at is

tau

gh

t o

n

pap

er a

nd

wh

at is

tau

gh

t in

pra

ctic

e

Number of teach-ers with prolonged absences or absen-teeism

Very few instances

9

Number of teach-ers who teach for a shorter duration than officially required

Very few instances

10

Number of teachers that are listed in the tarifikazia without holding the actual lessons

Very few instances

11Cancelled subjects and lessons

Lessons and subjects are cancelled, usually for subjects that would have small teaching loads, such as music, art and technology. Cancelled subjects and missed lessons are more widespread in rural areas with smaller schools.

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1Interview case study

The following is an example of how a principal and vice principal manage teacher and subject specialist

shortages at their school based on the 11 indicators discussed above. This is an example of a ‘survival

strategy’, since the various coping mechanisms employed are used to ensure the survival of the school.

Using these survival strategies, however, can have deeply damaging effects on the quality of education at

the school.

Box 1. survival strategies of schools

example 1: school in Gegharkunik marz (interview with vice principal)Background information on the school:

13 teachers employed

Officially reported vacancies: two teaching loads/stavkas, which equals two open teaching positions available if the hired teachers were to have one full teaching load

Only the primary school teacher vacancy was filled at the beginning of the school year

Information Technology (I.T.) is not taught at all at this school

Of the 13 teachers employed at the school, 6 are teaching professionals (individuals without pedagogical training), 3 are non-qualified teachers (individuals without pedagogical qualification in the subject they are teaching), and 2 are correspondence students.

In answering a question on what factors and teacher qualifications the principal considers in assigning teaching loads to teachers, the administrator provided the following responses (some answers are paraphrased):

a. Qualification. For example, if a teacher earned a degree in Armenian Language, then she teaches Armenian language and literature.

b. Equal distribution. This is decided by the principal, if there is more than one teacher teaching the same subject.

c. Trained teacher. Newly added subjects are taught by trained teachers. For example, one of the teachers who participated in Armenian church history training organized by the National Institute of Education (NIE) is teaching that subject in the school.

d. Experienced teacher. The teacher who earned a degree in Russian language and is teaching English at the same time for over 18 years is very experienced and we will not replace her with a person from the local community who just graduated from Yerevan State Linguistic University.

e. Teachers with similar non-pedagogical qualifications. A teacher who graduated with a law degree is teaching history, geography and social studies. Another teacher who earned a degree from the Armenian State Agrarian University (ASAU) is teaching chemistry. The teacher of biology and science also graduated from ASAU with a major in agriculture. Those teachers joined the school in the early 1990s when no one wanted to work in the school because of economic hardship and extremely low salary (14,000–16,000 AMD per month, equal to US$25–30).

Now we don’t want experienced teachers to leave the school. For example, one administrator went to Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU) to study as a primary school teacher with the intention of returning to teach in our school after graduation. Now she returned and we had to hire her to teach. Moreover, we distribute the teaching hours equally between primary school teachers. Finally, we try to assign hours equally to everyone. If someone gets fewer teaching hours, we assign teaching of ‘secondary’ subjects (technology, physical education, music, painting, etc.) to those teachers.

When asked how the principal copes with teacher shortages at the school, the following answer was provided:

“The main principle for hiring a new teacher is to ask the department of education of Gegharkunik marzpetaran to send us a teacher. We’ve asked teachers from the regional centre to come and teach in our school, but they never come. One teacher joined us, but after one year of teaching she ‘escaped’ from our school, since the living conditions in our community are very severe. Essentially, only local people teach in the school.

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1 3.2 tHe MAIn InDICAtoRs FoR MeAsURInG teACHeR QUALItY In ARMenIA

1. Professionals without pedagogical training who work as teachers

The most common finding in our research is the case of professionals without higher pedagogical degrees

(or those holding only vocational pedagogical degrees) teaching subjects compatible with their profes-

sional degrees, but without pedagogical education or training. Most of these teachers are also not for-

mally certified as teachers, but they have years of work experience and are considered by the schools

to have the same qualification as their colleagues who received degrees from pedagogical universities.

Since 2009, the Law on General Education allows teachers without pedagogical degrees to teach in schools

if they have five or more years of teaching experience.

Economic turmoil and political unrest in the early 1990s resulted in mass migration and widespread socio-

economic hardship and high unemployment. Due to these circumstances, Armenia experienced a short-

age of qualified specialists, including teachers. As a coping mechanism, school principals hired unem-

ployed people who were willing to teach.

Table 3.3 is a snapshot of some of the academic degrees and professional backgrounds of non-pedagogi-

cally trained teachers in the 10 schools in our research.

table 3.3 Professionals without pedagogical degrees working as teachers

original

profession

terminal professional

degreesubject teaching Working (by hours/week)

ArtistArt, higher education de-

gree (non-pedagogical)Art 9

Museum

staff

(teaching

not main

job)

History, and pedagogical

higher education degree

History 10

LibrarianVocational pedagogical

degree

Music (extra-curricular

club)8

Director

at sports

centre

Vocational pedagogical

degreePhysical education 15

Veterinarian

Veterinary science ,

non-pedagogical higher

education degree

Biology, chemistry, pre-

military training16

Polytechnic Polytechnic degree Physics, astronomy19 hours in this school; 11 hours

at another school

JournalistNon-pedagogical higher

education degree

Armenian language and

literature22

District edu-

cation office

(works at

the district

education

office as

main job)

Russian pedagogical

degree

History, area studies,

geography5+2 (singing, extra-curricular)

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1Art Director Higher education degree Russian 5

Half-time

cabinet lead-

er (main-

tains science

equipment),

half-time

teaching

Engineering technology

(non-pedagogical higher

education degree)

Chemistry, technology,

drafting (technical draw-

ing), cabinet leader

10.5 (plus cabinet hours)

Youth Activi-

ties Coordi-

nator

Agriculture studies,

higher education degreeGeography 8

Engineer Polytechnic degree Technology 10

Accountant/

economist

Economics, higher educa-

tion degree

Primary school 19

Agriculture Agriculture, higher edu-

cation degree

Biology 16



EconomistEconomics, higher educa-

tion degreeCivics/law 2

Lawyer Law, higher education

degree

Social studies, geogra-

phy, history

24

Engineer Polytechnic degree English language 12

Agriculture Agriculture studies,


Chemistry, Armenian

language

18

Agriculture Agriculture, higher edu-

cation degree

Biology/physical educa-

tion

18

Engineer Polytechnic higher educa-

tion degree

Math, physics, music 22

Economist Economics, higher educa-

tion degree

History, technology (arts

and crafts)

23

Agricultural

economist

Agriculture studies Preliminary military

preparation

6

Russian

language

Linguistic/pedagogical


English 14

Engineer Polytechnic degree Physics 5

The professionals working as teachers have higher education degrees in the fields in which most of them

began their employment. It is often the case that their professional degree has some relevance to the

classes that they are assigned to teach. For example, we found engineers teaching technology and/or math

and sciences, professionals with degrees in law and economics teaching history, area studies and civics/

law. However, in some cases the degrees have little or no relevance to the subjects being taught. For

example, in addition to teaching biology, the teacher with a degree in agriculture is also teaching physical

education. A veterinarian at another school teaches biology, chemistry and pre-military training.

As in the Kyrgyz Republic report, our research takes into account unqualified teachers who are “covert

unqualified teachers” UNICEF 2009, 21) – that is, teachers who may be teaching but do not have the educa-

tional preparation to do so. For this reason, many of the teachers who have no pedagogical training and/

or are teaching classes that are not related to their degree work or professions can be considered covert

unqualified teachers.

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1In addition to professionals with non-pedagogical degrees, all schools in our sample study also employ

administrators to teach at least one class. This includes principals and vice principals, as well as other ad-

ministrators. By order of law, administrators are allowed to teach up to eight hours, although this practice

is often discouraged by district authorities so that teachers can have more teaching hours. It is common

for principals to assign a small number of vacant teaching hours to administrators, rather than hiring new

teachers for several teaching hours. A common rationalization for this is that the school is required to pay

a social tax of 7,000 AMD ($19 USD) for each additional teacher hired by the school.

For this reason, if there is a shortage of subject teachers, particularly of only several teaching hours per

week, principals prefer not to hire a teacher, but rather to redistribute the hours among teachers or assign

the hours to administrators. Here is what one principal had to say about this practice:

• It is not worth it for me to hire a teacher for only a few hours. It makes more sense for me

to teach physical education and have another teacher teach music because it is only four

teaching hours.

Principals deem it more economical for administrators to cover any small amount of teaching hours avail-

able, by teaching those classes themselves or by redistributing vacant hours to other teachers, rather than

reporting the hours as vacancies and hiring additional teachers who will not have a full stavka.

2. Pedagogical specialists who teach subjects for which they were not trained

Each of the 10 schools we visited had pedagogically-trained teachers teaching subjects which they were

not trained to teach – that is, subjects in which they did not receive their degree or additional training

courses. Principals distribute hours of classes that do not have enough subject specialists to be taught by

other teachers. They do the same for subjects that make up a small proportion of the school curriculum

and cannot be staffed for a full stavka by a subject specialist. It is through this redistribution of hours that

this process becomes a coping mechanism. It has positive benefits for teachers and the school in that the

redistribution of hours provides existing teachers with more teaching hours and allows schools to offer

instruction for subjects that would otherwise not be taught.

In our research, in order to accurately measure teacher shortage according to this indicator, we have only

counted teachers who are asked to teach subjects for which they have no related educational knowledge,

or no certification. Therefore, teachers who have been trained to teach more than one subject are ex-

cluded. This includes math teachers who teach physics, and biology teachers who teach chemistry. We

found that 16 per cent of all teachers in our sample teach at least one subject which they are not qualified

to instruct. Of these 58 teachers, 47 are responsible for one additional subject, 10 are responsible for two

additional subjects, and one teacher instructs three additional subjects.

table 3.4 examples of subjects taught by non-specialist teachers

own qualification Additionally teaches

Armenian language and lit-

erature

Technology

German Armenian church history teacher

Primary school Physical education, technology

Russian language Armenian church history, geography, area studies

Russian language Technology, music

Physics Math, information technology

Biology/chemistry Nursing class, geography

Armenian language and

literature

Social studies

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1The practice of assigning vacant teaching hours to teachers without subject expertise is the second most

common coping mechanism in our sample of schools. This practice has a negative impact on the quality

of instruction being provided to students. Our findings show that nearly one fifth of teachers in the schools

in our study teach a subject for which they have little or no academic preparation in the beginning of their

teaching careers. Non-qualified teachers often cover subjects or teaching vacancies with a low amount

of available teaching hours. These subjects are usually drafting (technical drawing), arts and crafts, social

studies, civics, law and technology. Substitute teachers are also often arbitrarily selected to cover classes

and do not necessarily have subject expertise in the classes they are assigned to cover.

3. University students working as teachers

A common phenomenon in Armenia is teachers who are also correspondence students. They are either

receiving their first degree, or are working on a pedagogical degree in the case that their first degree is in a

different field. Correspondence students attend university for two weeks during the fall semester and for a

maximum of 40 days during the spring semester. Throughout the rest of the year, they are expected to do

coursework remotely. At the end of each semester, correspondence students take exams that determine

their grade in the programme. Each student has the option to receive a letter grade (e.g., A, B, C, etc.), or

to take the class for pass/fail credit. During exam time, correspondence students are absent from their

teaching responsibilities if they have to travel to a different city to attend university classes. In this case,

it is common practice for other teachers at their school to cover the classes that correspondence student

teachers are not present to teach. Correspondence teachers who teach while working on their degree are

not considered full-time or part-time students, they are simply considered correspondence students.

In this study, we do not consider current correspondence students working toward their first degree quali-

fied to teach because they have not yet received their higher education degree. In Armenia, professionals

who receive correspondence degrees are considered to have the same educational preparation as those

who receive traditional degrees after attending two-year vocational institutes or four-year colleges and

universities. They also receive the same salary as teachers with full-time higher education degrees. The

discussion of correspondence degrees versus traditional schooling is beyond the scope of this research,

but it is worthwhile to point out that those teachers receiving correspondence degrees do not receive the

critical amount of class time necessary for pedagogical training and rigorous academic training in the sub-

ject they will teach at school. Additionally, due to the obligations of correspondence students to report to

classes and test days during the academic year, the students whom they teach lose critical class time and

are often taught by substitute teachers.

Many correspondence teachers in our study were students at the schools in which they now teach. Several

principals spoke favourably of this practice, emphasizing that it is good for the school, the community and

the individuals involved to have locally-hired teachers because retention rates for these teachers are usu-

ally high.

Box 2. Correspondence teachers

example of a correspondence student from a school in Lori marz:

This correspondence student, who is one of the youngest teachers at the school, is the Armenian language and literature teacher, and also acts as youth activities coordinator. She is currently finishing a degree in Armenian language and literature as a correspondence student. The principal said that she had recently gotten married. He added that he would like to see this teacher be settled in her personal and professional life; for that reason, she has a large stavka.

Her salary is comparable to that of other teachers who have more educational background and years of work experience. For teaching Armenian language and literature, this teacher receives over 53,500 AMD (about US$147) for teaching, and 40,500 AMD ($111) for her position as youth activities coordinator. This salary is considered very high for a young correspondence teacher with an incomplete education.

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1In addition to the young teachers in Armenia who are currently correspondence students in pursuit of their

first academic degree, many teachers in Armenian schools who already have at least one degree are pursu-

ing correspondence degrees that will give them pedagogical qualification. In the last six years, teachers

holding vocational pedagogical or higher non-pedagogical education degrees have applied for correspon-

dence degrees to upgrade their education. Teaching professionals seeking re-qualification is a growing

trend, and it is a direct result of the optimization programme that began in 2003 as part of phase one of

the Education Quality and Relevance Project funded by the World Bank. The optimization programme

was implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science to reduce educational costs associated with a

teacher surplus, a decreasing school age population and a waning economy. The programme reduced the

number of teachers and schools in an effort to more efficiently use resources, such as increasing teacher

salaries (UNDP, 2007). During the implementation phase of this policy, teachers without higher education

pedagogical degrees were the first to be released from the school system. The fear of another optimization

process has led unqualified teachers to seek qualification, mostly though enrolment in correspondence

degree programmes. The new attestation process that is expected to be unveiled in the near future is an-

other reason why some teachers may be seeking to raise their qualifications. The attestation requirements

are stated in the Law on General Education: “A teacher’s regular attestation shall be held once in every

five years, whereas the special attestation shall occur at least upon two years’ time following the regular

attestation” (Republic of Armenia, 2009).

Table 3.5 illustrates the educational background of teachers at each of the 10 schools in our research sample.

table 3.5 Qualifications and educational background of teachers

Educational Back-

ground

GM1 GM2 GM3 GM4 GM5 LM1 LM2 LM3 LM4 LM5 Total Per-

cent-

age

Higher educa-

tion specialist

diploma

50 38 23 10 32 27 27 7 39 13 266 73%

Incomplete

higher educa-

tion (university

students)

2 6 4 1 1 0 4 0 3 2 23 6%

Vocational-tech-

nical education

(including ped uchilishe/voca-

tional education

school)

15 27 11 3 1 4 2 2 0 1 66 18%

General second-

ary school

0 0 0 1 0 8 0 1 0 0 10 3%

Other* 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.3%

Total number of

teachers

67 71 38 15 35 39 33 10 42 16 366 100%

*”Other” from GM 5 is a teacher who attended a specialized school and received a certificate of comple-

tion, which is not a vocational education degree.

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14. Retirement age/ageing teacher population

It is apparent from interviews with colleagues and students that teachers currently teaching at or past re-

tirement age receive the same respect from administrators, colleagues and students as all other teachers.

There is no overt pressure for retirement-age teachers to stop teaching. Box 3 illustrates the respect that

older teachers receive.

According to official statistics, only 1.5 per cent of the total teacher population in Armenia is 64 years and

older (NaCET 2009). The retirement age in Armenia is 64, and by the decree of the Constitutional Court,

educational institutions cannot fire teachers based on age, as that is against the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights.10 At age 64, teachers start to receive pension pay. In the schools visited, there were very

few teachers 64 years of age and older. However, the percentage of ageing teachers (50 years and older)

is significant. Graph 1.1 (in Part 1.2) illustrates that teachers in the age range of 50 to 64 represent 34 per

cent of the total teacher population. Young teachers (ages 34 and younger) account for 23 per cent of the

population, and teachers in the middle category (ages 35 to 49) represent 41 per cent of all teachers.

Table 3.6 provides a detailed view of the ageing population in the 10 schools in our study.

table 3.6 Ageing teacher population in the sample schools

School Teachers (total)

Ageing teacher population (55 and older)

Retirement-age teachers (64 and older)

Percentage of ageing teacher population (%)

Percentage of retired

teachers (%)GM 1 63 8 0 12.7 0

GM 2 71 18 3 25.4 4.2

GM 3 39 8 2 20.5 5.1

GM 4 13 3 0 23.1 0

GM 5 32 8 1 25.0 3.1

LM 1 39 9 0 23.1 0

LM 2 34 10 2 29.4 5.9

LM 3 9 1 1 11.1 11.1

LM 4 42 12 0 28.6 0

LM 5 16 3 0 18.8 0

The overall percentage of retired teachers in Armenia – comprising 1.5 per cent of the total teacher popula-

tion – is relatively small. Typically, we found retired teachers teaching in urban and semi-urban schools

with larger student populations. A more significant trend in the 10 examined schools is the ratio of ageing

10 Republic of Armenia. (2010). Labour Code. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.am/legislation php?sel=show&ID=3869&lang=arm. Article 113, 114 and RA Constitutional Court Decree SDO-792. (2009).

Box 3. the ageing teacher population

example of respect for older teachers

This was an interview at a semi-urban school with a geography teacher who had been teaching at this particular school for 30 years. When asked whether there are teachers of retirement age working at the school, she talked about the physics teacher, who is 64 years old. She said, “Although he is of retirement age, no one thinks of him as a pensioner and everyone hopes that he will continue to teach at the school because he is an excellent teacher.”

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1teachers (55 and older) as a percentage of the overall teaching cadre. In the 10 schools we examined, the

ageing teacher population ranges from 11.1–29.4 per cent. Of the teacher population in this study, 21.8 per

cent are 55 years and older. In the next decade, there will likely be a high rate of teachers retiring. We can

extrapolate that there will continue to be an influx of new teachers entering the profession. However, this

is contingent upon the assumption that teachers who reach retirement age in the next decade will in fact

decide to retire. In the coming decade, it is possible that ageing teachers will choose to remain in the pro-

fession after retirement age due to factors such as the continuing economic crisis and high unemployment

rates that the country has struggled with since independence.

Another consideration is the current teacher surplus combined with the low amount of teaching hours

presently assigned as a typical stavka load. As the teacher population continues to age, even if the major-

ity of teachers do retire at 64, schools will potentially redistribute teaching hours in order to accommodate

full teaching loads for other teachers now in the system.

5. Teachers hired from surrounding schools

A practice observed in several schools is to have teachers who are working in two schools. In rural areas,

deployment of teachers is a challenge and unemployment is high. Many teachers in rural areas seek out

additional teaching hours at nearby village schools, or find other ways to supplement their teaching salary.

Many teachers tutor to supplement their income, and some teachers work outside of the education sector.

This can have adverse effect on their performance as teachers.

In semi-urban and urban regions, the case of supplemental income is often different than in rural commu-

nities. In more populous areas, individuals whose primary jobs are not teaching supplement their income

with a small amount of teaching hours. In urban and semi-urban areas, more teaches also supplement

their income as private tutors. The unemployment rate is high, and principals in these areas express con-

cern that every year more and more people migrate to Yerevan or to Russia. A principal interviewed at a

school in a small city said:

I try to give everyone a fair amount of hours. I even ask experienced teachers to give some of their teaching hours to young teachers so that they can survive. I try to keep everyone employed. The city will get smaller if people are unemployed.

This principal felt that it was his responsibility to ensure the well-being of the school and the community.

The teachers at the school respected the principal’s goals to preserve the community. Similar opinions

were expressed throughout the two marzes where we conducted our research. Three other principals

interviewed in different semi-urban areas expressed similar concerns about decreasing populations and

increasing unemployment.

As an example, at one semi-urban school in our study, the physical education teacher works at two schools.

This is an uncommon practice in the 10 schools in our sample, yet it still occurs in some instances.

Box 4. Rural school deployment challenges/teacher supplemental income

example of a principal with a deployment challenge and a teacher with a supplemental income

At a rural school, the principal spoke openly about a science teacher who has a second job. The school has a need for more hours to be taught by a subject specialist and this teacher has 15 years of work experience in the school and an 18-hour teaching load. The teacher supplements her salary with another job that the principal feels does not uphold the values of the teaching community.

The principal said: “She is not a good role model for the students. She has a poor reputation in the community. She travels to a nearby city and comes back to the village with items to sell to people in the community. I think she is selling these things without authorization, but I cannot fire her because there is no one to replace her. So, I keep her as a teacher.”

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6. Teachers with less than one teaching load

In the original Kyrgyzstan study, one of the indicators of teacher shortage is the number of teachers work-

ing more than one stavka in one school. In the case of Armenia, the number of teachers working more than

one stavka is relatively low compared to the number of teachers who work less than one stavka. In fact, in

the 10 schools in our sample, the number of teachers working less than half a stavka (10 hours or fewer) is

almost six times higher than the number of teachers working more than one stavka. Of the 363 teachers

listed in the 10 tarifikazia tables that were collected, 325 (89.5 per cent) of them teach less than a full stavka.

table 3.7 Breakdown of teaching load by school

School

Nu

mb

er o

f te

ach

ing

ho

urs

(exc

lud

ing

ext

ra-c

urr

icu

lars

)

Div

ided

by

1 fu

ll st

avka

Nu

mb

er o

f te

ach

ers

nee

ded

to

fill

full-

tim

e st

avka

s (n

um

ber

of

teac

hin

g

ho

urs

/22)

Act

ual

nu

mb

er o

f re

po

rted

tea

cher

s

tota

l (sc

ho

ol l

evel

)

Tota

l nu

mb

er o

f te

ach

ers

wo

rkin

g <

0.5

stav

kas

(10

ho

urs

or

few

er)

Tota

l nu

mb

er o

f te

ach

ers

wo

rkin

g

0.5-

1.0

stav

kas

(11–

21 h

ou

rs)

Tota

l nu

mb

er o

f te

ach

ers

wo

rkin

g

exac

tly

on

e st

avka

(22

ho

urs

)

Tota

l nu

mb

er o

f te

ach

ers

wo

rkin

g>

1.0

stav

kas

(23

ho

urs

or

mo

re)

Gegharkunik 1 955 22 43 63 14 45 1 3

Gegharkunik 2 1,081 22 49 71 17 49 4 1

Gegharkunik 3 526 22 24 38 13 22 2 1

Gegharkunik 4 252 22 11 15 2 10 1 2

Gegharkunik 5 515 22 22 32 8 21 2 1

Lori 1 580 22 26 39 5 34 0 0

Lori 2 604 22 27 34 1 27 6 0

Box 5. teachers with two jobs in a semi-urban community

example of two teachers supplementing their income by teaching several hours

This is an example of two teachers at the same school. Both teachers teach a small amount of hours at the school in addition to their primary job, the one that they consider their main source of income.

Teacher #1:

This teacher is a physical education teacher. He has a 15-hour stavka, which is the second lowest teaching load at the school. Teaching is his part-time job. He also works at a fitness centre, where he is the facility director. His total monthly income from teaching: approximately 62,000 AMD ($168 USD).

Teacher #2:

The physics teacher at the school also works as a representative of the regional administration at the district level. Teaching is her part-time job. She has a 12-hour teaching load, which is the lowest teaching load at the school. Her monthly income from teaching: approximately 64,100 AMD (174 USD).

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1 Lori 3 204 22 9 10 0 5 2 3

Lori 4 643 22 29 42 3 36 2 1

Lori 5 324 22 15 19 6 7 6 0

total 5,684 220 255 363 69 256 26 12

Average 568 22 26 36 7 26 3 1

Source: School tarifikazia tables

In Armenia, this indicator is the opposite of what was found in Kyrgyzstan: there are not enough work

hours for employed teachers. Nine out of 10 teachers in Armenia do not work more than one full stavka

load.

7.1. Teachers working in undivided classes and groups

It was uncommon to see teachers working in undivided classes in the 10 schools that we visited. It was

only mentioned in two teacher interviews in our sample. Box 6 gives an example of a teacher teaching

Russian language in a classroom of 36 students.

7.2. Teachers teaching in multi-grade classrooms

Rural village schools face unique challenges. As previously discussed, teacher deployment is difficult in

these areas even though the government has strategies in place to recruit teachers to these communities.

In 2009, 34 teachers were deployed to high-mountainous regions to fill teacher vacancies, down from 91

teachers who were sent directly by MoES in 2008.11

Village schools, and schools near the country’s border areas often have to combine students from different

grades into one class due to a small number of students in one grade or in both (UNDP 2007). Of the 10

schools examined, two schools had multi-grade classrooms.

11 Interview with head of Human Resources Department of MoES, March 23, 2010.

Box 6. teachers working in undivided classes and groups

example of a Russian language teacher teaching in a classroom of 36 students

This was at the largest school that we visited. It was considered a city school in an urban area.

Interviewer question: “What do you like least about the teaching profession?”

Teacher response: “Checking notebooks. I don’t like to grade. I like the qualitative grading, not the quantitative grading. Our job is very hard. I would say that it is comparable to mining work. There are too many levels of students in one class. There are too many students in language classes. I have 36 students in the classroom. The transition to a 12-year school programme means that I have different ages of students by two or three years in one room, and I do not get to split the class into two groups.”

Box 7. Multi-grade classrooms

example of a school with multi-grade classrooms

Both of the teachers interviewed at this school taught in multi-grade classrooms. When asked, “What do you like least about the teaching profession?” one teacher responded, “Multi-grade teaching is difficult without any help.”

Examples of how grades are combined:

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8. Cancelled subjects or classes

This indicator represents the officially-reported teacher vacancies – that is, cancelled subjects or classes

due to the unavailability of teachers to teach classes. Armenia’s officially-reported teacher vacancies and

the number of hours of subjects that are not taught is relatively low. In fact, several marzes have reported

no teacher vacancies in the last four years (see Appendix B and C). However, in our sample, we found two

schools that had cancelled classes due to teacher vacancies. In one school, technology was not taught be-

cause there was no teacher to teach it. In another school, pre-military training class was taught for only two

hours by a teacher with no expertise in the subject, and most students were not taught this subject at all.

Some subjects and classes are cancelled and replaced by other subjects. This is due to the lack of special-

ists in certain subjects, particularly in rural areas. Box 8 offers an example of a school that offers a less

popular language due to a lack of a specialist.

In December 2009 all classes were cancelled nationwide for two weeks due to a fear of the breakout of the

H1N1 virus in schools. Since this was a national policy, it is not an indicator of school-specific cancella-

tion of classes. However, our interviews with principals and students revealed that schools made up class

hours for lost time to varying degrees. Some schools required students to stay for an extra hour and come

in for longer hours on Saturdays in the weeks following cancelled classes.

Others indicators of teacher shortage in Armenia

Other indicators of teacher shortage include teachers with prolonged absenteeism, teachers who teach a

shorter duration of class time than officially prescribed, and teachers officially listed on the tarifikazia table

who do not actually teach.

9. Teacher absences and absenteeism

Seasonal or permanent teacher absenteeism is not a common occurrence in Armenia. Teachers do not

chronically miss instructional time. At the schools that we visited, most principals and students reported

that teachers rarely do not show up to work. The majority of principals who we interviewed gave two

reasons for this. The most common is that teachers are responsible and take their jobs seriously because

they find teaching to be a fulfilling profession. The second most common response was that teachers have

to come to work because they fear losing their job, and the economy does not offer many alternatives for

gainful income. At one school the principal said:

– Fourth grade student joined the second grade class

– Sixth and seventh grades are combined into one class

– Eighth and ninth grades are combined into one class

– Tenth and eleventh grades are combined into one class

Grades one, three, and five are taught individually because there are enough students in each of these grades to create individual grade classrooms.

Box 8. Replaced subjects

example of French v. english

In one village school in our study, English is not offered as a foreign language. Instead, the teacher of Russian also teaches French. Most of the students interviewed in this school expressed an interest in learning English more than French and were dismayed that the school could not provide this opportunity for them. After students complete nine grades at this school, they must transfer to another neighbouring village school to complete the last two grades of high school. At the school to which most students transfer, the only foreign language offered is English. Students expressed concern about this, saying that they are worried about how they will catch up on English when they transfer schools.

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1• Teachers do not take off of work even if they are sick. I sometimes have to force them to go

home if they are too sick to work.

The most common reasons for teacher absenteeism are: sickness, family emergencies, attending workshops,

and correspondence students reporting to universities. When teachers go on maternity leave, they are re-

placed either by hiring a temporary teacher or by redistributing the hours among teachers at the school.

According to a UNICEF report, School wastage study focusing on student absenteeism in Armenia (Hua 2008),

some parents have said that student absenteeism is caused in part by the bad example set by teacher

absenteeism (p. 41). The report provides no data on the extent of actual teacher absenteeism rates. Ac-

cording to our analysis of interviews with principals in 10 schools and teacher attendance information from

timetable data we collected, teacher absenteeism is not a significant issue in Armenia. In fact, teachers are

rarely absent and schools provide substitute teachers and make up any missed class work.

10. Number of teachers who teach for a shorter duration than officially prescribed

This indicator was developed in the Kyrgyzstan study to account for teachers who teach fewer minutes

of instructional time per class. For example, a teacher might teach only 30 minutes of a 45-minute class.

This was not found to be the case in Armenia. The principals and vice principals who we interviewed ex-

plained that the teachers listed on the tarifikazia table all taught for the entire length of class time. Student

interviews also did not reveal a shortening of the duration of classes to be a common practice in Armenia.

Some principles reported that, by order of the Ministry of Education and Science, they shortened winter

classes for schools without central heating system. Usually, those classes are reduced to 35 to 40 minutes.

11. Teachers listed without teaching lessons

Our research indicates that teachers listed in the tarifikazia table taught the classes that they were officially

reported as teaching. We found only one example of a teacher who taught a subject which she was not

listed as teaching in the tarifikazia table. We were told that this was not for lack of transparency, but rather

because the change was made after the tarifikazia table was completed.

In Armenia, we did not find a recurrence of cases of teachers kept on payroll despite leaving their post or

moving to another area (‘ghost teachers’, as described in the Kyrgyzstan report). Instead, we found a dif-

ferent variation of this indicator in Armenia. In two instances, teachers on maternity leave (which usually

lasts between one and two years) were kept on the tarifikazia table even after taking maternity leave for

longer than the stipulated amount of leave time. We consider these findings to be exceptional and not

representative of typical cases in Armenia.

3.3 tHe ACtUAL WoRKLoAD oF teACHeRs In ARMenIATeachers in Armenia normally work less than one stavka. The national regulation is 22 hours for one stavka,

but none of the schools we visited had a significant number of teachers who worked one full stavka. As

discussed in indicator six in the previous section and as illustrated in Table 3.7, 89.5 per cent of teachers

in our sample of 10 schools teach less than one full stavka. The majority of teachers (70.5 per cent) work

between 11 and 21 hours, and 19 per cent of teachers work less than 11 hours, which is a higher rate than

teachers who teach more than one stavka.

The biggest challenge for the pedagogical cadre as it pertains to income is that most teachers do not have

enough teaching hours to receive a full salary. In interviews with teachers, the biggest issue that emerged

is that teachers do not make enough money to provide for themselves and their families. While all teachers

stated that they see the distribution of hours among teachers to be a fair process, many are not satisfied

with the fact that most teachers end up with less than a full stavka. Box 9 is tells the story of one teacher

who has only 12 teaching hours.

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In each of the 10 schools, we asked teachers to provide details of their salaries. We found that many of

them did not know their exact salaries, nor did they know the standard tax and other deductions from their

salaries. We also asked the principals to tell us the highest and lowest teacher stavka loads and the highest

and lowest teacher salaries at the school.

The high and low stavka loads varied substantially in each of the 10 schools. As Table 3.8 demonstrates, at

nearly each school, there are teachers who work minimal hours and teachers who work over the one stavka

load allowed by law. The table also demonstrates that the remuneration for the same amount of hours

worked varies across schools. This is because the compensation scheme for each school is created by the

principal and is based on the school’s individual financing scheme.

table 3.8 Highest and lowest stavka loads in 10 schools

schools Lowest teaching

loads per week

(hours)13

salary (AMD)

(1 AMD = .003 UsD)

Highest teaching

loads per week

(hours)

salary (AMD)

(1 AMD = .003 UsD)

Gegharkunik 1 3 14,372 23 138,570

Gegharkunik 2 10 47,672 24 103,346

Gegharkunik 3 5 24,272 23 123,619

Gegharkunik 4 17 83,044 24 111,602

Gegharkunik 5 5 30,220 25 128,520

Lori 1 9 38,331 19 107,532

Lori 2 12 64,156 22 127,431

Lori 3 1314 96,790 23 102,933

Lori 4 11 51,447 30 90,777

Lori 5 7.5 41,527 22 100,220 Source: Tarifikazia tables obtained directly from schools and/or district education office

Box 9. Low teacher workload

example of a teacher with top qualification who has a low teaching stavka

In one of the urban schools in our study, a physics teacher with a pedagogical higher education and a specialization in physics, as well as 32 years of teaching experience, has a 12-hour teaching workload. In addition to teaching nine hours of physics, she also teaches one hour of astronomy and two hours of biology, a subject for which she does not have direct educational training but does have many years of teaching experience.

Although this teacher would like to teach more hours, there is no possibility for her to do so. The other physics teacher at the school also teaches approximately half a stavka of physics. The principal gave these teachers additional teaching hours in other subjects so that they may have more total teaching hours.

The teacher said she understood that it was to be fair to the other physics teacher and other science teachers at the school that her stavka load was so low. Nevertheless, she said it is difficult for her family because her salary is half of what it could be if she had a full teaching load. It also varies from year to year depending on the number of students enrolled in the subjects she teaches. She said she was embarrassed to admit that her total salary was about 46,000 AMD ($124 USD), well below the average of teacher salaries at the school.

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1As the table above shows, there are vast differences within schools between the highest and lowest sala-

ried teachers, as well as across schools in the total remuneration for teachers on the high and low ends

of the salary scale. The teacher with the lowest teaching load of the 10 schools in our data set receives

a significantly lower salary than the highest paid teacher. This can be most directly attributed to school-

level policies of compensation of teachers, usually decided by the principal.

Teacher salary and teacher salary structure in Armenia

The teacher salary structure in Armenia follows the stavka system, which provides compensation directly

for teaching hours and other duties and is not based on a work week model that encompasses teacher

preparation time and administrative duties. For this reason, many teachers in Armenia are also com-

pensated for grading student notebooks, performing methodological work as curriculum developers and

fulfilling duties as homeroom teachers. The bulk of the teacher salary, however, comes from the number

of teaching hours.

The standard stavka is now 22 hours, adopted by the Government of Armenia in a law to increase the

total teaching load for teachers. It was increased from 18 to 22 hours with the intention of consolidating

the total number of teachers who work in a given school by eliminating teachers with too few hours and

increasing the number of teachers who have full stavkas. This effort has produced mixed results. Several

principals interviewed said that the optimization reforms helped to restructure school staff and consolidate

the workforce. Others expressed dismay because the reforms required them to dismiss teachers who

have worked at the schools for many years, and while many teachers lacked the educational qualifications

to teach, they had accrued years of teaching experience. Our research has also shown that a number of

schools have struggled with these reforms and were forced to get rid of subject specialists for classes that

comprise a small amount of hours in the curriculum. A number of examples in Sections 3.1 and 3.2 dem-

onstrate that the process of teacher optimization has meant that more teachers teach subjects for which

they are not trained.

School financing scheme in Armenia

A representative at the Ministry of Education and Science explained the composition of the education sec-

tor budget, which is developed annually in collaboration between the Ministry of Education and Science

and the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoF). First, MoES develops the budget and submits it to MoF

for approval. Once reviewed and approved, MoF provides the funding to the marzpetaran (provincial gov-

erning body), which in turn disburses money to the schools.

There are some exceptions of schools in every marz that receive funding directly from MoES. This includes

pilot schools and new specialized high schools that have started to be introduced as part of phase two of the

Education Quality and Relevance Project. These schools do not report to the marzpetaran but to MoES directly.

During the Soviet era, schools received funding as a flat rate regardless of the size of the school and

student enrolment numbers. Today, school financing is formula-based with a fixed and a non-fixed com-

ponent. For each school, this formula is based on a per-student equation as well as a flat-rate per-school

allotment that is often seen as a ‘school infrastructure’ supplement. Qualified schools also receive a sup-

plement if they are located in a mountainous or high mountainous region. For schools in mountainous

areas, the flexible component of the budget formula (that is, the number of enrolled students) is multiplied

by a coefficient of 1.02. Schools in high mountainous regions receive a supplement of a 1.2 coefficient,

which is a 20 per cent addition to the flexible component allocation for the school. A 1.1 coefficient also

applies to student enrolment numbers on the high school level, which includes grades 10 and 11 and will

include grade 12 in the 2010/2011 school year. Additionally, schools that have less than 400 students and

are the only schools in the settlement receive funding based on a 1.2 coefficient. This is to accommodate

the unique needs of such schools. The only allowance that we encountered in schools in our study was for

schools in high mountainous regions (MoES and Ministry of Finance, 2009).

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1In 2009, the per capita (non-fixed formula portion) amount allocated to schools by MoES was 105,775

AMD (286 USD) for each student. It is expected to remain the same for the 2010/2011 school year. For

2009, the fixed amount received by each school was 15,000,000 AMD (40,570 USD), which was 3,000,000

AMD (8,100 USD) less than the previous year.12 Once schools receive the total amount based on this

formula, they are under no direct scrutiny on how to budget and distribute this total amount on sala-

ries and school expenses. For this reason, there are vast differences in both the way individual schools

calculate teacher compensation and in the actual remuneration of teachers across the country. The

marzpetaran or MoES has the authority to interfere in the compensation practices of a school if there is

a major problem or notable discrepancy. Interviews in the 10 schools in our sample size revealed that

this rarely happens.

Filling in vacancies

Schools are required to report teacher vacancies and unfilled teaching hours to the marzpetaran. However,

in our research we found that most principals do not report vacancies to the district authorities, but rather

fill vacancies at the school level. There are several reasons for this. First, since there are so few vacancies

and so many qualified candidates who are willing to take jobs as teachers, many principals find it simpler

and more efficient to hire teachers at the school level and not go through the bureaucratic process of re-

porting vacancies and waiting for a referral from the district office. Second, some principals reported that

when they did go through the district office, the candidates that were sent did not meet their expectations.

In extreme cases, principals reported that the candidates they hired through the marzpetaran quit after a

short tenure because they were not from the community and had difficulty adjusting.

There is another way in which vacancies are filled, particularly in the rural and mountainous regions. The

Office of Human Resources at the Ministry of Education and Science in Yerevan has a listing of vacancies,

and qualified candidates can fill out applications to be sent to fill vacancies in these locales. In addition

to an extra 20 per cent in salary compensation, teachers who are willing to relocate to these hardship

areas are provided a monthly 10,000 AMD (27 USD) housing supplement, 5,000 AMD (14 USD) for other

expenses, and a one-time 15,000 AMD (40 USD) relocation bonus. They also receive reimbursement for

transportation expenses to return to their hometown four times a year. These salary additions are pro-

vided for two years and come directly from MoES. After two years, the teacher is considered a resident

of the settlement in which they teach. In 2008, there were 91 teachers who were deployed through this

process; in 2009, there were 34. These numbers demonstrate that this is not a heavily utilized process of

teacher recruitment. It would be interesting to conduct further research on the extent to which this option

is known by people who are looking for teaching posts.

There are also ‘budget students’ whose education expenses are covered by the government. These stu-

dents are required to teach after they complete pedagogical higher education, usually in schools within

rural and/or mountainous communities where they grew up. The schools that request budget students

must hire them once they graduate, regardless of whether there is a vacancy and a need for these teachers

at the time.

Teacher salary structure

According to an interview with a MoES official in March 2010, the average salary for a teacher working one

full stavka should be 116,000 AMD (314 USD). In reality, most teachers have less than one full stavka load,

and many who have a full stavka receive less than 116,000 AMD. The MoES official emphasized that this

is partly because schools choose to make class size smaller than they are entitled to be, distributing the

maximum compensation for one teacher among several teachers. This reflects the larger reality of many

principals who keep a large staff and distribute available teaching hours among all teachers so that more

people can be gainfully employed, even if it means that fewer teachers actually work a full stavka. Hav-

12 This figure is adjusted according to the economic situation on a yearly basis and was decreased in 2009 due to the eco-nomic decline.

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1ing a larger staff also means that schools have more subject specialists available to teach than there are

classes. Table 3.7 includes information on how many teachers are needed for all pedagogues to have one

full stavka, and how many are actually employed at a given school. Every school has a surplus of teachers

based on total classroom hours designated at the school, with an average of 10 more teachers employed

at each school than is necessary if each teacher were to have one full stavka of 22 hours. It is important to

note that this does not mean there are enough specialists to teach all courses, even with a surplus of teach-

ers at each school. One of the schools in our study has only one more teacher than the total number of

teachers needed to fill 22-hour stavkas. However, this school demonstrates the biggest shortage of special-

ist teachers. The quality of education received by students suffers because many teachers teach subjects

that they are not trained to teach. Particularly in small rural schools, the policy of downsizing the staff has

had a negative impact on the quality of education.

According to the General Education Department of MoES, there are three monthly supplements that teach-

ers can receive in addition to their teaching base salary, for fulfilling duties as a: 1) homeroom teacher, 2)

methodological work as curriculum developers or heads of subject department, and 3) notebook checking.

However, the way in which the base salary and the supplements for additional responsibilities are calcu-

lated is decided by the principal and varies by school. While this is acceptable under the law on General

Education passed in 2009, it creates a different salary scheme in each school. Table 3.9 is an overview of

the salary scheme for teachers and shows the variation in the 10 schools in our study.

table 3.9 salary compensation scheme for Armenia

salary component Compensation scheme

Base salary Approximately 1,000 – 1,200 AMD (3-3.3 USD) per class per week (varies based on experience and school), multiplied by stavka load for monthly total.

Additional hours: Extra-curricular,

or substitute (covering classes)

Paid at rate of one teaching hour, based on teacher’s regular salary.

Rank/step based on years of expe-

rience

In the next several years, this system will be phased in nationally. However, our research shows that some principals have devised internal systems for ranking teachers based on their teaching expe-rience and education level.

Most principals base salaries on education level of teacher and years of teaching experience. In many schools, the following 6 cat-egories are applied:

Years Level

of education

0–1 year 1–15 years 15 or more years

Vocational/ technical de-gree

Level 1: 0–1 year + voca-tional/ techni-cal degree

Level 3: 1–15 years + voca-tional/ techni-cal degree

Level 5: 15 or more years + vo-cational/ techni-cal degree

Higher edu-cation de-gree

Level 2: 0–1 years + higher education degree

Level 4: 1–15 years + higher education degree

Level 6: 15 or more years + higher education degree

Teacher salary is counted based on years of experience in the fol-lowing form: less than 1 year, 1–15 years, and more than 15 years.

Homeroom/class teacher Usually 20 per cent of stavka; there are cases where this is at the discretion of principal.

Notebook checking 10 per cent of stavka, or at discretion of principal. Applicable only for teachers of languages and mathematics.

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1Rural If the school is the only school in the settlement with less than 400 students enrolled, the total allocation for the non-fixed per-capita calculation is multiplied by a 1.2 coefficient, which increases fund-ing by 20 per cent. This money is not necessarily given as extra sal-ary to teachers. This is at the discretion of the principal.

Mountainous, high mountainous 1.02 coefficient for mountainous area and 1.2 coefficient for high mountainous area. This money is not necessarily given as extra salary to teachers. It is at the discretion of the principal.

Methodological role/ curricu-lum developers/heads of subject department

20 per cent of stavka, or uniform rate at discretion of principal.

As Table 3.9 shows, much of the teacher’s salary is at the discretion of the principal. The local education

authorities in Lori, as well as officials at MoES, stated that this is part of the national school reform agenda

intended to give more autonomy to school administrators.

Box 10 offers examples of base salaries of teachers in Gegharkunik and Lori marzes, per class taught.

These examples show that the compensation system for base salary varies across schools both in the

salary amount as well as in the difference that teaching experience has on the salary scheme. In the

Gegharkunik school example, there is a small difference in compensation between a teacher who has 11

years of work experience and 16 years, but no distinction between a teacher who has 39 years of experi-

ence and 16 years of experience. In the Lori example, a teacher working two years and one working 10

years have the same salary, as do teachers with 18 and 25 years.

There are also differences between marzes in the compensation scheme of supplemental pay, which is

largely at the discretion of principals and school administrators. In one school in Gegharkunik marz, for

example, homeroom teachers receive between 17,000 (46 USD) and 18,000 AMD (49 USD). Curriculum

developers are also compensated.

In a school in Lori marz, homeroom teachers receive between 6,000 (16 USD) and 7,000 AMD (19 USD),

which is a cut from previous years. The principal explained that this is due to the decrease in the fixed

amount the school received this year, as well as the rising cost of utilities. He also said one teaching hour

is compensated at about 1,050–1,100 AMD (3-3.2 USD), depending on teaching experience.

In another school in Gegharkunik marz, as of February 2010, the principal has decided not to give compen-

sation to curriculum developers because the budget cannot accommodate this. Seven teachers who con-

tinue to perform this function now receive no compensation for their work. Formerly, compensation was

an addition 10 per cent of salary. Lastly, at a different school in Lori marz, the compensation for homeroom

Box 10. Base salaries*

salary examples from school in Gegharkunik marz

A teacher with two years of teaching experience receives 3,891 AMD per class per month. A teacher with 11 years of teaching experience receives 3,973 AMD per class per month. A teacher with 16 years of teaching experience receives 4,091AMD per class per month. A teacher with 39 years of teaching experience receives 4,091AMD per class per month.

Salary examples from school in Lori marz

A teacher with two years of teaching experience receives 4,287 AMD per class per month. A teacher with 10 years of teaching experience receives 4,287 AMD per class per month. A teacher with 18 years of teaching experience receives 4,412 AMD per class per month. A teacher with 25 years of teaching experience receives 4, 412 AMD per class per month.

* All the teachers in these examples have higher education degrees.

Source: Tarifikazia tables obtained from schools and marzpetaran

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1teachers is 10,000 AMD (27 USD), 9,000 AMD (25 USD) for curriculum developers and 10 per cent of total

stavka load for grading schoolwork for some subjects only.

In Ghegarkunik marz, the compensation scheme was consistent across the five schools that were part of

this study. Teachers who teach extra-curricular classes, clubs and other activities get paid by the hour.

Homeroom teachers get 20 per cent of their stavka in extra pay. In Lori, there were more distinctions be-

tween schools in compensation scheme.

Bonuses are only provided in years that individual schools have budget surpluses. Some principals in

Gegharkunik marz that were interviewed suggested that wealthy people in the community could provide

bonuses. In one rural school, the Russian mining company in the area provides three ‘teacher of the year’

bonuses for the school.

Maximum teaching load and minimum social tax

As previously discussed, the second phase of the Education Quality and Relevancy Project continues to

promote optimization of the teaching workforce. To ensure efficient school management, planning and use

of financial resources, school administrators are interested in providing teachers with maximum teaching

hours (often allocating teaching hours to teachers in subjects for which they were not trained in tertiary-

level pedagogical institutions, or to teachers who are not otherwise qualified to teach). According to Ar-

menia’s legislation, all schools are obliged to make a social security contribution – that is, to pay a social

tax – to the state budget, of a minimum of 7,000 AMD for each member of the teaching staff. This creates

an incentive for schools to maximize the number of work hours for the teachers and not keep teachers with

very few work hours on payroll. In term of cost efficiency, school principals prefer not to have teachers

with few working/teaching hours (usually less than 8–10 hours per week), since the school has the pressure

to stretch an already limited school budget to pay the social tax.

Additional teacher income opportunities for teachers

In at least half of the 10 schools we visited, the principals have opted to have extra-curricular classes of-

fered as part of the school’s supplementary curriculum. General education schools in Armenia are entitled

to have a maximum of 22 extra-curricular teaching hours (Republic of Armenia 2009) for classes such as

chorus, art, and science club. The principal decides whether the school should have extra-curricular class-

es, often depending on fulfilment of staffing needs for core curricula and whether there is enough funding

in the school budget to offer extra-curricular classes. In the schools visited, teaching an extra-curricular

class provides teachers the same compensation as their salary for teaching regular classes. The distribu-

tion of hours are decided on a number of factors including subject needs, the availability of teachers to

teach the classes and which teachers need extra teaching hours to have a larger teaching load.

Every year, MoES organizes award competitions among teachers and administrators for ‘best principal’,

‘best primary school teacher’, ‘best teacher’, etc. The winners of the competitions receive prizes. Students

also have opportunities to participate in various competitions, including national Olympiads. Teachers

who train winning students often receive monetary prizes. However, in our interviews with teachers and

administrators, the bonus and awards systems were not identified as substantive or sustainable forms of

additional income. This was contrasted in the interviews with reminiscences of the Soviet era, when bo-

nuses were more substantial and more frequent.

Because there are not many opportunities for teachers to earn additional income if their stavka load is

small, many teachers seek jobs outside of the school. As discussed in section 3.1, a number of teachers

came to the teaching profession from other careers and have non-pedagogical backgrounds. Since the

stavka system does not allow the vast majority of teachers to make a full salary, many teachers are forced

to look for other work outside of their teaching posts. If teachers are unable to teach other subjects or

perform administrative duties within the school, including teaching extra-curricular classes when possible,

they commonly offer their pedagogical knowledge to students outside of schools hours as private tutors.

Many teachers also supplement their income through unrelated jobs. It is likely that this has negative im-

pacts on the quality of teaching, the students and on the school overall.

PART 4

COUNTRY-SPECIFIC ISSUES RELATED

TO TEACHER QUALITY

© ????????

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PARt 4: CoUntRY-sPeCIFIC IssUes ReLAteD to teACHeR QUALItYThe detailed overview of the 11 indicators of teacher shortage in Armenia reveals three major themes that

reflect a country-specific context of teacher quality. First, there is a teacher surplus in Armenia. Second, a

significant number of currently employed teachers are either unqualified to teach due to lack of pedagogi-

cal education and training, or teach subjects for which they were not trained. Third, there is gap between

what pedagogical universities teach and the skills teachers need in order to be successful in the classroom.

4.1 teACHeR sURPLUsThe first theme, which emerges from our discussion in earlier chapters, is the concept that teacher short-

age in Armenia is different from the teacher shortages identified in the original Kyrgyzstan study. In Ar-

menia (with the exception of villages, rural communities and mountainous regions), there is no teacher

shortage, but rather a surplus of trained pedagogues who are not employed in the education sphere, or at

all. According to official figures reported by the Ministry of Education and Science and evidenced in the

documents that were collected during this research, the vast majority of teachers work significantly less

than a full stavka, which is 22 teaching hours. Each of the 10 schools in our study has a surplus of teachers,

the majority of whom in effect work only part-time. This surplus of teachers can be attributed to principals

not willing to lay off teachers, preferring to keep teachers employed by redistributing hours, with some

degree of disregard toward pedagogical preparation in subjects taught. However, while there is a surplus

of teachers on payroll, 89.5 per cent of the 363 teachers that we interviewed are short of a full stavka load

(see Table 3.7). This means that nearly 9 out of 10 teachers in Armenia do not reach full wage potential.

Principals opt to have more teachers teaching fewer hours, rather than fewer teachers working more hours

for a number of reasons, both situational and economic. Armenia’s economy was hit particularly hard by

the post-Soviet economic transition and throughout the last two decades. Most recently, the 2008 world

financial crisis plunged more people in Armenia into unemployment and poverty. Particularly in the vil-

lage schools, but also to some extent in the urban areas, the principals are leaders of their communities

and provide gainful employment that sustains families and keeps communities together even in times

of economic volatility. Here is what one principal had to say about why he keeps teachers on staff, most

working less than one stavka:

• The city does not offer any other job opportunities. What would you do if you were the only

person in the city able to keep people employed? If I fire teachers then they will leave our city

and it will continue to get smaller and smaller.

A closer look at the situation on the school level shows that although there is a teacher surplus in each

school, there is also a shortage of qualified teachers and subject specialists – that is, teachers who are

pedagogically trained to teach the subjects that they are teaching. The tables in section 3 on profession-

als teaching in schools and teachers teaching subjects for which they are not trained, provide a picture of

the most commonly used coping mechanisms to deal with the lack of specialists in schools. This study

reveals that redistributing teaching hours (particularly of specialized subjects) amongst teachers who are

not trained and not qualified to teach those subjects is the most widespread survival strategy used by

principals to cope with teacher shortage.

Small schools and teacher surplus

The situation in small schools is noteworthy because many small schools are located in villages, rural

areas, or mountainous regions. In Armenia, these are the locales that experience the greatest dearth of

qualified teachers. Yet there is little to no teacher shortage reported officially, because teachers in these

schools take on additional teaching hours (usually in subjects for which they are not trained) to comprise

a full or close to a full teaching load. In small schools, the most salient problem is of qualified subject spe-

cialists, and the problem of teacher shortage is covert. There are many such schools in Armenia: schools

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with 101–300 students total 35.2 per cent of all schools in the country (NaCET 2009, 11). Additionally,

61.4 per cent of public schools in Armenia have 300 or fewer students. In schools of this size, the biggest

challenges are related to effective planning of the teaching staff and the distribution of teaching hours to

maximize teachers’ subject expertise.

Table 4.1 includes information on the number of schools by student population in each marz.

table 4.1number of state general education institutions: student numbers, 2008/2009

Region

100 a

nd

less

101–3

00

301–5

00

501–7

00

701–

1000

1001 a

nd

more

% totAL

Yerevan 10 50 60 53 35 20 16.0% 228

Aragatsotn 58 52 11 3 1 1 8.8% 126

Ararat 6 50 39 13 4 0 7.9% 112

Armavir 10 57 36 15 5 1 8.7% 124

Ghegarkhunik 32 43 29 22 2 0 9.0% 128

Lori 57 66 33 8 2 1 11.7% 167

Kotayk 22 30 33 16 7 2 7.7% 110

Shirak 60 67 33 7 6 1 12.2% 174

Syunik 75 27 11 11 0 0 8.7% 124

Vayotc Dzor 20 22 7 1 0 0 3.5% 50

Tavush 24 37 14 5 1 0 5.7% 81

total 374 501 306 154 63 26 100.0% 1,424

Source: NaCET 2009, 10

Class size and teacher surplus

The issue of increasingly smaller class sizes and small schools in rural areas also affects classes that have

been split in the past. In Armenian schools, if there are 35 or more students in a classroom in the subjects

of Armenian and foreign languages, students should be divided into two groups; this allows for more ef-

fective teaching and also gives teachers more teaching hours. However, due to the decline in the demo-

graphics of the school-age population, divided classes happen less and less. To the contrary, in many small

schools, classes are so small that grades are combined, or teachers receive only 80 per cent of a full salary

because they teach half-classes. As a result, teaching hours are declining annually.

The effects of population decline on teacher workload

The demographic composition of the population in Armenia has been changing since 1996 due to birth

rate decline and outmigration of the population. This is leading to a rapid decline of school-age children, a

trend that is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. This negative demographic growth has led to

a decrease in the number of students and is impacting the teaching profession, particularly the number of

stavka hours per teacher. For example, during the 2007/2008 school year, there were 322 schools with 100

and fewer students, and 475 schools with 300 and less students. During the 2008/2009 school year, those

numbers changed to 374 and 501, respectively, with schools of over 300 students declining (NaCET, 2009).

Due to the declining number of students, class sizes are becoming smaller and there are fewer classes at

schools, resulting in a need for fewer teaching hours. Smaller class size also affects classes that have tra-

ditionally been split, as previously discussed.

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4.2 UnQUALIFIeD teACHeRs AnD teACHInG PRoFessIonALsThere are many teachers who teach subjects for which they are not pedagogically trained. This is the case

of teaching professionals, or teachers without a pedagogical education or teacher training who work as

teachers. Less common but also present are teachers with vocational training or general secondary educa-

tion. There are two categories of subjects that usually factor in the distribution of teaching hours: required

subjects and secondary subjects.

In the first category of subjects, it is frequently the case that the total number of needed subject hours

exceeds one stavka by a few hours. In this case, the principal solves this in one of two ways. The first

is splitting the subject between two qualified teachers, with both having small workloads. The second

is giving one teacher a full stavka and redistributing the remaining hours among teachers of related (or

sometimes unrelated) subject expertise. For example, if a school has 30 hours of biology to be taught,

rather than hiring two teachers to teach 15 hours each, the principal may give one full 22-hour stavka to

the biology teacher and redistribute the remaining eight hours of class time between the chemistry and

the physics teacher. In this case, those eight hours are taught by teachers who are not qualified to teach

the subject. The second category of subjects that are often taught by teachers who do not have training in

the subject area is specialized subjects, such as technology, arts and crafts, music and drafting. Teachers

assigned to teach these ‘secondary’ classes are those deemed by the principal to have the most related

subject knowledge, or subjects in which the teacher has exhibited a special proficiency, such as singing

or art. Most commonly, these subjects are assigned to teachers who simply need more work hours. They

are often redistributed among many teachers. In this way, they become ‘orphan subjects’, because most

schools do not have a designated teacher who is responsible for teaching the subject. The presence of

orphan subjects in schools is indicative of subject specialist shortages in schools. The quality of education

is compromised as a result.

4.3 teACHeR tRAInInG AnD tHe CLAssRooMThe third theme in our findings is the gap between what pedagogical universities teach and what teachers

need to know in order to be prepared for a teaching career. The dearth of knowledge of many teachers is

evident both in subject content and in pedagogical preparation. For example, not one pedagogical univer-

sity in the country provides certification for the newly developed social science curricula mandated to be

taught in the public school system.

Box 11. subjects taught by unqualified teachers

example of a foreign language teacher in a small/rural school:

The school is in a rural area and includes grades one to nine. In order to continue on to tenth and eleventh grades, the students must transfer to a nearby school that only teaches English as a foreign language.

The only foreign language teacher in this school teaches French and Russian and has a general secondary education degree with no university training. She began teaching in 1994 after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

According to the students interviewed at the school, her teaching of French is very limited. The students said they would like to study French more intensively than it is taught, and would prefer to study English in the first place.

The principal himself volunteers teaching Russian because he wants to ensure the students learn it well and receive additional classes. The principal said he will not get rid of this teacher, and was adamant about supporting her well-being as well as that of her family. This teacher is the primary caregiver to both her sick husband and brother, as well as to her children. The principal stated, “She has a sick husband and she takes care of her sick brother. She is a member of the community and if I get rid of her she will perish.”

The principal goes to great lengths to protect her job at the school. He said he had to work hard to keep her during the first round of optimization reforms in the mid-2000s. If he hires anyone else, then she will likely be displaced because her hours will be too low to keep her as an employee.

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The Armenia State Pedagogical University (ASPU) teacher curriculum does not correspond to reform initia-

tives implemented in the general education system by the Government of Armenia since 1997. Methods of

instruction, facilities, labs and libraries at many universities are outdated and left over from the Soviet pe-

riod. A greater emphasis is placed on teaching the content of subjects rather than the pedagogical training.

A large number of the instructional hours in the pedagogical universities are allocated for subject-specific

courses. Minimal hours are given to pedagogy and psychology courses. The hours allocated for practical

and pre-service training are insufficient and do not allow students to develop and practice teaching skills.

As a result, a gap exists between pre-service training and actual teaching practices.

The specifics of the curricula covered in universities were not discussed during the interviews for this

study. However, with the ongoing curriculum reforms in general education in Armenia, a number of teach-

ers interviewed spoke about feeling unprepared to tackle the new curriculum changes, as well as the

additional administrative tasks they are required to fulfil in their teaching roles today. In speaking with

teachers about new subjects such as social studies,13 teachers admitted that they did not receive prepara-

tion to teach these subjects. Indeed, there is no university major today that prepares pedagogues to teach

social studies.

The next wave of education reforms, to be administered starting in the 2010/2011 school year by the Min-

istry of Education and Science, will initiate more comprehensive teacher training programmes. These

reforms are aimed at raising the qualification levels of teachers and providing certification for subjects that

are taught by teachers who do not have subject expertise in that area. This process is intended to remedy

the gap that many teachers have between their own education and the education they are responsible for

delivering as pedagogues. The results of these new reforms remain to be seen.

13 In Armenia, the social studies curriculum includes civics, human rights education and economics, and is separate from history and geography.

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PART 5

TEACHER RECRUITMENT, DEVELOPMENT

AND RETENTION POLICIES IN ARMENIA

© ????????

1

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1 PARt 5: teACHeR ReCRUItMent, DeVeLoPMent AnD RetentIon PoLICIes In ARMenIA

5.1 CURRent CHALLenGes AnD PoLICIes In ARMenIA: An oVeRVIeW

Armenia’s education system faces a number of challenges, both in general education and in higher edu-

cation institutions that prepare the pedagogical cadre. Although Armenia has a surplus of teachers who

are qualified to teach, a significant number of teachers employed in schools today are either unqualified

to teach the subjects they are assigned to or have educational backgrounds in the subject area they teach

but no pedagogical training. Many schools also employ university correspondence students, and in all

schools, most teachers do not have full work stavkas and are forced to seek supplementary employment

opportunities elsewhere.

University students with pedagogical degrees usually have great difficulty finding teaching positions in

schools. Many of those who find jobs do so through personal connections or other means. Yet even those

university graduates who do find jobs as teachers are not necessarily prepared for the challenges they

will face as new teachers. Research has shown that there is a significant gap in the pedagogical training

received in Armenian universities and the skills and knowledge needed to be an effective teacher (Center

for Education Projects, 2009).

Attraction and retention

Armenia has a surplus of teachers who are currently not employed in schools and are either seeking em-

ployment or working in other job sectors. Universities graduate double the number of students than the

number of young teachers employed in schools.14 There are no coordinated strategic plans for attracting

new teachers to schools on either the national or district levels. The principals in the schools we visited

also stated that they have no organized plans for attracting teachers. Many said they did not need to take

any proactive measures to attract new staff due to the surplus of potential job candidates. Several princi-

pals said they receive resumes from interested candidates on a weekly basis. A number of administrators

also admitted to being offered bribes to hire teachers.

The issue of supply and demand of teachers is a major challenge that must be addressed on a national

level. As the demand for teachers wanes, it is likely that the interest in the profession will continue to de-

cline. The system may fall into perpetually retaining less qualified candidates while pushing away the best

candidates, and the education sector may experience a gradual decline. In the interviews conducted with

teachers and with students, many expressed negative associations with the teaching profession. Teachers

said they would not pick the field if they had the choice again and do not recommend it to their children.

The vast majority of students who participated in our focus group interviews expressed no interest in be-

ing teachers. The overwhelming majority of students interested in the field were female.

Although the problem of teacher recruitment is not evident at this time, it will likely become an issue in the

near future. As the profession loses popularity with working professionals, university students and the

country’s youth, the government will have to take proactive measures to ensure the sustainability of the

quality education that has defined Armenia throughout its history. The lack of interest in teaching among

the young, the low calibre of many university students who end up majoring in education as a last resort

and the troubling statistics of the number of qualified university graduates who are able to secure teaching

posts are telltale signs of trouble ahead. Particularly since many schools now employ an ageing teaching

population that will begin to retire in the next decade, this is a critical time to evaluate teacher recruitment

14 See part 1, section 2, and Table 1.1, Figure 1.1 and Table 1.2 for comparison of total university students studying education and young teachers employed at schools.

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1policies on national and local levels. Now is the time to initiate recruitment practices to meet the staffing

need that will arise in years to come.

In our interviews with school administrators, principals also reported having no plan of action for retaining

teachers. Although the recent challenging economic conditions in Armenia have meant that most teachers

hold steadfastly to their jobs, we were told of a number of instances in which teachers left schools to take

more lucrative and promising jobs elsewhere.

The Law on General Education enacted in 2009 requires announcing teacher vacancies in mass media

outlets. This will be a major change in the current system and will create competition for attracting and re-

taining teachers. If job vacancies are successfully posted and the equal opportunity process fairly admin-

istrated, schools may entice employed teachers to leave their posts for jobs that offer higher stavka hours.

If this occurs, teacher retention strategies will need to be devised by school administrators. Inevitably,

schools will have to offer teachers more work hours with additional compensation.

Low salaries and alternative sources of income

In periods when the economic situation in Armenia worsens, due to global factors or the rise of oil and

gas prices domestically, many teachers have to find supplemental sources of income for minimum subsis-

tence. Some teachers look for jobs outside of the education sector, while others find additional employ-

ment in private tutoring, often teaching their school students.

Although private tutoring is not a new phenomenon in Armenia, in recent years it has become more com-

mon. With Armenia signed on to the Bologna Process, university entrance exams have become more com-

petitive. Students whose families can afford to pay for tutoring often turn to this method of supplemental

education. The challenge with this rising trend is that it leads to growing inequity between students who

can afford tutoring and those who cannot. It is also a challenge to school administrators who have to take

a stance on the situation and can be pressured to counter the practice of private tutoring. Some of the

principals we interviewed said they were categorically against their teachers tutoring students. Others

said they know many teachers who tutor and are not against the practice.

5.2 PoLICY ReCoMMenDAtIonsThis report investigates many ongoing changes and current challenges in Armenia’s education system.

The in-depth analysis of 10 schools in two marzes has allowed us to understand how major reforms be-

ing implemented on a national scale have affected schools and the local communities in which students

learn and teachers and administrators perform their duties as educators. A close look at the biggest issues

confronting schools allows us to make some policy recommendations that can be implemented on local,

district and national levels. Naturally, some policy recommendations are for short-term actions and others

will take some time to implement.

1. Attention to teacher quality and subject specialists in schools

The most common indicators of real teacher shortage in the 10 schools in our study is the shortage of

subject specialists and the lack of pedagogical training of professionals-turned-teachers or teachers who

never received pedagogical degrees. Every school we visited had a number of classes that were taught by

instructors who were professionals in other fields and came to the teaching profession without pedagogi-

cal training. While their degrees may be related to the subjects they teach, the quality of their teaching, cer-

tainly in the first several years, may have shortcomings due to a lack of experience and training. A number

of pedagogically trained teachers also teach subjects in which they have no subject expertise, which may

compromise the content of the class.

These issues can be addressed in several ways. Principals should meet the challenge of staffing teachers

with specific subject expertise to teach those classes. In making a concerted effort to assign classes to

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1teachers who have educational background and professional training in the subject, principals will move

toward increasing the quality of education. For new subjects that are being implemented into the state

curricula, district education authorities and the Ministry of Education and Science must support schools

as they send teachers to get certified or recertified to teach these subjects. With the introduction of new

attestation policies, MoES is on the right track to raise the professionalism and pedagogical readiness of

the teacher workforce.

Principals must also re-evaluate the assignment of teachers to so-called ‘orphan subjects’ – that is, sec-

ondary subjects such as art and technology, which usually do not have a designated teacher in charge of

the subject and curriculum development. There are several ways in which the practice of assigning these

subjects to teachers who need more work hours can be revamped. The heads of methodological units at

each school can be tasked with ensuring the subjects are proficiently taught and that teachers have the

necessary skills and support to teach the subjects, particularly if they do not have educational backgrounds

in the subject area. Teachers who normally teach orphan subjects can receive additional training to teach

these specialized subjects. MoES must be prepared to meet these training needs.

In an effort to improve teacher quality, MoES is implementing a new attestation process starting in the

2011/2012 school year. The Ministry must keep the process transparent and understandable, particularly

for teachers who will be directly affected by it. Information on the process needs to be provided to schools

and to teachers, and it is the responsibility of MoES and marzpetaran to ensure that the procedures are

clear and clearly communicated. The process must also be fair and multifaceted and include evaluations

based on teacher classroom performance, subject knowledge, teacher development and self-development

tracks, networking, communication, sharing of best practices and developing leadership skills. Corruption

risks in the attestation process must be mitigated at all costs.

On a national level, MoES must work closely with universities granting pedagogical degrees to implement

the training and certification objectives that will raise the preparedness of teachers in subject areas and in

pedagogy.

2. Introduction of multi-grade and multi-subject teaching

Multi-grade teaching is perceived as an emergency measure for schools that have small student popula-

tions, especially in remote areas. Multi-subject teaching is a commonly used practice in schools where

there is a shortage of teachers or subject specialists. International research demonstrates that in these

situations, multi-grade teaching can be extremely effective and can contribute to an increase in education

quality.

Taking into consideration the recent trend of decreasing school populations, and as a result, the increase

in the number of schools that serve less than 100 students, it is reasonable to introduce pre-service and

in-service training opportunities for teaching and managing multi-grade classes in Armenia. To address

the issue related to the lack of teachers who have training to teach specific subjects in rural schools, a key

measure will be to ensure that teacher training programmes also prepare multi-subject specialists. Cur-

rently, multi-grade and multi-subject teaching methodologies are not included in the pedagogical degree

programmes in Armenia.

Multi-grade teaching will increase the effective use and distribution of school resources and increase com-

munication between teachers. This practice has been implemented in the last two decades by assign-

ing teaching hours of closely related subjects (such as math/physics, chemistry/biology and history/social

studies) to non-specialists, or to teachers teaching subjects for which they were not trained. In-service

teacher training institutions should establish relevant programmes for preparing multi-subject specialists.

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13. Teacher education reform and equitable recruitment into the teaching profession

Armenia faces difficult challenges in the field of teacher reform. A lot of work lies ahead to reconcile the

university curricula in the education departments with what teachers are expected to teach in schools.

Specific measures must be put in place to ensure that universities preparing teachers are aware of the

current education policies and ongoing reforms and can adjust their curricula to meet the needs of general

education in the country. For example, in the 2010/2011 school year, secondary schools will continue to ex-

pand to 12 grades. Universities must be ready to support the process by preparing future pedagogues to

teach in a 12-grade school system. Based on our interviews with teachers and national and district MoES

officials, there is a need for more courses on interactive teaching, child development and how teachers and

schools can involve parents in the education process. It is also critical for university courses to be more

aligned with pre-service and in-service teacher practices. At this time, students either take courses at a uni-

versity or they are enrolled in correspondence degree programmes, which require minimal course hours.

Full-time university students often do not teach at all until they complete their education. Correspondence

students who are also teachers usually teach for years before they receive their degrees. Teacher educa-

tion must aim for a middle ground between these two practices to give teachers-in-training adequate edu-

cational training and ample student teaching experience to ready them for a career in teaching.

Our research reveals that there is a growing disconnect between the expectation of MoES for educators

regarding the implementation of new education policies, and the support and guidance that is needed and

expected on the school level. In several interviews with ministry-level authorities, there was concern that

education reforms are still on paper but not happening in practice. This problem ranges from the teaching

of new subjects in the national curriculum to meeting the expectations of the Bologna Process, which Ar-

menia signed on to in 2005. This disconnect is apparent in the ties between the ministry and the country’s

higher education institutions.

In order for universities to prepare future teachers for successful careers in an education system that is

undergoing dramatic reforms, the Ministry of Education and Science must enhance its communication

strategies with the education departments at universities. The effort must come from both parties, but the

onus is on MoES to establish a systematic approach to share information with higher education institu-

tions. This can include organizing informational seminars at universities and at government venues in the

capital and throughout the regions, regular written communication, and most importantly, forming work-

ing relationships and more collaborations between university professors and MoES curriculum planning

officials. Partnerships between education scholars and policy experts will result in more informed educa-

tion policies and a pedagogical cadre that is able to meet the needs of a changing educational landscape in

Armenia. As the attestation process begins, universities must also have a key role as partner institutions

of MoES, and provide insights into the training and retraining process of teachers. Current best practices

in pedagogy and subject-area expertise taught in university education departments should form the basis

of the training portion of the attestation process. In due course, training and retraining programmes for

current teachers should be aligned with the courses taken by education students to become teachers.

Once the Ministry of Education and Science and university education departments are more aligned in

mission, they must also work together to systematize and integrate a process for recruiting teachers into

the workforce. There is an ageing population of teachers throughout Armenia. Some schools have as

many as 34 per cent of teachers who will be of retirement age in next decade. Now is the right time to

develop strategic plans to recruit new teachers into the workforce. It is crucial that this process is equitable

and not based on external factors such as personal connections, so that teacher recruitment can be merit-

based. For this to be achieved, universities need to be involved and work with MoES to establish a teacher

recruitment process and a ‘feeder’ mechanism that sends the best graduates to teach at schools around

the country. Teacher position vacancies should be advertised at universities. MoES and district education

offices should support this process and encourage school administrators to seek out the most qualified

candidates to become teachers at their schools.

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1To make the process of hiring new teachers more effective, MoES may consider introducing a system of

professional development schools (PDS), or clinical schools. The PDS network consists of in-service teach-

er training institutions aimed at enhancing the quality of teaching and increasing student performance

and achievement. It links university teaching with school practices by incorporating best practices into

programmes, and contributes to the development of effective peer-teaching mechanisms in schools, and

pedagogical theory and practice in universities.15

4. Introduction of selection and screening procedures in pre-service teacher training and teacher recruitment processes

Our research and literature review found that pre-service teacher training institutions do not have strict

screening and selection processes, which results in the training of students who are not interested in tak-

ing teaching positions after graduation. The analysis of the university admission scores discussed in this

report reveals that admission exam scores needed to enterpedagogical universities are lower compared to

other disciplines of study. Both of these factors contribute to the teacher surplus in the system. There are

a significant number of graduates with pedagogical degrees who are currently not employed in schools

and are either seeking employment or working in other job sectors. And yet the school administrators and

district officials with whom we conducted interviews stated that they do not have plans for attracting teach-

ers since there is no need for new staff due to the surplus of potential job candidates.

A strategic priority that MoES may consider is the introduction of policy measures to control the number

of students entering pedagogical universities so that admission and enrolment numbers can be aligned

with the projected demand for teachers and administrators in the general education system. If Armenia

is seriously considering enhancing the quality of general education, this policy should be complemented

by measures to attract high performing students and highly qualified teachers to the teaching profession.

As the seminal McKinsey report on the world’s best education systems notes, “The quality of an education

system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers” (Barber and Mourshed 2007, 16).

The teaching profession entrusts skilled adults with children’s development, formation of their knowledge

base, skills and abilities to participate in the social and political life of their society. In the course of our

research, we were privy to information shared by school administrators on why teachers with sub-par

qualifications were allowed to perform the teaching duties in their schools. Much of the rationale was

related to school administrators acting in the interest of the community at-large, before considering the

educational needs of the children at school. As the only employment opportunity in the community avail-

able for teachers, school administrators have no choice but to keep (and often protect from dismissal)

teachers from their community, regardless of their qualifications to teach. The Ministry of Education and

Science, regional educational authorities and schools need to weigh their options of replacing unquali-

fied teachers or providing significant and permanent professional development opportunities within and

outside of schools.

5. The salary structure and the status of teachers in Armenia

Our interviews with teachers and administrators were dominated by a discussion of salaries and the al-

location of school resources to maximize the earning potential of teachers. The issue of inadequate and

unequal teacher compensation is the biggest challenge for recruitment and retention of teachers, and

15 More about the PDS model can be found in the following teacher handbooks: S. Vardumyan, at al. (2004).Professional approach to pre-service teacher training: Theory and practice. Noyyan Tapan, Yerevan, pages 118-136.

16 S. Vardumyan, A. Hovhannisyan and G. Varella. (2005). Modern pedagogical approaches. Professional education and professional development. Noyyan Tapan, Yerevan, pages 189-302. S. Khachatryan, at al. (2005). Contemporary issues for social studies teaching. Tigran Mets, Yerevan, pages 393-404.

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1will shape the future of the education system in Armenia as more young people decide to – or not to – go

into the profession. As it stands today, many teachers do not feel they have income security from year to

year, since salaries often vary between school years, depending on how many courses are available and

between how many teachers the work hours are divided.

Per capita school financing has made funding processes for schools more efficient, but it has not had a

direct impact on stabilizing salaries for individual teachers. Although the government increased the maxi-

mum hours of one stavka from 18 to 22 hours, this policy has not effectively resulted in more teachers

having larger stavkas. The optimization reforms in the early 2000s reduced the teacher workforce, but have

not directly increased the salaries of current teachers. Conversely, many teachers expressed that they have

more trouble with daily subsistence today than at any other period in recent years.

The findings presented in this report reveal that there are significant differences in the salaries of teachers

within schools and across schools. For the most part, the low teaching loads are not what teachers choose

but what the school assigns to them. A lack of more teaching hours forces many educators to seek addi-

tional employment elsewhere. For a number of teachers, secondary jobs become their primary sources of

income. Across schools, our research shows that there are differences in teacher compensation structures

devised by school administrators. This is true for base salaries calculated by total teaching hours, and is

particularly so for compensation of additional teacher responsibilities, including for homeroom duties and

grading notebooks.

The salary structure of teachers as it exists now needs to be re-evaluated. School administrators should

not be solely responsible for establishing compensation processes. School methodological units should

be consulted to decide stavka load per teacher. MoES should also consider instituting a policy for mini-

mum stavka hours for subject teaching or a minimum salary for all teachers. The minimum salary should

also take into consideration teachers’ non-teaching hours devoted to preparatory work and school-related

extra-curricular activities.

With the implementation of the attestation process, there will be a basis for establishing a performance-

based compensation system. Currently, there is little distinction in the salary scale between teachers who

have the appropriate educational background and those who do not. There is also a very minimal salary

increase for years of work experience. This creates little motivation for teachers to improve their perfor-

mance and little incentive to stay in the field. Even more importantly, a profession without any salary

incentives and growth potential is unappealing to new candidates entering the field. Linking performance

and salary and creating incentives for growth in the profession would increase the potential for attracting

qualified candidates into the education sphere. A decompression of the current salary structure that steep-

ly increases teacher salaries only in the beginning of their careers would also be well received by teachers

who have devoted their professional lives to the field of education. MoES may also plan to reintroduce a

teacher benefit package that includes teacher remuneration as well as social supplements, such as medical

insurance and discounts for loans and mortgages.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the relative decrease of monetary compensation for teachers in

comparison with the cost of living has also been coupled with a gradual decline in the high reputation of

the teaching profession and the respect teachers have enjoyed for decades. The decline in both the social

status and financial standing of teachers is a tell-tale sign of major challenges in the education sector that

will permeate throughout society and affect today’s students as well as generations to come. Our inter-

views with secondary school students revealed that most do not aspire to be teachers. But they all hope

that their teachers will impart in them the knowledge and skills they need to be successful members of

society. This opinion of students in Gegharkunik and Lori marzes is a call to action to revive the prestige of

the profession and revamp the compensation system to ensure a dignified life for teachers and to attract

more young people into the profession.

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Appendix A: the Republic of Armenia Law on General education

(Adopted on 10.07.2009)

Chapter 5

Participants of the educational process in an educational institution

Article 19. Participants of the educational process in an educational institution

1. There are the following participants of the educational process in an educational institution:

1) the student;

2) the student’s parent;

3) the teacher and other pedagogical workers;

4) administrative workers;

5) the representatives of the authorized body of education state management, the bodies of

territorial administration and local self-governance and other individuals involved in the Council

and advisory bodies.

Article 20. the student’s rights and obligations

1. The students of educational institutions shall have equal rights and obligations. These are stipulated

by law and the by-laws of the educational institution.

2. A student shall have the right to:

1) get education that corresponds to the state educational standard of general education;

2) with consent of his/her parent, choose the educational institution and the form of teaching,

as well as the stream available in the given educational institution; receive paid educational

services;

3) avail of free-of-charge use of the educational institution’s material and instructional base;

4) participate in the curricular and extra-curricular events;

5) be protected against any physical and psychological pressure, exploitation, such actions or

inaction of the pedagogical and other workers and students that violate the student’s rights or

infringe upon his/her honour and dignity;

6) participate in the educational institution management in accordance with the procedure stipu-

lated in the by-laws of the educational institution;

7) freely search for and easily access any information, except for the cases specifically stipulated

by law;

8) freely express his/her own opinion and beliefs;

9) exercise other rights prescribed by law and the by-laws of the educational institution;

3. A student shall be obliged to:

1) meet the requirements established by the educational institution’s by-laws and the rules of the

internal discipline;

2) acquire knowledge in correspondence with the state standards of general education, develop

and enhance the relevant skills and abilities, meet the requirements towards the established

system of values;

3) attend and participate in the schooling lessons;

4) fulfil other responsibilities prescribed by law and the by-laws of the educational institution.

Article 21. Disciplinary sanctions applied to students

1. Discipline in educational institutions shall be provided by law, the educational institution’s by-laws and

the internal rules of conduct.

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2. In the cases of non-fulfilment or improper fulfilment of the educational institution’s internal rules of

conduct, the following disciplinary sanctions may be applied to the students of the middle and high

schools in accordance with the educational institution’s by-laws:

1) reprimand;

2) strict reprimand.

3. Within one year following the date of applying a disciplinary sanction towards a student, the disciplin-

ary sanction may be removed, if the student has not allowed a new violation of discipline and demon-

strated diligence and exemplary behaviour.

4. In the case when the disciplinary sanction stipulated in par. 2 of Section 2 of this Article is applied

again towards the same student in the course of one academic year, the educational institution shall be

entitled to:

1) offer to the student’s parent to relocate the student to another educational institution;

2) apply to an authorized body of social assistance sphere, requesting to organize social assis-

tance service for the child.

5. If a student enrolled in a non-state educational institution, a specialized general education school, and

the system of alternative education, or his/her parent, are in breach of the contractual provisions, or the

student has not met the minimum requirements related to the internalization of the educational content

and volume, the given educational institution may unilaterally terminate the contract, with a 10-day no-

tice to the parent.

6. The parent shall be responsible for the student’s frequent unjustified absenteeism in accordance with

the procedure established by law.

Article 22. students’ health care

1. The educational institution shall ensure safe and secure conditions for the educational programme

implementation, a normal working schedule, medical care and services, conditions required for the

students’ physical development and strengthening of health; form personal hygiene and healthy lifestyle

skills in accordance with the procedure established by the authorized body of state management in the

sphere of health care.

2. To the end of the students’ health care, prevention of difficulties in physical and mental development,

and rehabilitation, at least once a year each student shall undergo medical (preventive) examination by

the educational institution’s medical service and, in the absence of such possibility – by the territorial

service health care organization, at the expense of the state budget resources.

Article 23. Incentives for students

1. Forms moral and material incentives may be established for students by the educational institution, its

founder, the authorized body of education state management, the bodies of territorial administration and

local self-governance, social partners, organizations, individuals, such as letters of acknowledgement,

honour certificates, monetary incentives or other forms established by the by-laws of the educational

institution.

Article 24. Pedagogical workers

1. The list of position titles, their scope of work, qualification scales; procedures for hiring, dismissal,

appointment of pensions, organizing health checks of the educational institution’s pedagogical workers

shall be established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

2. The pedagogical worker’s position shall not be held by an individual who:

1) has been recognized incapable or partially capable by a ruling of the court;

2) has been deprived of the right to practice pedagogy by a ruling of the court;

3) suffers from a disease which may impede the fulfilment of pedagogical activity. The list of

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such diseases shall be approved by the Government of the Republic of Armenia;

4) has been condemned for a crime and such conviction has not been recognized void or re-

deemed according to the established procedure, except for the cases when the condemnation

occurred for unintentional crime.

3. In case of a vacancy for the teacher’s position in an educational institution, it shall be filled based on

a competition in accordance with the model procedure established by the authorized body of education

state management and the by-laws of the educational institution, except for the cases when there is a

candidate who acquired on-demand professional education.

Article 25. Working schedule and pedagogical service record of educational institution employees

1. The specifics of the working and leave schedule of an educational institution’s employees shall be

defined by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

2. The pedagogical service record of an educational institution’s pedagogical and administrative em-

ployees shall be calculated in accordance with the procedure established by the laws of the Republic of

Armenia.

3. The full teaching workload (teaching volume) of a state educational institution teacher’s full-time job

shall not exceed 22 class hours per week.

4. A state educational institution’s administrative worker in the case of availability of the appropriate

qualification can pluralistically have a teaching workload of up to eight class hours a week.

Article 26. teachers and their attestation

1. Any individual who has adequate qualification or at least five years’ record of professional service

within the past 10 years can become a teacher in an educational institution.

2. The teacher’s attestation process is organized based on the procedure defined by the Government of

the Republic of Armenia.

3. A teacher’s regular attestation shall be held once in every five years, whereas the special attestation

shall occur at least upon two years’ time following the regular attestation.

4. Teacher attestation can be organized in simple and complex procedures.

5. The simple procedure shall be implemented by way of attestation based on documentation, on behalf

of the territorial commission of teachers’ attestation, whereas the complex procedure shall be realized

through testing and interviewing by the republican commission of teachers’ attestation. The procedure

for setting up and activity of the teachers’ attestation territorial and republican commissions shall be

established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

6. Each year one fifth of an educational institution’s teaching staff shall be subject to attestation based on

the timetable approved by the director of the educational institution.

7. Each year the director shall compile a list of teachers subject to attestation for the given year and sub-

mit it to the territorial commission of attestation by May 1.

8. The territorial commission shall consider and define the teachers’ attestation timetable within one

month’s time and duly notify the corresponding educational institution and the republican commission of

attestation within three days.

9. A teacher subject to regular attestation shall be notified about the timing of documentation attestation

at least three months in advance to such attestation.

10. A teacher subject to regular attestation shall receive preliminary retraining funded by the educational

institution in accordance with the standards set by the authorized body of education state management.

In certain cases the authorized body of education state management may organize the teachers’ special

mandatory retraining at the expense of the state budget or other resources.

11. The educational institution shall independently select pedagogical workers, including the organization

to provide training to the teachers subject to attestation. The teachers’ retraining programmes shall be

developed by the state management authorized body.

12. At least one month before the attestation, the educational institution’s director shall submit the

teacher’s performance reference and the documentary evidence of his/her performance results, upon

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familiarizing the teacher in question with these documents.

13. The teacher’s performance reference shall include data on the teacher, his/her practical, human

characteristics, as well as on subject-related professional and pedagogical knowledge and abilities, and a

justified evaluation of the teacher’s performance results.

14. Failure to submit a reference shall not negatively influence the outcome of the teacher’s attestation.

15. The teacher’s performance results shall be evaluated based on the following documentation:

1) inquiries of the educational institution’s advisory bodies about the teacher’s performance;

2) results of the retrainings received for continuous improvement of professional knowledge and

working skills (certificate, letter of accomplishment, etc.);

3) the conclusion (related to the teacher) issued upon the educational institution inspection and

other tools;

16. The comprehensive list of documents to be submitted for a teacher’s attestation shall be established

by the authorized body of education state management.

17. The documentation-based simple procedure attestation shall be carried out on the basis of the docu-

ments submitted in accordance with the established list.

18. In case of each teacher the territorial commission of attestation adopts one of the following deci-

sions, based on a majority vote:

1) the teacher corresponds to the position held;

2) the teacher corresponds to the position held and shall be awarded a qualification rank;

3) the teacher corresponds to the position held but is subject to decrease of qualification rank;

4) the teacher does not correspond to the position held.

19. The territorial commission of attestation shall announce its decisions on the same day and within two

days submit them with proper justifications to the republican commission of attestation and the relevant

educational institution. The decision taken through a complex attestation procedure and that related to

awarding or decreasing the qualification rank of a teacher shall be submitted to the republican commis-

sion of attestation based on the documents related to the teacher’s performance results as set out in

Articles 12, 15 and 16 hereunder;

20. A teacher shall be subject to attestation through a complex procedure and interview, and awarding

or decreasing the qualification rank, if:

1) with regard to the teacher the territorial commission of attestation has taken one of the deci-

sions stated in paragraphs 2 and 3 of Section 18 of this Article;

2) he/she seeks to receive a qualification rank and has passed a documentation-based attesta-

tion.

21. The decision stated in Section 18, par. 4 hereunder shall be subject to complex attestation procedure

if the decision was appealed in writing by the given teacher or the educational institution.

22. A teacher subject to complex attestation procedure shall be notified about the attestation procedure,

testing, questionnaire form, date and time no later than three months prior to such attestation.

23. The order for organizing and implementing attestation based on a complex procedure shall be estab-

lished by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, to include the forms of organizing tests and inter-

views, evaluation of their results, content components of the questionnaires, the form of a test paper, etc.

24. The qualification criterion of a teacher’s correspondence to professional knowledge and working

abilities is the qualification rank which shall be defined on three levels for each degree of qualification.

25.The dimensions of a teacher’s qualification ranks shall be established on the basis of the teacher’s

professional knowledge, the scope of pedagogical working skills and abilities, efficiency of creative and

research activities, the record of professional service, other qualitative indicators of pedagogical perfor-

mance (including: awards, participation in relevant competitions, retrainings for professional growth,

etc.).

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26. At his/her own initiative, a teacher can undergo evaluation of the subject-based professional and

pedagogical knowledge in accordance with any qualification rank in organizations duly recommended by

the authorized body of education state management, and get a corresponding certificate.

27. The republican commission of attestation shall take one of the following decisions based on test and

interview results:

1) the teacher shall be awarded a qualification rank;

2) the teacher’s qualification rank shall be decreased;

3) the decision “the teacher does not correspond to the position held” shall be reconsidered;

4) the decision “the teacher does not correspond to the position held” shall be reaffirmed.

28. A teacher or the administration can bring an appeal against the attestation results within 15 work-

ing days following the receipt of the decision of the territorial commission of attestation. Such appeals

against the attestation results shall be reviewed by the republican commission of attestation, with a

corresponding decision taken within a month’s time. The decision of the republican commission can be

appealed in court.

29. The teacher acquiring a qualification rank through attestation is given a corresponding salary rise at

the expense of the funds allocated by the educational institution according to the procedure prescribed

by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

30. The decisions of the territorial and republican commissions of attestation shall serve as a basis for a

teacher’s employment, dismissal from the position held, as well as for awarding a corresponding qualifi-

cation rank and defining a salary increase.

31. Based on Section 27, par. 4 hereunder the educational institution shall dismiss the given teacher

within three days and announce a competition for filling the vacancy. Dismissal of a teacher from the

position held shall not entail his/her deprivation of the right to practice pedagogical activity.

32. Special attestation may be held two years after the regular attestation at the earliest:

1) at the initiative of a teacher;

2) at the request of the institution’s Pedagogical Council:

3) based on the grounded decision of the director.

33. A teacher undergoing special (out of turn) attestation shall have at least two years’ record of peda-

gogical service, of which at least one year will be at the given institution.

34. Not subject to attestation shall be:

1) the teachers holding the given position for a period less than a year;

2) pregnant teachers and those on maternity leave for looking after a child younger than three

years of age, unless they have expressed desire to undergo attestation.

35. The pregnant teachers and teachers on maternity leave for looking after children under three years of

age shall be subject to attestation not earlier than a year after returning to work from their vacation, un-

less such teachers express a desire for earlier attestation;

36. A teacher subject to attestation, who is on vacation, on a business trip, as well as temporarily on sick

leave, shall be subject to attestation within four months upon returning to work.

Article 27. Pedagogical workers’ rights and obligations

1. A pedagogical worker shall be entitled to:

1) participate in the management of an educational institution in accordance with the procedure

established by the laws of the Republic of Armenia and the by-laws of the educational institu-

tion;

2) elect and be elected to relevant positions and corresponding bodies of management;

3) participate in discussions and resolution of issues related to the educational

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institution’s activity;

4) file appeals against orders, decisions and directives issued by the educational institution’s

governing bodies in accordance with the procedure established by the laws of the Republic of

Armenia;

5) submit recommendations on improvement of subject standards, curricula and textbooks;

6) avail of the educational institution’s library, information database services, according to the

by-laws of the educational institution;

7) select and apply such methods and tools of teaching that will ensure high quality of the edu-

cational process, through using at his/her discretion the textbooks and educational materials,

manuals and methods for assessing the students’ knowledge, skills and abilities, as recommend-

ed by the authorized body of education state management;

8) be protected against such actions of students, pedagogical and other workers that infringe on

his/her professional reputation and dignity;

9) have organizational, material and technical conditions for carrying out the professional activi-

ties;

10) set up organizations, trade unions or become members thereof for protecting own interests

in accordance with the procedure established by the Republic of Armenia legislation;

11) according to the state standard of general education, develop and deliver lesson plans, the-

matic units;

12) participate in retrainings, symposiums, conferences and discussions;

13) apply for an out-of-schedule attestation or getting the corresponding qualification rank level;

14) avail of the rights, competencies and forms of incentives prescribed by the laws and educa-

tional institution by-laws;

2. A pedagogical worker shall be obliged to:

1) respect and defend the student’s rights and freedoms, dignity and integrity;

2) contribute to the exercise of a child’s right to education, taking into consideration every child’s

specific educational needs;

3) contribute to the process of internalization of general education (main and additional) pro-

grammes by the students of an educational institution and meeting of the subjects standards,

as well as formation of the appropriate knowledge, skills, system of values through applying

relevant teaching methodologies; carry out general education programmes;

4) ensure the mandatory minimum attainment by students of programmatic content prescribed

by the state standard of general education through applying most effective teaching methods

and modern technologies;

5) persistently improve his/her own subject-based professional knowledge and skills; carry out

creative and research activities;

6) cooperate with parents in the issues related to the children’s education at school and at home;

7) cooperate with partners for exchange of experience and enhancement of the professional

performance effectiveness;

8) abide by the requirements set out in the educational institution by-laws, legal acts and rules of

internal conduct;

9) form appropriate behaviour and conduct among the students, promulgate patriotism;

10) develop independence, initiative and creativity among students;

3. The educational institution, its founder, the authorized body of education state management, the ter-

ritorial administration and local self-governance bodies, social partners, organizations and individuals

can establish moral and material forms of incentives or the pedagogical workers, such as acknowledge-

ments, honour certificates, monetary incentives or other forms established by the by-laws of the educa-

tional institution.

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Article 28. Rights and obligations of a student’s parent

1. A student’s parent shall be entitled to:

1) choose an educational institution and form of education for a child’s learning;

2) cooperate with the educational institution’s pedagogical workers in the issues of organizing

his/her child’s education;

3) apply to relevant bodies with regard to the issues connected with the child’s development,

education and upbringing;

4) defend his/her and the child’s legal interests in the corresponding agencies;

5) participate in the process of implementation and efficiency evaluation of the general educa-

tion programmes;

6) participate in the internal evaluation of the educational institution;

7) participate in the educational institution’s management according to the by-laws of the educa-

tional institution.

The student’s parent shall also exercise other rights prescribed by the legislation of the Republic

of Armenia and other legal acts.

2. The student’s parent shall be liable to:

1) ensure appropriate conditions in the family for the child to attain education;

2) take permanent care of the child’s physical health and mental state; create adequate condi-

tions for the development of the child’s preferences and abilities and for meeting its educational

needs;

3) respect the child’s dignity, promulgate diligence, goodwill, friendliness, tolerance, compas-

sion, respectful attitude towards family, older people, the state and mother tongue, national

traditions and habits;

4) upbring the child in an atmosphere of respect towards national, historical, cultural values and

the native country; of caring attitude towards the historic and cultural heritage of the country

and environment, tolerance to other nations and cultures;

5) promote respectful attitude towards the educational institution and pedagogical workers;

6) bring the child to the educational institution within the timeframes defined in Articles 15 and

16 of this Law;

7) reimburse the losses caused to the educational institution either by him-/herself or the child;

8) prevent the student from smoking, using alcoholic drinks, psychotropic substances, dealing

with weapons, ammunition, toxic, explosive and other such materials prohibited by law and the

educational institution’s by-laws.

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Appendix B: Countrywide vacancies by subject in 2009

teacher shortage indicators in primary and secondary school

(Grades 1–11)

Statistics Year SourceNumber of schools lacking teachers, countrywide 65 schools 2008 MoES

Number of teachers needed, all subjects 121 2008 MoES

Total number of all teachers employed 42,601 2008 NSA

Number of vacancies (measured in teaching loads/

stavkas)

1,377 instruc-

tional hours

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies as a per cent of all teaching loads/

stavkas2008 MoES

Number of vacancies (stavkas) in primary school 36 hours,

2 vacancies

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies (teaching loads/stavkas) in state

language(s)

91 hours,

6 vacancies

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in other national language(s), if

applicable

N/A 2008

Number of vacancies in foreign languages (Russian,

English, etc.)

Russian: 261

hours, 18 va-

cancies

English: 288

hours, 20 va-

cancies

French: 26

hours,2 vacan-

cies

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in mathematics 105 hours,

7 vacancies

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in physics 56 hours,

5 vacancies

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in chemistry 84 hours,

14 vacancies

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in geography 112 hours,

14 vacancies

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in biology 80 hours,

13 vacancies

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in computer science 4 hours,

1 vacancy

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in history, economics, social sci-

ence

128 hours,

10 vacancies

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in sports, physical education 85 hours,

7 vacancies

2008 MoES

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Number of vacancies in music, and arts, labour classes 6 hours,1 va-

cancy

2008 MoES

Number of vacancies in other subjects 15 hours,

1 vacancy

2008 MoES

Weekly normative teaching load of preschool teachers

(stavka)

31 hours 2008 MoES

Weekly normative teaching load of primary school teach-

ers

36 hours,

22 instruction-

al hours

2008 MoES

Weekly normative teaching load of secondary school

teachers

36 hours

22 instruction-

al hours

2008 MoES

Average teaching load (per week) of teachers (instruc-

tional hours)

14.5 hours 2008 MoES

Vacancies in urban schools as a percentage of all vacan-

cies

100 2008 MoES

Vacancies in rural schools as a percentage of all vacan-

cies

0 2008 MoES

Vacancies in the province with the lowest teacher short-

age (as a percentage of all vacancies): Armavir

0.5 2008 MoES

Vacancies in the province with the highest teacher short-

age (as a percentage of all vacancies): Syunik

31 2008 MoES

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Appendix C: summary data on teacher vacancies by marz

Marz 2005/2006 2006/2007* 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010

Yerevan 42 0 21 2 8

Aragatsotn 51 0 31 7 10

Ararat 6 0 4 4 1

Armavir 3 0 0 8 5

Gegharkhunik 0 0 10 1 11

Lori 14 0 14 11 8

Kotayk 7 0 0 15 8

Shirak 44 0 16 17 57

Syunik 7 0 1 11 10

Vayots Dzor 4 0 4 4 2

Tavush 0 0 2 1 0

total 178 0 103 81 120 Source: NaCET, data provided to UNICEF, May 2010

*Data for 2006/2007 is not available.

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IAREFERNENCES

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(Footnotes)

1 In schools where there are two teachers with the same stavka loads, the teacher with the higher salary is chosen for this table (including if they received supplementary allowances as homeroom teacher, for grading notebooks or as curriculum developer).

2 This teacher has the lowest teaching load but is also the youth activities coordinator at the school. She receives 53,560 AMD for teaching and 40,500 for duties as youth activities coordinator. As an Armenian language and litera-ture teacher, she also receives a supplement of 2,730 AMD for notebook checking and grading tests.

UNICEF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AND THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES

A STUDY ON RECRUITMENT, DEVELOPMENTAND SALARIES OF TEACHERS IN ARMENIA

International Education Policy Studies

Raisa Belyavina and Ann Wiley

Teachers College, Columbia University, New York

Tigran Tovmasyan

Yerevan State Linguistic University, Armenia

Ruben Petrosyan

Yerevan State University, Armenia

Alvard Poghosyan and Armine Ter-Ghevondyan

UNICEF Armenia

Layout Manvel Harutyunyan

Technical Editor Ararat Tovmasyan

“ANTARES” Publishing House

Yerevan 0009, Mashtots ave. 50a/1

Tel.` +(374 10) 58 10 59, 56 15 26

Tel./Fax` +(374 10) 58 76 69

[email protected]

www.antares.am

YEREVAN 0010, PETROS ADAMYAN 14

Unicef teachers final_eng_mh

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