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A seminar-workshop on improving students’ speaking skills using digital technologies and IELTS teaching techniques for English language teachers from Yerevan, Armavir, Vanadzor, Abovyan, Charentsavan, Artashat.
The seminar was conducted by Lusine Topchyan, project manager of ‘CEP’ ngo, lecturer of M. Khorenatsi University and Sevan Ghazarian, author of the following coursebooks: IELTS Frontiers; The True Color of Speaking.
The seminar was organized in cooperation with Movses Khorenatsi University of Yerevan.11.05.2023
Since 2019, having been a member of the Public Council attached to the Minister of ESCS of the RA, our representative raised a number of problems in the educational and cultural systems, in particular:
– the sale of diploma works, when students do not research, think, create themselves, but simply buy these works and accordingly receive a qualification,
– the gaps and shortcomings of the training system of teachers subject to regular (compulsory) certification, which will have a negative impact from the point of view of ensuring quality and efficiency,
– ineffective approaches to the preservation of historical and cultural heritage, as a result of which many monuments are on the verge of destruction. Moreover, they could be not only cultural, educational, but also interesting and important tourist centers.
In practice, no steps were taken to solve the above-mentioned problems, on the contrary, the raised problems were simply ignored by the Ministry of ESCS, not considering the need to solve the raised problems.
The public council attached to the Minister of ESCS is a consultative body and it is logical that there should be a consistent approach by the employees of the ESCS Ministry to the raised observations, advice and suggestions so that the cooperation could be effective and not in vain.05.06.2023
Within the framework of the project for the youth of the Ani community located in Shirak province, RA, we visited the settlements of the community, where the youth are most actively involved in the project, dutifully participating in the courses for making multimedia content, social-media marketing, building a wordpress website. They have a desire to apply the knowledge gained during the courses for the improvement and development of their settlements. During the visit, we recorded a number of problems and we will try to find ways to solve them together. The implementation of the project was made possible thanks to the financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office, as well as cooperation with the German organization Wechange.
The ‘Cooperation beyond Borders – Transnational Public Administration and Organizing (TPAO) organized by Södertörn University was held in Tbilisi, Georgia from 14th to 21st August, 2022.
Our representative presented weak ties vs. strong ties in Resources and Networks of TPA (Transnational Public Administration) at the Swedish Institute Academy for Young Professionals (SAYP 2022) training programme.
The “Transforming Education” National Consultation took place in Yerevan on July 14 organized by the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and the United Nations office in Armenia. The purpose of the National Consultation was to reveal the current issues for Armenia, which are related to education and the educational environment and develop a shared vision, commitment, and alignment of actions to accelerate progress on education as part of the 2030 Agenda. During the Consultation the following issues were discussed: the impact of the pandemic and recovery from COVID-19 educational disruption, methods and content of education, the use of digital tools, the improvement of schools as a healthy and inclusive environment, educational methods and redefining the role of the teaching staff, financing of education and the use of public resources. In the working group our organization’s members talked about the reforms related to understanding the effectiveness of the teacher training systems, projects; taking into account the importance of monitoring, estimating the inserted mechanisms for necessary monitoring, analyzing the data after monitoring, creating the transparent, accountable justice competitive conditions in the education sector. The results of the consultation will be used to develop the National Statement of Commitment in the field of education reform in RA. The documents resulting from the Consultation will also be used to present RA’s educational priorities at the Transforming Education Summit taking place during the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2022.
Education and Innovation summit 2022 addressed the challenges of the digital transformation in higher education. It was also interesting to know about the opening of the European Digital Education Hub, which is a space for exchange and co-operation, and enabling innovation in digital education at EU level.
At the Public Council attached to the Minister of Education, Science, Sport and Culture, Lusine Topchyan, project manager of the ‘Collaborative Educational Projects’ NGO, presented the problems and omissions that arose during the launch of the new training system for teachers subject to mandatory certification in 2021: in particular, the effectiveness of the communication mechanisms between the state authorized body and all the public schools, mechanisms to prosecute the organizations, which violated the regulations, the existence of a relevant page on training courses on emis.am, checking the effectiveness and quality of training courses, the cost of training courses for one teacher and the control over the activities as well as the issue of ensuring competitive conditions between guaranteed organizations.
The webinar entitled “Development of postgraduate education in Armenia for the benefit of the economy” took place on the initiative of Eurasia International University and Erasmus + with the support of the European Union. Especially it was essential to get acquainted with the experience of a number of European countries – France, Lithuania, Italy, Poland, according to which a strong, mutually beneficial, highly favorable connection was established between the educational “economic spheres”. In the above-mentioned countries, entrepreneurs in various fields work closely with higher education institutions to train relevant specialists; it is often the entrepreneurs, who finance the young people, who will later become their employee in their institutions. Using this approach, we can close the huge gap that has arisen between the labor market and education provided in universities, which often does not meet the existing requirements. The full implementation of this option will be a great impetus for the development of our national economy.
The ‘Collaborative Educational Projects’ NGO participated in the first session of the Public Council attached to the Minister of Education, Science, Sport and Culture. The main theme was about the draft of the RA law on ‘Higher education and science.’
A cooperation agreement, signed between the ‘Collaborative Educational Projects’ NGO and the University named after Movses Khorenatsi.
Dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership conference “Living smart-Empowering Youth”, which discussed a number of important issues related to education, youth, entrepreneurship, creative thinking and digital technologies.
CEP NGO participated in the networking conference ”Civil Society 4.0” organized by the German Federal Foreign Office and WECHANGE team, in Berlin, Germany, 2019, where we discussed future project ideas, shared our experiences and best practices.
