By the decision of the Council of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and upon the Faculty QA members' discussion, the BTBF Manual of Quality Teaching/Learning at the University level has been officially implemented as a comprehensive tool for in-chair (Chair of Romance and Germanic Languages and their teaching methodology, Chair of Teaching Foreign Languages for Specific Purposes, Chair of Russian and its Teaching Methodology, and Chair of Foreign Literature) quality professional (methodological) counselling and criteria measurement. The Chair members in charge of quality assurance agreed upon the Dean's scheme of implementing the respective materials of the manual mentioned above through the following stages: (a) in-chair discussion for highlighting the most important chapters (titles), (b) developing methodological recommendations on how to implement the ideas and priorities highlighted in the manual, and (c) lesson/session observations by the Heads of the Chair for making sure the conceptual premises and their methodological implementations have been appropriately secured.     

The teachers who underwent training through the “Better Teaching for a Better Future” (BTBF) international program received their certificates today.

The coordinator of the training organized through cooperation between the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU) and the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich) is ASPU Vice-Rector for HR Management and International Cooperation Marianna Harutyunyan, and the training lecturers are Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages Tigran Mikayelyan, Professor of the Chair of Romance-Germanic Languages and their Teaching Methods Satenik Sargsyan and Professor of the Chair of Sociology and Social Work Kristine Tanajyan.

The professional development course was devoted to the topic “Cooperative Training, Project-Based Training, Motivation” and consisted of 30 stages, each of which was held with the participation of more than 30 teachers, and 34 teachers completed the course. The teachers have, as an end-result, a project task or a lesson based on cooperative training which are posted on the Classroom platform and are available for everyone. The works will also be printed soon.

By the way, this is the first attempt at organizing a training course within the scope of the longstanding cooperation between the Armenian State Pedagogical University and the Zurich University of Teacher Education.

ASPU Vice-Rector Marianna Harutyunyan congratulated the teachers who completed the training course and voiced hope that the three-day training course had met their expectations.

“Large-scale reforms have been launched in the education system, and they need to start with you. You work with pupils every day, and every mistake or incomplete working day keeps you behind the process,” Vice-Rector Harutyunyan remarked and expressed gratitude for attaching importance to the training course, adding that this attests to the fact that pupils are in good hands.

Tigran Mikayelyan believes that the certificates are the result of the efforts of teachers and will be valuable in their work. Once again, he proudly mentioned that he was born to a family of teachers and has a very good picture of the daily lives of teachers and their families. “Besides the many wishes that I have for you, I also wish you a ‘keen eye’ to see the peculiarities, ideas and value system of the current generation. I fully hope that the toolkit that you obtained during the training course will be very helpful and effective,” he said.

Satenik Sargsyan assured that teachers lie at the core of any change and the success and effectiveness of changes are conditioned by them.

The training professor voiced hope that the product created as a result of the Program will be introduced in schools and that the cooperation and meetings with teachers will be ongoing.

Armenian School Principals received their certificates upon the completion of the “Quality School Management” professional development course within the framework of the international Better Teaching for a Better Future project under the professional content- and methodology-based and technical guidance and coordination of the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PHZH) (for more details see)   

On March 22, 2024, principals of several schools in the provinces of the Republic of Armenia and the capital received certificates at the Pedagogical University. They participated in the professional development course on “Quality School Management” within the framework of the “BTBF” Swiss international program organized in cooperation with the ASMU and Pedagogical Universities of Zurich.

The three-day course was held in a mixed format and included issues related to the quality management of the school and its standards. Questions regarding the democratic society, the school as a democratic micro-society, the research of the internal mechanisms and tools for quality assurance in the school, and their application were also emphasized. The trainees got acquainted with pedagogical theories, innovative methods and strategies based on the priority of inclusion.

Marianna Harutyunyan, the Armenian coordinator of the project implementation expert group and vice-rector for staff and international cooperation at ASPU, congratulated the participants and thanked them for valuing professional growth and the development of their educational institutions. The Vice-rector emphasized education and quality improvement in the current stage of educational reforms, noting that everything starts with general education. “The Pedagogical University has been and remains next to teachers and schools: the best appreciation of our great work is you – ready to overcome all challenges together. We have a long way to go together: this was the first step to be followed by new projects and cooperation.”

The principals expressed their satisfaction with the course, emphasizing that it was effective and full of new ideas, and they received information and knowledge which will help to accurately present school development plans, designing new strategies of school community development – compulsory for principals’ reports. Most of the principals, who are graduates of the Pedagogical University, are full of hope that the coming generations will also be devotees, enthusiastic about the profession of pedagogy. The trainer, Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages Tigran Mikayelyan, highly appreciated the potential of the community of principals and noted with joy that the national school is in reliable hands.