KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

The course on “Educational Opportunities of Museums in the Formal Education Sector” continues at the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU).

The second stage of the 5-day program kicked off today, gathering teachers from nearly 20 mentor schools.

Let us remind that the aim of the program is to expand and enhance the role of museums in formal education, strengthening the museum-school cooperation, presenting museums as an educational resource and platform to increase effectiveness and perceptibility of school instruction and create an effective platform for the inclusion of museums in the process of applying the new criteria in practice.

ASPU Vice-Rector for Education Mariam Ispiryan, who was attending the opening of the program, emphasized that she is glad to host the participants of the course (this time – the teachers).

Ispiryan attached importance to the school-museum relationship and cooperation in a new format; both the Armenian State Pedagogical University and the co-organizers anticipate a key outcome and responsible attitude from the representatives of the sector within the scope of the key mission.

The Vice-Rector assured that the ASPU is ready to support, guide and listen to the participants’ comments. She also considered the cooperation with the University’s laboratories as possible and is certain that they will foster the development of contemporary museum studies with improved knowledge.

In the context of the museum-school relationship, Vice-Rector for Education and Science Naira Safaryan attached importance to using the rich resources of museums and considering them as an educational opportunity.

The ASPU Vice-Rector talked about the current changes in the general education sector, starting from criteria and ending with programs, and urged practicing teachers to complete major tasks with the help of museums.
The participants of the “Educational Opportunities of Museums in the Formal Education Sector” course were also greeted by Head of the Department of Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia Astghik Marabyan.

Marabyan talked about the Ministry’s cultural policy, the strengthening of the role of culture in various educational initiatives and making it more substantive, the course, and underscored the importance of museum pedagogy and the museum-school relationship in the modern world.

Astghik Marabyan said the choice of the title of the course is also not by chance since, according to the speaker, the educational opportunities of museums are unlimited, and every sector, direction or subject may lead to interesting outcomes in museums in terms of programs.

Astghik Marabyan fully hopes that the participants of the program, as ambassadors, will transmit their knowledge and skills to their colleagues to implement the objectives of the program through combined efforts.

Let us mention that, after the program entitled “Educational Opportunities of Museums in the Formal Education Sector”, the teachers and museum pedagogues will develop a museum education program in line with school curricula, in accordance with the criteria of the National Center for Education Development and Innovation (NCEDI), and an instructional manual-guide entitled “Museum Education Programs” will be prepared and printed.

Deputy Director of the NCEDI Foundation Lilit Mkrtchyan emphasizes that besides being a part of museum education, the program is also aimed at coordinating. The speaker notes that the new state criterion of general education implies education of capabilities, featuring new approaches to and principles of learning, education that will be linked to real life and will shape skills, value system and position among children and will shape a person, who will have sustainable knowledge in the modern world, and social science subject are extremely important in terms of bringing up a person-citizen. “We need to map out the topics and set a function for each topic, that is, strengthen the interdisciplinary ties so that our job is easy, effective and targeted,” she said.

During the course, Lilit Mkrtchyan, as a seminar moderator-expert, touched upon museum education as a supporting platform for interdisciplinary instruction, and museum as an environment for criterion-based education (instruction) (methods and tools).

Director of the ASPU Museum, Associate Professor of the Chair of Museology, Library Studies and Bibliography Alvard Grigoryan talked about humanistic education and museum communication in the context of educational activities., and Director of the Association of Museum Workers and Friends NGO, Director of the Russian Art Museum in Yerevan Marine Mkrtchyan touched upon the cooperation between museum pedagogues and schoolteachers.