KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

With the beginning of each academic year, schoolchildren, to be more precise, their parents expect that school will become a solid foundation for their children on the way to a bigger life. However, it is difficult to say whether their expectations are always justified even when new programs and new methods and techniques are worked out which are aimed at improving the quality of education.

 In its latest issue, "Golos Armenii" (Russian: Голос Армении, "Voice of Armenia”) newspaper speaks about schools which are guided by the concept of close cooperation between pedagogical institutions and schools and believe that it will help solve the problem of bettering the quality of education at schools and at pedagogical institutions.

In the late 90s, ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY AFTER KHACHATUR ABOVYAN included in its structure School N57 as a basic teaching platform. After the education reforms that led to the separation of high and primary schools, the University had two base platforms. Both schools (which are situated in the same building) are administered by the University professors: the principal of the Basic College (High School) is Naira Safaryan, Candidate of Science in Physics and Mathematics, Associate Professor, and the principal of Primary School N57 is Naira Toghanyan, Candidate of Science in Philology, Associate Professor.

Lessons at both schools are conducted by teachers and University lecturers. Thanks to the close cooperation with the ASPU, the schools test and use modern educational methods and techniques and introduce new scientific approaches and new educational standards in the process of teaching.

It is clear that the cooperation benefits everyone involved in the process– educators, pupils and students. Pupils carry out experiments in physics, chemistry, and biology in the University laboratories which are refurbished with modern and powerful equipment. In the labs, pupils consolidate and deepen the knowledge obtained during the lessons and acquire the necessary skills.

It is difficult to educate future scientists at schools that have poor material and technical base. It is even more difficult to carry out research projects in these educational establishments unless they have the appropriate infrastructure. Hence, full cooperation with the University will only boost the reputation of the school and improve the quality of education that the school provides its pupils.  Mutual desire cannot but give positive results.

“Many-sided cooperation with the Pedagogical University does not exclude the need for staff training,” said Naira Safaryan, Principal of the ASPU High School. “Every year, school teachers attend training courses and workshops. Then they undergo a rigorous certification process that is peer-reviewed to demonstrate the skills needed to be a teacher and are eventually granted certificates allowing them to teach at high schools. Along with young teachers we also have a lot of experienced teachers working at our school who are constantly engaged in self-education. It allows them to remain at the forefront of the teaching profession. Our students learn a lot of things from them during internships,” she added.

STUDENTS DO NOT ONLY DO AN INTERNSHIP AT THESE SCHOOLS, but also become part of the teaching staff, their assistants. They participate in the drafting of work plans and programs and learn how to conduct effective lessons by themselves. It is interesting to follow the bond between teachers and juniors, which is established in the result of successful long-term contact after pupils become part of the given school. 

Graduate students conduct clubs in the English and French languages, in painting and chess, literature and robotics and publish “Areg” newspaper together with schoolchildren. 

Students are also actively engaged in the preparation of extra-curricular activities: they organize competitions, contests and quizzes, discuss different pedagogical situations and participate in parent-teacher conferences.

One the one hand, we can witness students’ self-determination in the process of training and educating other people, on the other hand, we see the formation of their professional competencies and skills. The concept of close cooperation between schools and universities undoubtedly helps unfold new horizons in teaching.

“A teacher has always been a key figure in the education system,” says Naira Toghanyan, Principal of Primary School N57. Education at schools may remain at the same level if it were not associated with staffing issues, the level of professional competency of those teachers who directly implement educational concepts and standards. We closely watch students who do internships at our school and we always try to integrate those with pedagogical skills and tact into our teaching staff. 

Since the beginning of the school year, ASPU graduates Mariam Grigoryan and Metaksi Tadevosyan have been working at our school as teachers of the English Language and Mathematics. These are the same students who always found time to visit the school, even outside the hours of practical training, trying to learn as much as possible about their profession.”

But the schools do not only serve as teaching platforms for Armenian State Pedagogical University after Kh. Abovyan. The University assists them in all issues – provides school supplies, pays for breakfast for primary school pupils and children who attend extended-day classes, provides buses and organizes free trips and excursions, visits to historical monuments and museums, as well as to water parks, etc. 

Schools, in their turn, intensively work with residents of neighboring buildings and potential parents. They also provide parenting tips and information, including expert parenting advice by psychologists, speech therapists and physicians. Also, they have established contact with the local kindergarten. Preschoolers have already visited the primary school where they received a warm welcome and got acquainted with the pedagogue who might become their first teacher. They walked around the classrooms and even drew a little during the lesson of painting.  Thus, the children who will be attending the ASPU Primary School in September will find themselves in a familiar atmosphere. 

The classrooms also attract attention with their design. On the door of each classroom you will see the photo of pupils with their class teacher and a common e-mail address. 

“It is necessary to seriously deal with the 1468 ordinary schools in the country,” ASPU Rector Ruben Mirzakhanyan said in an interview with “Golos Armenii” on one occasion. “Education reforms must not begin from universities; they must begin from preschool and primary school institutions by laying the necessary foundation without which it will be impossible to imagine further development of education. Unfortunately, this layer has not undergone significant changes [in Armenia].”

We believe that ASPU Primary School N57 and ASPU High School, which are part of the University, are the solid ground on which this necessary foundation is being laid thanks to the concept of close cooperation between schools and universities. 

Nora KANANOVA