11 principals, 8 teachers and 6 Armenian experts from Armenian secondary schools visited the Saxony-Anhalt region, Germany on December 8-13 within the framework of the “Creating Pluralistic Education System” project.

The Armenian specialists went to Germany at the invitation of the Minister of Education of the Saxony-Anhalt region. During the study visit the Armenian delegates performed monitoring at three secondary schools; were introduced to the activities of “LISA” Teacher Training and Quality Assurance Institute as well as to the general education system of Germany; participated in German Congress on “Centralized Exams and School Quality Assurance”; visited Franke Foundation and other cultural institutions.

This phase was followed by workshops in Yerevan and Vanadzor, during which the participants tested the elements of the competence-building class, the methods, the use of task verbs and descriptors. The principals, in their turn, outlined ways of encouraging competency teaching; existing barriers, and opportunities for making links between the work of participatory boards and the formation of key competencies.

The Minister of Education of Saxony-Anhalt Marco Tullner highlighted the cooperation between Armenian and German experts and stated that Saxony-Anhalt is willing to share the experience of education reforms with Armenian partners. The Minister of Education of Saxony-Anhalt Marco Tullner is expected to visit Armenia in spring.

It should be noted that the project partners intend to continue the “Participatory School” initiative which will allow to practice competency-based learning in the stage of revision of RA state educational standards and share experiences with other Armenian schools.

The partners of the “Creating Pluralistic Education System” project are RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports; the Ministry of Education of Saxony-Anhalt region, FRG; as well as “Teach for Armenia” Foundation and the Civic Education Initiative. The project is implemented with the support of the German MFA Eastern Partnership program and the Saxony-Anhalt Droysig school foundation.