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The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia has highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of Armenia’s schools based on the country’s participation in the PISA assessment.
It also explained why the country participated in the PISA assessment.
“Armenia’s participation in the PISA assessment is one of the important objectives of state policy in the field of education, as it, like other external assessments, provides a good opportunity to record results and identify problems, thereby also making the impact of reforms measurable by comparing them with the indicators of other countries,” it said.
Armenian 15-year-olds performed below the international average in mathematics, science and reading, trailing their regional counterparts in the latest assessment.
The ministry identified the following strengths and weaknesses:
The most pronounced strengths among learners in Armenia are:
cognitive adaptability: 9 points,
goal setting: 9 points,
sense of belonging at school: 8 points,
value of school: 7 points,
growth mindset: 6 points,
teacher support is high: 84%,
feeling safe at and around school: 94%.
According to the statement, these results show that learners are able to adapt to changing conditions, set goals, and feel part of their school community.
They also value school and generally have an internal willingness to develop their own abilities; these characteristics are an important potential for educational progress and have an impact on learners’ educational outcomes.
Among the weaknesses is the low level of skills for applying acquired knowledge in practical situations, which is the main challenge.
"Another challenge is increasing learners’ motivation, which requires significant attention by changing the approaches being used and reviewing more effective ways of engaging in dialogue with learners: everything should be done to make learning interesting," the ministry said.