Cooperative learning for educational reform in Armenia

Abstract

Armenia is in the midst of major educational reforms in which teacher professional development is a key component. Much of the energy devoted to developing education in Armenia is targeted towards enhancing student‐centred teaching, especially cooperative learning. This has become a significant challenge for many schools and teachers as they cope with understanding, learning and adapting these approaches in their current work. This paper explores teachers’ views and understanding of cooperative learning and then discusses how national education policies should address further implementation of cooperative learning in Armenian schools. Data were collected through a large‐scale nationwide survey and focus‐group interviews. Observations in training workshops on cooperative learning also constitute part of the data used in this study. The main finding is that most teachers believe that they have adequate knowledge and understanding of cooperative learning after attending the training workshops, but that only a few are able to integrate it as an active part of their pedagogical repertoire. This paper contributes to a currently weak research base on implementing cooperative learning in fragile educational contexts.

Keywords:

• cooperative learning
• Armenia
• educational reform
• curriculum