2023
Key takeaways
The 2023 Torino Process system report for Armenia provides an insight into the strengths and limitations of the vocational education and training (VET) system. Overall, VET struggles to position itself as an attractive educational option for learners, although initial VET programmes are far more appealing to young learners than continuing VET programmes are to adult learners. Targeted actions to improve the governance and management of the system, including the modernisation of programmes and the development of quality assurance processes should start to impact positively in the near future.
Quality and relevance in Armenia’s VET system is both a strength and a weakness. While programmes are responsive to labour market demands and career guidance is both structured and accessible, the system struggles to deliver high-quality, relevant skills and competences to young learners in particular. This impacts the success of VET graduates in the labour market, contributing to a rather underwhelming rate of employment. However, the recent emphasis on building excellence and innovation into the system holds promise for enhancing the overall quality and relevance of VET programmes.
Resourcing is the other area of significant challenge for Armenia’s VET system. A lack of reliable, comparable data for planning and policy analysis hinders the ability to monitor progress and make informed decisions. The level of funding appears inadequate resulting in significant difficulties in allocating material resources, many of which are outdated and of low quality. Yet, Armenia demonstrates a concerted commitment to improvement and systemic innovations focused on the professional development of teachers, VET quality standards and evaluation processes can be expected to help the system to reposition itself as an effective educational pathway, responsive to the challenges of the future.
Access to learning
Access and participation to learning is the area of monitoring that helps countries capture the extent to which initial VET, continuing VET and other learning opportunities are accessible and attractive for learners, irrespective of who they are and why they wish to participate in learning. It also indicates the success with which learners progress through, and graduate from, the VET system.
The Torino Process monitoring results for Armenia show that in general, VET struggles to position itself as an attractive educational pathway for learners in the country. That said, initial VET programmes are far more appealing to young learners than continuing VET programmes are to adult learners.
Learners who do decide to enroll in a VET programme can expect to benefit from a VET system that provides an opportunity to participate, progress and graduate successfully. Another area of significant VET system performance is the flexibility with which learners can switch between parallel VET and general education pathways. Learners can also transition to higher levels of general education with relative ease.
The Torino Process is a biennial review of vocational education and training systems (VET), designed to analyse the ways in which national VET systems address the challenges of human capital development. It was established by the European Training Foundation (ETF) in 2010 and has been carried out in partner countries in South Eastern Europe, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean ever since.
Evaluating performance against a selection of national and international indicators, the Torino Process covers three major areas of lifelong learning: Access to Learning, Quality of Learning and System Organisation.
Quality of learning
Quality and relevance of learning is the area of monitoring that identifies the extent to which the VET system succeeds in providing basic skills and key competences to young and adult learners. It highlights the relevance of VET programmes to the world of work and the success with which VET graduates enter the labour market. Also monitored is the extent to which excellence is pursued in relation to programme content, delivery and social inclusion, as well as systemic innovation which helps the VET system to respond to the evolving needs of learners and labour markets.
In terms of quality and relevance, Armenia’s VET system paints a rather mixed picture. The system performs well in terms of the responsiveness of its programmes to current and emerging labour market demands. Forward-looking themes such as the green and digital transition are also incorporated into curricula, with a particular emphasis placed on digitalisation.
On a more positive note, the system performs moderately well with regard to career guidance, which appears structured and accessible. Continued attention to effectively developing and delivering this service should help learners to better explore career options as well as significantly strengthen the link between VET and the labour market.
Innovative actions to improve the quality and relevance of learning outcomes should address the system’s current weaknesses in the coming years.
Armenia's VET system presents a nuanced picture in terms of quality and relevance. While it performs well in terms of responsiveness to labour market demands, a notable weakness lies in its capacity to deliver high-quality and relevant skills to young learners, impacting employability. On a positive note, the system performs moderately well in career guidance, offering the potential for improvement to better connect VET with the labour market. Armenia's recent focus on pursuing excellence and innovation, particularly in relation to teacher development, signals a promising path toward enhancing overall quality and relevance of VET learning outcomes.
System organisation
System organisation is the area of monitoring that captures performance in various domains of systems management and administration. It looks into whether practitioners and leaders can access data and evidence to support informed decision-making, the level of stakeholder involvement in the governance of VET, the quality and capacity of staff in leadership positions, and the degree of internationalisation Additionally, monitoring the human and financial resources allocated to the VET system helps assess if these resources support effective teaching, training, and learning.
Armenia’s VET system grapples with issues surrounding data reliability, external stakeholder participation and quality assurance, influencing overall accountability. Despite proactive measures to bridge these gaps, acute challenges persist, largely due to inadequate financial resources which contribute to infrastructure shortcomings and substandard educational and training materials.
The capacity of VET to engage stakeholders in decisions of governance appears limited and the system appears not to effectively communicate how and what VET delivers to learners.
On a positive note, the system displays an openness to international cooperation and peer learning, and Armenia has joined various projects such as the Erasmus+ Capacity Building programme. Efforts to address language barriers will help to further increase the positive impact of internationalisation in VET.
Armenia's VET system faces a number of significant challenges which undoubtedly have an impact on the quality of education it delivers. Inadequate funding results in significant difficulties in allocating material resources, many of which are substandard and outdated. The limited capacity of VET institutions to develop quality assurance systems means VET struggles to position itself as an attractive and valid educational option. However, Armenia has recognised the need to address issues surrounding accountability and has introduced several processes which should start to make a positive impact in the near future. Innovations focused on the professional development of teachers should support the increase of international cooperation and help enhance the quality and relevance of learning programmes.
Promoting access and participation in opportunities for lifelong learning
Supporting quality and relevance of lifelong learning
Index of system performance
System performance
International comparability of performance results
Evidence for this monitoring was collected and analysed from September 2022 until April 2023. In addition to the internationally comparable indicators covered by the Torino Process monitoring framework, a supplementary questionnaire for national authorities and stakeholders in Armenia was used to gather additional information.
In addition to messages about system performance, the monitoring delivers information about the international comparability of results of each country, the extent to which these results might be susceptible to bias, and how self-critical a country is when it reports about its policy and system performance for external monitoring purposes.
The evidence suggests that the overall comparability of monitoring results for Armenia is 22.6 out of 100 which is low. They are also more susceptible to bias in international comparison, which manifests itself as a tendency to be more self-critical about the performance of its VET system than other countries participating in the Torino Process monitoring.