On May 21-23, Armenia will host the ETF Forum for Quality Assurance in VET.
The RA Education development plan until 2030 envisages increasing the professional employment rate of alumni to 90%. For the achievement of the specified indicator, ANQA developed a model for quality assurance of employment-oriented formative assessment. It will be observed during a peer review conducted by the quality assurance experts from ETF represented by 16 countries.
Ahead of the Forum, on May 13, at the online meeting dedicated to the formative assessment, ANQA’s specialists presented the RA VET system, quality assurance processes and ANQA’s approaches to promoting formative assessment through accreditation.
ANQA’s director, Ruben Topchyan, shared the model for quality assurance of employment-oriented formative assessment, emphasising the continuous participation of employers in all stages, from classroom to career progression.
The model for quality assurance of employment-oriented formative assessment targets:
- the employers’ involvement in the development of student assignments and assessment criteria;
- the employers’ involvement in the teaching process and their feedback to students;
- the capacity building of VET institutions’ teachers through joint trainings with employers and exchange of practice;
- the data collection on formative assessment and student progress through the internal quality assurance system.
During the meeting, Varduhi Gyulazyan, head of ANQA’s Institutional and Programme Accreditation Division, presented the roadmap for developing VET institutions’ quality assurance system, referring to:
- the impact of ANQA’s 15-year activity on the development of the VET system;
- the peculiarities of the quality assurance system in Armenia;
- the criteria for institutional and programme accreditation for fostering the credible award of qualifications, outcome-based institutional governance and long-term sustainable development.
Anahit Terteryan, specialist at ANQA’s Institutional and Programme Accreditation Disvision, introduced:
- the RA VET system and structure;
- the state policy in the VET sector, legislative regulations and national qualifications framework;
- the practice and outcomes of the implementation of employment-oriented education.
Jolien van Uden, Italian expert, ETF representative, outlined the ETF model for formative assessment, detailing its implementation steps and necessary prerequisites.
On May 21-23, the experts will have meetings with the state bodies engaged in VET policy development, representatives of VET institutions, employers, experts and teachers.
At ANQA’s suggestion, the peer visit will also include professional talks: walking interviews in education. The aim is to observe the formative assessment conducted with the involvement of employer teachers, the performance of tasks fostering students’ professional progress and the feedback provided to them.