Changes to the Voluntary Certification Process for Teachers: Draft

The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Armenia has presented a draft for public discussion regarding changes to the process of voluntary certification for teachers, the salary scaling based on the results of voluntary certification, and the formation of the voluntary certification commission.

The aim of the draft is to clarify several issues that have arisen during the organization of voluntary certification under the current regulations, which require regulation to carry out the process more effectively.

Specifically, teachers who did not surpass the minimum threshold of certification but participated for a second time, achieving results between 50-59 percent, as well as those who recorded at least a 15 percent increase from the first to the second certification but were not certified, will have the opportunity to participate in the next certification again and will not face issues regarding the continuity of their work until then.

This regulation does not apply to teachers who have received a secondary vocational education, as the requirement of Article 38 of the Law on General Education is to be certified, which requires a result of 60 percent or higher.

For teachers who passed certification with a result of between 60-69 percent, a salary scale adjustment is proposed, setting it at 200,000 AMD. This provision will also apply to teachers who participated in certification in previous years and achieved this result.

It is worth noting that this salary increase will be implemented indefinitely, following the approval and entry into force of the changes in regulation.

The payment provisions for teachers working part-time have also been reviewed based on the principle of improvement. Both in their primary and part-time workplaces, teachers will experience changes in their salary scales and will receive additional payments (in the case of part-time work in the basic education sector, additional payments will also apply to hours of instruction in general education subjects).

Subjects that were previously excluded from the main subject list of institutions and are related to subjects determined by the decision and are mainly taught by the same specialist have also been included. It is specified that the additional payment will be provided for all subjects taught.

The draft proposes to add “Nature” and “My Homeland” after the subject “Science,” “Geography of Armenia” after the subject “Geography,” and “Digital Literacy and Computer Science” starting from elementary classes after the subject “Informatics.”

With the proposed changes, several ambiguously interpreted provisions will also be regulated.

Professional organizations, interested bodies, and individuals can submit their opinions and comments on the draft until November 3, 2023.