changes in compulsory education: potential - The US

THE US-EDUCATED AZERBAIJAN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
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Quarterly Journal
CHANGES IN COMPULSORY
EDUCATION: POTENTIAL
IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN
HIGHLIGHTS OF PISA 2006:
PERFORMANCE OF AZERBAIJANI STUDENTS
IN THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL STUDY
BOLOGNA DECLARATION
WHERE WE ARE?
2010
THE US-EDUCATED AZERBAIJAN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
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Letter from the Chairman and Editor
3
Quarterly Journal
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Editor-in-Chief:
Dr. Anar Valiyev
Changes in Compulsory Education:
Potential Implications for Women.
by Siraj Mahmudov
4
Editorial Board:
Fuad Aliyev
Vusal T. Khanlarov
Emin Huseynzade
Highlights of PISA 2006: Performance of Azerbaijan
Students in the First International Study.
Yusif Axundov
Parvana Bayramova
by Turgut Mustafayev
10
Vugar Allahverdiyev
Fuad Jafarli
Fariz Huseynov
INTERVIEW
Bologna Declaration and Where We Are?
Art-Director
by Asif Jahangirov
16
Iman Huseynov
DEBATES AND OPINIONS
Educating Girls in a Village School of Astara.
© AAA. The thoughts and
opinions of the authors does not
represent AAA’s opinion
by Aygun Dadasheva and Kathy Taylor
22
Professor, I disagree. Teaching and Learning
Differently Across the Atlantic.
AAA Office at American Center,
by Rashad Bayramov
28
Azerbaijan University of Languages,
1st Floor, 60 Rashid Behbudov St.,
AZ1014, Baku, Azerbaijan
Reflection of Education in Azerbaijan.
by Amy Petersen
Tel.: (+99412) 441 01 72
E-mail: office@aaa.org.az
www.aaa.org.az
32
Challenges and Opportunities for Faculty
Development in Azerbaijan.
by Alison Mandaville
36
CHAIRMAN’S AND EDITOR’S FOREWORD
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the first
issue of the CONTEXT, the
journal of the US Educated
Azerbaijani Alumni Associ‐
ation (AAA).
AAA was established
six years ago, with one
major goal ‐ to bring to‐
gether the alumni of vari‐
ous educational programs
in the United States and use
their knowledge and skills for developing Azerbaijan.
Today a whole generation of the US‐educated Azer‐
baijani cadre has developed and they are working for
the Azerbaijani government, private companies, and
NGOs. Regardless of where they work, they share
skills and knowledge acquired while in the United
States with their peers, colleagues, and students; thus,
continuously contribute to the development of Azer‐
baijan. As we commence the seventh year of our exis‐
tence, we feel the need for having a continuous and
wider channel for publication of thoughts and views
of our alumni – economists, public administrators,
public health professionals, education specialists,
Dear Friends
This is the first issue of
the CONTEXT – the journal
of the American Alumni
Association (AAA). As you
know the Association was
created to promote a free
exchange of information, to
facilitate and develop pro‐
fessional contacts, and to
broaden and spread the
knowledge
about
the
United States in Azerbaijan.
The existence of this new journal is justified. There
are many other academic and popular journals in this
field. But there are none that directly address AAA vi‐
sionary mission: provide an active forum for exchang‐
ing ideas, sharing knowledge and information in the
fields related to Azerbaijan and the region. CONTEXT
reflects the full range of current policy and analytical
work from many disciplines and theoretical perspec‐
tives. It aims to spur research on Azerbaijan and re‐
gion, encourages comparative studies and tries to give
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business strategists, professional diplomats, university
professors, school teachers, and many other experts in
various disciplines.
CONTEXT will serve as a channel for American ed‐
ucated Azerbaijani alumni to share their knowledge
and skills on various issues with wider society, to pro‐
vide policy recommendations for multiple stakehold‐
ers in Azerbaijan, including government, civil society
and academia. CONTEXT will also become a unique
channel for young students, scholars and practitioners
in Azerbaijan and abroad to get published on issues
that matters for Azerbaijan, its present and future.
Context’s first issue focuses on an issue that is im‐
portant for Azerbaijan’s today and tomorrow, and an
essential element for establishing strong and compet‐
itive Azerbaijan – education.
I would like to thank the CONTEXT’s editorial
board, and especially to its Editor‐in‐Chief, Dr. Anar
Valiyev for tremendous efforts towards journal’s cre‐
ation and publication. I welcome all of our readers,
and hope that the journal will be an interesting and
thought‐provoking experience for all of you.
Jeyhun Karamov
Chairman of the Board,
US‐Educated Azerbaijani Alumni Association
unique chance to students, young scholars and re‐
searchers to get published. It serves as a link between
business, governmental, student and scholarly com‐
munities. A truly interdisciplinary journal, it is essen‐
tial reading for all academics, decision makers,
practitioners, students and experts.
This issue of the CONTEXT focuses on a subject
which is attracting considerable attention everywhere,
but especially in developing countries ‐ education.
Ever since independence, issues of education reforms
became one of the hot debated topics in Azerbaijani
society. Trying to feel hiatus, the journal publishes ar‐
ticles on various issues of education including Bologna
process and Azerbaijan’s realities; girls’ education in
rural areas; challenges and opportunities for faculty
development, education system of Azerbaijan through
the eyes of foreigners and few others.
Editorial Board of CONTEXT welcomes all readers
and hope that the journal would shed the light on
problems, challenges and opportunities facing our so‐
ciety.
Dr. Anar M. Valiyev,
Editor‐in‐Chief
Quarterly Journal |
3
CHANGES IN COMPULSORY EDUCATION: POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN
CHANGES IN
COMPULSORY EDUCATION:
POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN
INTRODUCTION
The law on education, approved by the Milli Majlis
on 19 June 2009, stipulates changing the duration of com‐
pulsory education in Azerbaijan. This embodies making
preschool education at the age of five compulsory and
decreasing the upper boundary of compulsory education
from complete secondary (11 grades) to general second‐
ary or basic education (9 grades). While the necessity and
huge benefits of the first change is well understood and
supported almost by everybody in the society, opinions
on the latter are diverse and far from being unanimous.
Previous studies, conducted mostly in the U.S. have
used the changes in compulsory education laws to exam‐
ine the effects of education on earnings 1, criminal activ‐
ity 2, mortality 3, subjective measures of well‐being 4 and
intergenerational inequality 5. In this article, my approach
is a little bit different. Instead of conducting a formative
assessment, I would like to highlight some of the poten‐
tial after‐effects this important change might bring about.
After I delve into existing disparities in terms of educa‐
tional attainment, I assess the significance of two addi‐
tional years of schooling of women for selected human
development indicators, based on which my conclusion
is made.
DISPARITIES IN ACCESS TO EDUCATION
The Constitution of Azerbaijan guarantees free com‐
pulsory secondary (ümumi orta təhsil) education for all 6.
With the terminology of the previous law of 1992 this
would mean 11 grades even if the law explicitly made
basic education (1‐8 grades with old classification)
mandatory requiring the rest of the children to continue
their education in vocational schools and lyceums as well
as technikums and colleges. According to the new law,
however, the compulsory secondary education men‐
tioned in the Constitution, will cover 1‐9 grades. The
main difference between the old and new laws in this re‐
gard, as can be seen, is that there is no requirement in the
Nothing is more unequal than equal treatment of unequal people.
Thomas Jefferson
4
www.aaa.org.az
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latter to continue education in any form after the ninth
grade. This particular change is proposed to come into
force in ten years.
Full implementation of compulsory education, i.e.
coverage of all the secondary school age children with ei‐
ther complete secondary schools or vocational
schools/technikums have hardly been the case in Azer‐
baijan after independence, which can be substantiated by
a simple audit of official enrolment and graduation fig‐
ures. Of 152,690 children completing the ninth grade in
2005 7, 6,547 were admitted to technikums 8, 4,706 to vo‐
cational schools and lyceums 9. So the rest, 141,437 school
children, as one can expect, were supposed to continue
and complete the 11th grade taking into account the very
low repetition rates. However, only 117,893 school chil‐
dren completed full secondary education in 2007 sug‐
gesting that about 23,544 or 15% of graduates of basic
education somehow dropped out. This percentage goes
up to 18% when the above calculation is applied respec‐
tively to 2006 and 2008. In fact, this is in line with the esti‐
mations of teachers in some schools that 20 % of children
leave school after grade nine 10. Yet here we take into ac‐
count neither the actual attendance rates nor quality is‐
sues.
The Census of 1999 is too obsolete to base our infer‐
ences regarding background characteristics of who drop
out whereas the more recent Demographic and Health
Survey 2006 (AzDHS) can give some hints in this regard.
If we take the age group of 20‐24, it can be seen that as of
2006 one out of every fourth female (25%) did not get any
schooling after the ninth grade while males fared better
in this term (17%). Especially worrying is the fact that
3.4% of women 15‐16 and 1.3% of men of the same age
had received no education at all. Males and females in
urban settlements and in richest families do much better
in terms of school attainment, but in each category
women have poorer outcomes. At the time of the survey,
95% of women (98% of men) aged 15‐49 in the richest
quintile and only 76% of women (83% of men) in the
poorest quintile had completed basic education or higher.
There is a disparity between urban and rural settlements
as well, albeit not as remarkable; 89% of females (93% of
males) respondents in urban areas and 83% of females in
rural areas (89% of males) had completed basic education
or higher 11.
The above gives us a good basis to argue that univer‐
sal complete secondary education has not been well‐
maintained in Azerbaijan and the ones most
disadvantaged in this regard have been women, particu‐
larly women living in poor families and rural settle‐
ments. In other words, women in Azerbaijan have been
“doubly disadvantaged” 12. The figures reflecting dispar‐
ities are backed by attitudes as well. About two‐third of
men said if the family faced financial difficulties and they
Siraj Mahmudov is a Programme
and Planning Specialist at the
UNICEF Country Office in Azerbai‐
jan dealing with situation assessment,
social and economic policy analysis,
monitoring and evaluation related to
children and women. Currently he is
involved, inter alia, in creation of evi‐
dence base for investments in early
childhood nutrition and education as
well as in establishment of a monitor‐
ing tool for human development indi‐
cators. As a Muskie Graduate Fellow,
Siraj obtained his M.A. in Social and
Public Policy from Duquesne Univer‐
sity, Pittsburgh‐PA in 2002 and his
B.A. in Public Administration from
Qafqaz University in 1999.
Quarterly Journal |
5
CHANGES IN COMPULSORY EDUCATION: POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN
had to chose, they would prefer to send to school their
sons rather than daughters. Only one quarter preferred
daughters 13.
The issue of drop‐outs has been well recognized in
the ‘State Programme on Poverty Reduction and Sustain‐
able Development 2008‐2015’ (SPPRSD), which indicates
that financial problems have negatively affected the abil‐
ity of children to get full secondary education. Drop‐outs,
according to the programme narrative, are especially
higher in rural areas, the fact mostly related to involve‐
ment of children in agriculture and child marriages.
Child marriages are a more and more vividly emerging
phenomenon. About one out of every eighth women gets
married before the age of 18 14.
HOW IMPORTANT IS
EDUCATION OF WOMEN?
Legalizing with the new education law what has been
de facto happening is thus expected to have further nega‐
tive impact on girls’ education. Therefore, it is very im‐
portant to assess whether such a legal change is
well‐grounded or keeping and enforcing compulsory 11
years of schooling might have had some merits.
I do not conduct a regression analysis here, but com‐
pare the outcomes of 13 selected indicators in terms of
the educational attainment of the respondents as women
and mothers based on the data from the AzDHS. I do ac‐
knowledge though that those outcomes are results of
many interrelated factors including wealth status and
type of settlement and cannot be attributed solely to edu‐
cation.
PUBLIC HEALTH
The impact of education on health is well‐accepted
even though economists have proposed a variety of theo‐
ries on how education affects health including: that more
education leads to better jobs and more financial re‐
sources; that education improves knowledge and deci‐
sion‐making ability, which improves health; and that ed‐
ucation influences other kinds of behavioural responses
that, in turn, lead to better health outcomes 15. Post‐pri‐
mary education increases the age of marriage, contracep‐
tive use, access to prenatal care and safe delivery and
increases care seeking for child illnesses, all of which re‐
duce child and maternal mortality 16. In Table 1, several
aspects of the impact of education on public health are il‐
lustrated using the data of AzDHS.
Underweight among children under five (moderate and se‐
vere) – mothers with complete secondary education have
1.4 times less likelihood of having underweight children
than those with basic education or less. For mothers
graduating from secondary specialized education
(mostly technikums) the difference is even higher: 3.6
times.
Stunting (height for age) among children under five (mod‐
erate and severe) – is an indicator of chronic malnutrition
among children. Evidence indicates that stunted children
start school later, progress through school less rapidly
and have lower over‐all schooling attainment. A review
of evidence from 79 countries concluded that “for every
10% increase in stunting, the proportion of children
reaching the final grade of primary school dropped by
7.9%.” 17 In Azerbaijan, where every fourth child under
five is short for age, stunting levels among the children
with mothers completing 11th and 9th grades is more or
less the same, but having a secondary specialized or
higher education does make a big difference.
Vaccination of children 18‐29 months against measles – is
one of the indicators to measure progress towards reduc‐
ing childhood mortality. 60% of children of mothers with
complete secondary education got this vaccination vs.
57% of those with basic secondary education. This gap
widens when we look at all the basic vaccinations re‐
ceived (62% vs. 55%)
Antenatal care received by women 15‐49 – this indicator
is relatively much more related to financial situation and
TABLE 1. WOMEN EDUCATION AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Indicator
Underweight
among children
Stunting
among children
Vaccination
Antenatal care
Comprehensive
knowledge of
HIV/AIDS
Information on
TB
Basic
secondary
or less
14.2
43.5
56.5
63.8
0.9
68.1
6.4
Complete
secondary
10.3
42.7
60.2
75.7
2.6
77.8
3.0
Secondary
specialized
3.9
21.7
75.7
89.5
6.1
82.9
0.0
Higher
2.4
16.9
93.5
21.1
91.3
0.0
Education
Source: AzDHS
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www.aaa.org.az
Live birth among
women 15‐19
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fied in 2007. Therefore, it is important to keep high
awareness of TB. Women 15‐49 with complete secondary
education fare better in this regard as well. Their propor‐
tion who knows that tuberculosis is spread through the
air by coughing is about 10 percentage units more than
women with basic education.
Early childbearing ‐ it is well known that early child‐
bearing and motherhood have negative socioeconomic
and health consequences. Adolescent mothers are more
likely to have complications during delivery, which re‐
sult in higher morbidity and mortality for themselves
and their children. In 2006, 6% of women 15‐19 had al‐
ready had a live birth, mostly because of child marriages.
This percentage was 3% for women with complete sec‐
availability of services, but also to awareness and knowl‐
edge. More than a three‐quarters of women with com‐
plete secondary education got antenatal care during her
pregnancy and only less than two‐thirds of women with
basic education or less did so.
Comprehensive knowledge 18 of AIDS among the 15‐24 age
group – knowledge of AIDS is still very limited in the
country with only 5% of men and women aged 15‐24
having comprehensive knowledge about the epidemic.
For women with basic education this percentage is as
low as 1% and for those with complete secondary educa‐
tion to 2.6 %.
Knowledge of tuberculosis (TB) ‐ the number of new TB
cases continues to be high: 3,713 new cases were identi‐
TABLE 2. WOMEN EDUCATION AND EMPOWERMENT/VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY
Indicator
Employment
Limited exposure to
mass media
Basic secondary
or less
10.2
14.5
Complete
secondary
14.3
Secondary
specialized
Higher
No participation in
decision making
Attitudes towards
wife beating
Marital control
Physical violence
29.4
58.0
41.5
18.4
7.4
19.3
53.5
32.3
12.8
34.8
2.7
11.1
42.8
30.4
11.2
39.9
0.5
7.9
22.5
26.7
8.9
Education
Source: AzDHS
Quarterly Journal |
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CHANGES IN COMPULSORY EDUCATION: POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN
education.
Women empowerment and violence in the family:
Girlsʹ education is critical to gender equality as it con‐
tributes to increased employment opportunities, im‐
proved decision making, and empowerment of women
more broadly 19. With higher levels of education, women
are more likely to control their own destinies, effect
change in their societies, and get exposed to lower levels
of violence 20. In fact, some have either used education as
a proxy indicator for women empowerment or took it as
an important component of measuring empowerment 21.
In Table 2, several aspects of the impact of education
women empowerment and violence in the family are il‐
lustrated using the data of AzDHS.
Employment – About 20% of all women reported
being currently employed 22 in 2006. 10% of women with
basic education and 14% of those with complete second‐
ary education were employed. 11% of working women
with basic education worked in
professional/technical/managerial positions vs. 17 % of
working women with complete secondary education.
40% of working 9th grade graduates were engaged in
agricultural work, which once more indicates higher
drop‐outs in rural areas.
Exposure to mass media – the proportion of women
with basic education who do not read a newspaper,
watch television, listens to radio at least once a week is
twice as big as that of women with complete secondary
education: 15% vs. 7%.
Participation in decision‐making – 20% of women in the
country, mostly in rural areas, does not participate in any
of the four decisions related to women’s own health care,
making major household purchases, making purchases
for daily needs, visits to her family or relatives. For
women with basic education the possibility of participat‐
ing in decision‐making is the most minimal: 30% of
women in this category have no say in decisions.
Attitudes towards wife beating – In general, every sec‐
ond women thinks the husband is justified to beat his
wife because of at least one specific reason, which could
be burning the food, arguing with him, going out with‐
out telling him, neglecting the children, refusing to have
sexual intercourse with him. This percentage goes as
high as 58% for women with basic education. Less
women with complete secondary think so, although the
difference is only 4.5 percentage units.
Marital control – the women with basic education are
more likely to get exposed to marital control by the hus‐
band. Percentage of women with basic education whose
husband displays three or more specific behaviours 23 of
marital control is 42%, 28 more percentage units than
women with complete secondary education. There is no
big difference between rural and urban settlements in
terms of this indicator.
8
www.aaa.org.az
TABLE 3. COMPULSORY EDUCATION (age group)
Central/ Eastern Europe and
Central Asia
Albania
Belarus
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Moldova
Romania
Russian Federation
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
TFYR Macedonia
Turkey
Ukraine
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Mongolia
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
6‐13
6‐15
7‐14
7‐14
6‐15
7‐15
7‐16
7‐15
7‐15
7‐15
7‐15
7‐14
6‐15
7‐14
6‐15
6‐14
7‐14
6‐14
6‐17
7‐14
6‐16
6‐14
7‐17
7‐15
7‐15
7‐15
7‐15
7‐15
North America and
Western Europe
Andorra
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
San Marino
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
6‐16
6‐14
6‐18
6‐16
6‐14
7‐16
7‐16
6‐16
6‐18
6‐14
6‐16
6‐15
5‐15
6‐14
6‐15
5‐15
6‐15
5‐17
6‐16
6‐14
6‐16
6‐16
7‐16
7‐15
5‐16
6‐17
Source: UNESCO, EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2009, pp. 292‐296
Physical violence – 13% of women have ever experi‐
enced physical violence since the age of 15 with no major
urban‐rural and rich‐poor differences. While for women
with complete secondary education this indicator is close
to the national average, for women with basic education
it is 18%.
CONCLUSION
As can be seen, education of women plays an impor‐
tant role in economic and social development, including
in health and nutrition of women and their children, in
protection from infections, in improving women’s status
within the family, in protecting women from domestic
violence and in empowering women to participate in
employment and be socially active. A thorough analysis
is needed to assess the effect of additional year of school‐
ing separately on each indicator. However, as one can ob‐
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serve, against most indicators of personal and social well‐
being included into this article, women who get complete
secondary education in general are better‐off than those
who have to stop before the tenth grade or earlier regard‐
less of whatever interactions with other markers for dis‐
advantage might be the case.
Thus by allowing more women to drop‐out after the
basic education rather than ensuring they get as much as
schooling as possible, we might risk the achievement of
the country’s economic and social development agenda.
Moreover, the new law is in disagreement with the target
of the SPPRSD to ensure complete secondary education
(I‐XI grades) for all school‐aged children by the end of
2015. So it makes very little sense to achieve universal
complete secondary education in seven years and then
let it go afterwards.
It holds true that compulsory education years in most
countries in our region, i.e. Central and Eastern Europe
and Central Asia, do not exceed nine years with the aver‐
age of 9.1 years, except in Kazakhstan and Ukraine 24.
However, the average of North American and Western
European countries is 10.6 years meaning countries like
the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany
and others must have had a good reason to keep children
at school more (See Table 3).
Yet the disparities in most countries mentioned in the
table are not as persistent as those in Azerbaijan. There‐
fore, even if the change of compulsory education years
will take place only after ten years as proposed, there is
an important assumption here that all the favourable
conditions for encouraging women’s education after the
basic education will be in place, that the current dispari‐
ties in terms of place of residence, wealth status and gen‐
der will be significantly reduced or eliminated and that
the ‘equitable education opportunities for all’, envisaged
in the SPPRSD will be created. Unless this is actually
achieved, it would be more strategic to ensure that every‐
body, especially those most likely to drop out, stay in ed‐
ucation as long as possible alongside paying particular
attention to increasing the quality of education rather
than decreasing the compulsory education years.
REFERENCES AND ENDNOTES
1
Acemoglu, Daron and Joshua Angrist, “How Large are the Social Returns to
Education? Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws,” National Bureau of
Economic Research Working Paper #7444, December 1999.
2
Lochner, Lance and Enrico Moretti, “The Effect of Education on Crime: Evi‐
dence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self‐Reports,” National Bureau of
Economic Research Working Paper 8605, 2001.
14
AzDHS: % of women aged 20‐24 who got married by the age of 18 is 12%
15
Bhashkar Mazumder, “Does education improve health? A re‐examination
of the evidence from compulsory schooling laws”, Economic Perspectives,
2008/Q2
16
UN Millennium Project, Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to
Achieve the Millennium Development Goals. New York, 2005, pp. 286‐287.
3
Lleras‐Muney, “The Relationship between Education and Adult Mortality in
the United States,” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper
8986, June 2002; Schultz T. P. 2002. “Why Governments Should Invest More to
Educate Girls.” World Development 30 (2): 207‐25.
4
Oreopoulos, Philip, “Do Dropouts Drop Out Too Soon? Evidence Using
Changes in School Leaving Laws”, Mimeo, University of Toronto, 2003.
17
Grantham‐ McGregor et al, Developmental Potential in the first 5 Years for
Children in Developing Countries, The Lancet, VOl 369, 2007; Grantham‐Mc‐
Gregor et al., 1991; Waber et al., 1981; Pelto, Dixon and Engle (WHO), 2000.
18
Oreopoulos, Philip, Marianne Page and Ann Huff Stevens, “Does Human
Capital Transfer from Parent to Child? The Intergenerational Effects of Com‐
pulsory Schooling”, November 2003
Comprehensive knowledge means knowing that consistent use of condoms
during sexual intercourse and having just one uninfected faithful partner can
reduce the chances of getting the AIDS virus, knowing that a healthy‐looking
person can have the AIDS virus, and rejecting the two most common local
misconceptions about AIDS (transmission by mosquito bites and by kissing
someone with AIDS).
6
Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Article 42.2
19
7
State Statistical Committee, Azerbaijan Statistical Yearbook, 2008.
5
UN Millennium Project, Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to
Achieve the Millennium Development Goals. New York, 2005, p. 285.
20
8
State Higher Education Admissions Committee, Abituriyent, No. 12, 2005,
gender p.140
International Center for Research on Women, A Second Role at the Role Ed‐
ucation Plays in Women’s Empowerment, 2005.
21
9
State Statistics Committee, Education, Science and Culture in Azerbaijan,
2007.
Anju Manhotra, et al., “Measuring Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in
International Development”, 2002; Augusto Lopes‐Claros and Saadia Zahidi,
Women’s Empowerment: Measuring the Global Gender Gap, World Eco‐
nomic Forum, 2005.
10
UNICEF, Education for Some More than Others: a regional study on educa‐
tion in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS, UNICEF Regional Office for
CEE and CIS, 2007.
11
State Statistical Committee (SSC) and Macro International Inc., Azerbaijan
Demographic and Health Survey 2006 (AzDHS), 2008.
22
“Currently employed” is defined as having done work in the past seven
days. Includes persons who did not work in the past seven days but who are
regularly employed and were absent from work for leave, illness, vacation, or
any other such reason.
23
12
Maureen Lewis and Marlaine Lockheed, Social Exclusion and the Gender
Gap in Education”, Policy Research Working Paper, No. 4562. The authors use
the term “double disadvantage” to indicate that the girls in the marginalized
groups trail not only the mainstream children but also the boys in the margin‐
alized groups.
These are: is angry or jealous if she talks to another man, frequently accuses
her of being unfaithful, does not permit her to meet her female friends, tries to
limit her contact with her family, insists on knowing where she is at all times,
does not trust her with any money.
24
These two countries have kept, respectively, 11 and 12 years of compulsory
education.
13
UNDP, Azerbaijan Human Development Report 2007 – Gender Attitudes in
Azerbaijan: Trends and Challenges, 2007.
Quarterly Journal |
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HIGHLIGHTS OF PISA 2006: PERFORMANCE OF AZERBAIJANI STUDENTS IN THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL STUDY
HIGHLIGHTS OF PISA 2006:
PERFORMANCE OF AZERBAIJANI STUDENTS IN
THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL STUDY
10
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WHY ASSESSMENT IS IMPORTANT
Education policymakers and systems who seek to
promote accountability and continuous improvement
of student achievement generally support a range of
learning assessments; these can take place at the school
level, national level or international level. National as‐
sessments allow Ministries of Education to benchmark
the performance of their students across different sub‐
ject areas and different grade levels with students
within their own country. This provides stakeholders,
such as parents, educators, and policymakers with valu‐
able information about the quality of an educational
system. Such information can help to steer policy deci‐
sions and pedagogical practices to ensure that children
will have the necessary knowledge and skills needed to
become productive contributors to the economy and ef‐
fective citizens in their society.
Azerbaijan had not assessed student performance
on a systematic basis until 2005. The first Azerbaijan
National Assessment Study, conducted in 2006, sur‐
veyed the performance of a representative sample of
grade‐4 and grade‐9 students in general education
schools. Student performance was measured in two
subjects: language and mathematics. In addition to the
performance data on tests, the study also helped to col‐
lect a vast amount of background data on the student
population through responses to the various question‐
naires that were filled out by students and their teach‐
ers.
WHY AZERBAIJAN TAKES PART IN
INTERNATIONAL ASSESSMENTS AND
WHAT THEY MEASURE
Unlike national assessments, international studies of
student achievement present us a unique opportunity
to compare Azerbaijani student performance with that
of students in other countries. This gives Azerbaijan an
opportunity to see how local schoolchildren perform
relative to those in other countries, to learn about the ef‐
fectiveness of our education system as compared to the
education systems of other countries, and to identify
new practices and policies that can be considered for
improving our schools. Our young country has a lot to
learn from the patterns of student achievement and the
analysis of the determinants of learning in an interna‐
tional context.
There are a number of large‐scale international as‐
sessments that test and compare student performance
across countries. These include the Program for Interna‐
tional Student Assessment (PISA), the Progress in Inter‐
national Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), and the
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS). PISA, an OECD‐sponsored project, takes
place every three years and assesses three literacy areas
Turgut Mustafayev serves as Ed‐
ucation Consultant at the World Bank
Azerbaijan Country Office. He holds
a bachelors degree in Linguistics from
the Azerbaijan University of Lan‐
guages and master degree in Educa‐
tional Policy from the University of
Pennsylvania. Turgut received Ed‐
mund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship
Program from the United States De‐
partment of State in 2003. He has also
won an American Forum Grant under
the Democracy Education Exchange
Program in 2002 and received fellow‐
ship from the Open Society Institute
Education Support Program and Co‐
lumbia University in 2005.
Quarterly Journal |
11
HIGHLIGHTS OF PISA 2006: PERFORMANCE OF AZERBAIJANI STUDENTS IN THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL STUDY
(Reading, Mathematics, and Science). Conducted by the
International Association for the Evaluation of Educa‐
tional Achievement (IEA) in the Netherlands, PIRLS is
administered to fourth‐grade students and is the largest
and most rigorous comparative study to assess reading
skills. TIMSS, also organized by IEA, measures the
mathematics and science performance of fourth‐ and
ninth‐graders. Azerbaijan participated in PISA 2006 and
plans to take part in PISA 2009, PIRLS 2011, and TIMSS
2011.
PISA 2006 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Azerbaijan was among the 57 countries ‐ including
all 30 OECD member states ‐ which took part in PISA
2006. The countries participating in the assessment con‐
stitute almost 90% of the world economy. More than
400,000 students were drawn as a sample from the 20
million 15‐year‐olds going to secondary school in the 57
participating countries; students took a two‐hour test
and completed a questionnaire. The main subject focus
for PISA 2006 was science. PISA 2000 and PISA 2003
concentrated on reading and mathematics, respectively.
STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN SCIENCE
PISA 2006 measured the students’ skills in carrying
out scientific tasks in a wide range of settings. These in‐
clude the application of knowledge to real‐life situations
and much wider global issues related to scientific prob‐
lems. The three broad science competencies assessed by
the study are: identifying scientific issues, explaining
them scientifically, and using scientific evidence to
draw conclusions. Six proficiency levels were identified
to denote both the performance scores and the difficulty
of questions. Level 6 is the highest level of difficulty,
where students can systematically explain and use sci‐
entific knowledge in a range of complex situations, pro‐
vide evidence employing advanced scientific analysis,
etc. Only 1.3% of the students representing OECD
states were able to answer the questions at Level 6.
Nine countries have more than 2% of students who
have scored at the highest level.
Unfortunately, Azerbaijan has no students reaching
the highest level of science performance. The majority
of Azerbaijani students (95%) scored at Level 2 or
below. Nearly one‐fifth of the test takers scored below
Level 1. More than half of the students have scored at
Level 1. 22.4% of students have reached Level 2, which
is considered as the level of proficiency where learners
begin to demonstrate the science skills that will allow
them to take an active part in science‐ and technology‐
related life situations.
Each participating country has a mean score, which
summarizes overall student performance. The study
has found no relationship between the size of states and
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the average performance of students. Finland is the
highest‐scoring country with 563 points, which is 63
units more than the OECD mean. Finland is followed
by the six states and economies that have a mean score
higher than 530 points: Canada, Japan, New Zealand,
Hong Kong‐China, Chinese Taipei, and Estonia. Azer‐
baijan is ranked 55 with a mean score of 382 points,
which is only higher than Qatar (349) and Kyrgyzstan
(322).
Some countries have performed significantly better
in knowledge about science than in knowledge of sci‐
ence. The former entails knowledge on the reasons and
nature of scientific inquiry and scientific reasoning. The
latter is more about the natural world, which is referred
to in different scientific subjects. Like many other East
European countries, Azerbaijani students demonstrated
stronger knowledge of science, which implies that the
curriculum is relatively rigorous on transmitting partic‐
ular scientific knowledge. Our students have scored
over 20 points higher in questions involving knowledge
of science.
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STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE
TO SCIENCE
PISA 2006 also used questionnaires to collect the
data on students’ support for scientific inquiry, their
self‐confidence as learners of science, their interest in
science, etc. Having a positive attitude and enjoying
broad engagement in science are crucial due to a num‐
ber of reasons. These include the dependence of contin‐
uous investments on strong public support, the wide
influence of scientific and technological innovations in
our daily lives, and the need for supplying sustainable
resources of scientific staff.
The study found out that students across OECD
states generally show solid support for scientific in‐
quiry, with more than 90% stating that science is central
to understanding the natural world, and that scientific
and technological developments often contribute to liv‐
ing conditions. The study also addressed students’ be‐
lief in managing tasks effectively and overcoming
difficulties, which is termed as “self‐efficacy” in science.
Countries such as Poland, the United States, and
Canada have evidenced a high level of self‐efficacy,
which is closely related to performance. Azerbaijan is
among the countries where self‐efficacy was lowest.
STUDENT PERFORMANCE
IN READING
PISA 2006 reading domain requires students to in‐
terpret various texts, to reflect on and analyze what they
read. Students are placed at various levels from 5 to 1.
Less than 10 percent of the students across OECD states
scored at Level 5, which demonstrates the students’ ca‐
pability of complex critical thinking. Students from
Korea constituted the largest percentage at Level 5
(22%). The East Asian country is followed by the likes of
Finland, New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland. Azerbai‐
jan is at the other extreme, with less than 1% of the stu‐
dents who are proficient at the highest level. Moreover,
Azerbaijan is among the countries with a majority of
students at Level 1 or below. This means that most of
our students are not capable of very basic reading tasks,
such as finding simple information, making easy infer‐
ences, understanding what an accurately stated passage
of a text means, and using external information to un‐
derstand the texts.
Korea is the highest‐performing country with
a mean score of 556 points in reading. This re‐
formist country has been able to outperform even
Finland, the top performer in previous PISA read‐
ing studies. Estonia is one of the participant coun‐
tries that scored significantly above the OECD
average for reading scores, which is 492 points.
Azerbaijan ranks 54th with 353 points, which is
only higher than the scores for Qatar and Kyrgyzs‐
tan.
STUDENT PERFORMANCE
IN MATHEMATICS
As with science and reading, PISA uses various lev‐
els of proficiency in mathematics, with Level 6 being the
highest. At this level, students need to use reflection and
creativity to solve new problems and provide for vari‐
ous explanations. Only 13% of students in the overall
sample were able to perform at the highest two levels.
Korea and Chinese‐Taipei have the highest ratio of stu‐
dents at these top levels. The top performers in mathe‐
matics include Finland, Korea, Chinese‐Taipei, and
Hong Kong‐China. Azerbaijan ranks 35th with 476
points, scoring higher than much richer countries, such
as Russia, United States, Italy, and Turkey.
Quarterly Journal |
13
HIGHLIGHTS OF PISA 2006: PERFORMANCE OF AZERBAIJANI STUDENTS IN THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL STUDY
Science
Reading
Mean
Finland
Hong Kong‐China
Canada
Chinese Taipei
Estonia
Japan
New Zealand
Australia
Netherlands
Liechtenstein
Korea
Slovenia
Germany
United Kingdom
Czech Republic
Switzerland
Macao‐China
Austria
Belgium
Ireland
Hungary
Sweden
OECD average
Poland
Denmark
France
Croatia
OECD total
Iceland
Latvia
United States
Slovak Republic
Spain
Lithuania
Norway
Luxembourg
Russian Federation
Italy
Portugal
Greece
Israel
Chile
Serbia
Bulgaria
Uruguay
Turkey
Jordan
Thailand
Romania
Montenegro
Mexico
Indonesia
Argentina
Brazil
Colombia
Tunisia
Azerbaijan
Qatar
Kyrgyzstan
563 (2.0)
542 (2.5)
534 (2.0)
532 (3.6)
531 (2.5)
531 (3.4)
530 (2.7)
527 (2.3)
525 (2.7)
522 (4.1)
522 (3.4)
519 (1.1)
516 (3.8)
515 (2.3)
513 (3.5)
512 (3.2)
511 (1.1)
511 (3.9)
510 (2.5)
508 (3.2)
504 (2.7)
503 (2.4)
500 (0.5)
498 (2.3)
496 (3.1)
495 (3.4)
493 (2.4)
491 (1.2)
491 (1.6)
490 (3.0)
489 (4.2)
488 (2.6)
488 (2.6)
488 (2.8)
487 (3.1)
486 (1.1)
479 (3.7)
475 (2.0)
474 (3.0)
473 (3.2)
454 (3.7)
438 (4.3)
436 (3.0)
434 (6.1)
428 (2.7)
424 (3.8)
422 (2.8)
421 (2.1)
418 (4.2)
412 (1.1)
410 (2.7)
393 (5.7)
391 (6.1)
390 (2.8)
388 (3.4)
386 (3.0)
382 (2.8)
349 (0.9)
322 (2.9)
Statistically significantly above OECD average
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S.E.
Mathematics
Mean
Korea
Finland
Hong Kong‐China
Canada
New Zealand
Ireland
Australia
Liechtenstein
Poland
Sweden
Netherlands
Belgium
Estonia
Switzerland
Japan
Chinese Taipei
United Kingdom
Germany
Denmark
Slovenia
Macao‐China
OECD average
Austria
France
Iceland
Norway
OECD total
Czech Republic
Hungary
Latvia
Luxembourg
Croatia
Portugal
Lithuania
Italy
Slovak Republic
Spain
Greece
Turkey
Chile
Russian Federation
Israel
Thailand
Uruguay
Mexico
Bulgaria
Serbia
Jordan
Romania
Indonesia
Brazil
Montenegro
Colombia
Tunisia
Argentina
Azerbaijan
Qatar
Kyrgyzstan
S.E.
556 (3.8)
547 (2.1)
536 (2.4)
527 (2.4)
521 (3.0)
517 (3.5)
513 (2.1)
510 (3.9)
508 (2.8)
507 (3.4)
507 (2.9)
501 (3.0)
501 (2.9)
499 (3.1)
498 (3.6)
496 (3.4)
495 (2.3)
495 (4.4)
494 (3.2)
494 (1.0)
492 (1.1)
492 (0.6)
490 (4.1)
488 (4.1)
484 (1.9)
484 (3.2)
484 (1.0)
483 (4.2)
482 (3.3)
479 (3.7)
479 (1.3)
477 (2.8)
472 (3.6)
470 (3.0)
469 (2.4)
466 (3.1)
461 (2.2)
460 (4.0)
447 (4.2)
442 (5.0)
440 (4.3)
439 (4.6)
417 (2.6)
413 (3.4)
410 (3.1)
402 (6.9)
401 (3.5)
401 (3.3)
396 (4.7)
393 (5.9)
393 (3.7)
392 (1.2)
385 (5.1)
380 (4.0)
374 (7.2)
353 (3.1)
312 (1.2)
285 (3.5)
Not statistically significantly different from OECD average
Mean
Chinese Taipei
Finland
Hong Kong‐China
Korea
Netherlands
Switzerland
Canada
Macao‐China
Liechtenstein
Japan
New Zealand
Belgium
Australia
Estonia
Denmark
Czech Republic
Iceland
Austria
Slovenia
Germany
Sweden
Ireland
OECD average
France
United Kingdom
Poland
Slovak Republic
Hungary
Luxembourg
Norway
Lithuania
Latvia
OECD total
Spain
Azerbaijan
Russian Federation
United States
Croatia
Portugal
Italy
Greece
Israel
Serbia
Uruguay
Turkey
Thailand
Romania
Bulgaria
Chile
Mexico
Montenegro
Indonesia
Jordan
Argentina
Colombia
Brazil
Tunisia
Qatar
Kyrgyzstan
549 (4.1)
548 (2.3)
547 (2.7)
547 (3.8)
531 (2.6)
530 (3.2)
527 (2.0)
525 (1.3)
525 (4.2)
523 (3.3)
522 (2.4)
520 (3.0)
520 (2.2)
515 (2.7)
513 (2.6)
510 (3.6)
506 (1.8)
505 (3.7)
504 (1.0)
504 (3.9)
502 (2.4)
501 (2.8)
498 (0.5)
496 (3.2)
495 (2.1)
495 (2.4)
492 (2.8)
491 (2.9)
490 (1.1)
490 (2.6)
486 (2.9)
486 (3.0)
484 (1.2)
480 (2.3)
476 (2.3)
476 (3.9)
474 (4.0)
467 (2.4)
466 (3.1)
462 (2.3)
459 (3.0)
442 (4.3)
435 (3.5)
427 (2.6)
424 (4.9)
417 (2.3)
415 (4.2)
413 (6.1)
411 (4.6)
406 (2.9)
399 (1.4)
391 (5.6)
384 (3.3)
381 (6.2)
370 (3.8)
370 (2.9)
365 (4.0)
318 (1.0)
311 (3.4)
Statistically significantly below the OECD average
S.E.
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ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
OF THE RESULTS
PISA 2006 test scores indicate that Azerbaijan ranks
reasonably well in mathematics (ranked 35th among
57 countries) in comparison with other countries that
share a similar level of economic development. How‐
ever, the country distinctly lags in reading and science
outcomes. In fact, Azerbaijan is unique in having the
highest gap between math and reading scores in PISA.
This largest recorded difference (123 points) is fol‐
lowed by that in China and Russia (only at 20 points).
See Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: The Math vs. Reading GAP in PISA
scores in Azerbaijan is the largest in PISA 2006
Source: WB, Authors using PISA 2006 data.
There are several reasons why such a gap might
occur. First, there is obviously a difference in the diffi‐
culty level of the tests. While the test items for typical
university entrance exams mostly rely on the student
memory and recall of facts, the PISA reading questions
require higher‐level thinking and students have to
deal with much harder texts. Second, the purposes of
the tests are quite different. Both the university en‐
trance exams and national assessments focus on test‐
ing students’ mastery of school curriculum. However,
PISA is designed to test general skills, it takes an inno‐
vative approach to literacy, and is much broader in ge‐
ographical coverage. Currently the World Bank is
supporting a qualitative study on the main reasons for
the sui‐generis case of Azerbaijan, which is doing well
in Mathematics and performing poorly in Reading.
WHAT PISA 2006 RESULTS IMPLY FOR EDUCA‐
TIONAL POLICY IN AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan is among the participating countries in
PISA 2006, where the fundamental issue to address is
a fairly high number of students that have demon‐
strated low proficiency in science and reading. Such a
low performance shows a need to improve learning
standards across the board, requiring significant im‐
provements in the curriculum. Currently, the curricu‐
lum in Azerbaijan focuses more on recalling factual
knowledge and promotion of memory skills, empha‐
sizing rote learning. In order to address this serious
problem, the Government has approved the General
Education Concept Note, also known as the National
Curriculum in 2006, which foresees new roles for
teachers and students.
Moreover, the Ministry of Education has devel‐
oped subject syllabi for primary level and the new cur‐
riculum is implemented nationwide at Grade 1 since
2008. The Curriculum Center has completed the draft
subject syllabi for upper grades. The new curriculum
fosters essential life skills and applying the learned
knowledge, encourages students to reflect critically
and independently, and promotes them to get in‐
volved in research. The Ministry needs to speed up
the implementation of the new curriculum in upper
grades and cover the whole general secondary educa‐
tion during the next 5‐6 years.
Also, PISA 2006 questionnaires reveal that Azerbai‐
jan is one of the countries where the lack of educa‐
tional resources was reported most frequently as
hindering instruction. The country doesn’t have any
major problem with the teacher shortages, except for
some subject teachers in very few remote rural
schools. Actually, the system has one of the lowest
student‐teacher ratios in the world. However, the lack
of quality of educational resources at schools nega‐
tively affects student outcomes.
In addition, the school libraries in Azerbaijan have
progressed little in the past decade, with most of them
being too small, without enough reading space for stu‐
dents. Furthermore, the current libraries focus entirely
on fiction and do not have a wide range of stock in a
various media. Introduction of the new curriculum
also requires allocation of significant resources, and
this includes creation of large, open access school li‐
braries, which can serve as wider resource centers
with study spaces for 5‐10 percent of the student pop‐
ulation.
The new curriculum, which fosters independent,
research‐based, student‐centered learning, also re‐
quires development of new learning and teaching ma‐
terials, which will be conceptually very different and
meet the demands of the new curriculum on different
competency levels. Additionally, there will also be a
requirement for a great variety of different reference,
methodological support, and extension materials. The
second phase of the joint World Bank and Ministry of
Education project will support various activities in im‐
proving school libraries and developing new teaching
and learning methods.
References:
PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrowʹs World
ISBN: 9789264040007
Publication: 04/12/07
* The views expressed in this article reflect the personal views of the
author and in no way represent the views or policies of the World
Bank.
Quarterly Journal |
15
BOLOGNA DECLARATION WHERE WE ARE?
BOLOGNA DECLARATION
WHERE WE ARE?
We present you with an interview with the Hon‐
ored Teacher of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Asif Jan‐
girov.
Question: Mr. Jangirov, what are the origins of
the Bologna process?
Answer: After collapse of Soviet socialism fol‐
lowed by expansion of the European Union disparate
areas rapidly began to emerge in economic, financial,
political, and cultural sectors. At the same time, the
Shengen agreement was signed and Eurocurrency
originated. Opening of new labor markets and new
workplaces, especially in the field of high‐technologi‐
cal manufacture, increased demand in skilled person‐
nel. As a result, free movement of qualified specialists
became urgent; even within the transparent bound‐
16
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aries of the EU it was impossible to employ foreign
citizens because national diplomas of higher educa‐
tion were not acknowledged even in neighboring
countries. Eventually, the new situation favored rein‐
forcement of European integration tendencies in the
field of education, the result of which became the
Bologna process.
Initially, authorized representatives of 29 coun‐
tries took part in the Bologna Declaration; currently,
the number of countries joint to the process is 46. The
declaration was designed to form pan‐European
areas (zones) of higher education by 2010.
Each clause of the Bologna Declaration is based
on decades of experience in different European coun‐
tries. But this process started in 1988, when Bologna
University, the oldest university in Europe, cele‐
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brated its 900‐year anniversary. Even at that time,
growth of role of universities in the third millennium
was predicted. At the same time, autonomy and inde‐
pendence were enunciated as basic principles in the
Great Charter of Universities—the Magna Charta
Universitatum, adopted by the chancellors of a num‐
ber of leading European universities.
Based on the statement of Magna Charta, the Lis‐
bon convention adopted in 1997 was concerned with
“recognition of qualifications concerning higher edu‐
cation in the European region.” I don’t want to bend
readers’ ears with the details, I’ll just note that de‐
bates over such conceptions as “notification” and
“equivalence” and their replacement with a single
term “acknowledgement” were settled in that con‐
vention. Comparison of diplomas of higher education
would not be based on curricular similarity or differ‐
ence between universities but rather in the body of
knowledge graduates gained and their readiness to
continue their education on a higher level.
It is safe to say that the basic principles of the
Bologna process elaborated on in 1998 by the minis‐
ters of education of France, Germany, Italy and Great
Britain at the celebration of anniversary of University
of Paris, Sorbonne are reflected in the Declaration of
Sorbonne, which seeks the “harmonization of archi‐
tecture of the European system of higher education.”
Please, pay attention to expression in the phrase “har‐
monization of architecture.” I think this is the basic
philosophy of the Bologna process. There was now,
for the first time, an established motto “Europe from
knowledge” in Sorbonne declaration, an acknowl‐
edgement that universities took a leading role in the
development of the European continent.
Question: Today, there are debates in society
about the priority of the Bologna process for Azer‐
baijan. What do you think? How important is it for
our country to get involved in this process?
Answer: I have held different leading posts in ad‐
ministrative structures of the education system of
Azerbaijan for more than 30 years. Many years ago, I
was firmly convinced that it’s enough to reform sec‐
ondary schools and then all other problems in the ed‐
ucation system will be automatically solved.
Afterwards, I said that fundamental reforms of edu‐
cation are impossible without fundamental changes
in the training system of teachers in the universities
as well as in the individuals who are going to prepare
these teachers, namely the instructors at universities.
Then I fought for the establishment of preschool edu‐
cation, a fundamental priority, that my friend, presi‐
dent of International Pedagogical Club of European
Capitals, Boris Jebrovsky called “the highest educa‐
Asif Jahangirov
Honored teacher of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Mr. Asif Jahangirov was born in
1948 in Khankandi. In 1971 he grad‐
uated from Azerbaijan State Univer‐
sity with diploma of chemistry teacher.
From 1972 to 1975 he worked as a
teacher in Sumgayit. From 1985 till
2001 Mr. Jahangirov worked as a chief
of Head Education Department of
Baku, and in 2001 he became director
of Working Group for Education Re‐
forms. In 2000 he became Honorary
Teacher of Azerbaijan. Mr. Jahangirov
authored numerous articles dedicated
to the problems of innovations in pub‐
lic education.
Quarterly Journal |
17
BOLOGNA DECLARATION WHERE WE ARE?
tion.”
How many timely courses of reform were sug‐
gested during the booming nineties of the twentieth
century? These included reforms in general and pro‐
fessional education, innovative activities of educa‐
tional institutions, educational management, and
budgetary reforms. Is it possible to rank these and
many other priorities by the level of their urgency?
Certainly, it’s possible, but then I think all of them
should be included in a single column: “Priority #1.”
I think that there isn’t any field in the education
system that couldn’t be of higher‐priority. As varied
and unique is each person, each level of his life, and
as much important thinking is dialectical, both the
unity and the diverse directions of his development
are of first‐priority. Therefore, to be effective, educa‐
tion must be able to address all these areas, all the
unity and variety of tasks for development of a per‐
son.
Approaches to the modernization of education
should be just as complex as the individual, where all
the directions of the process are of equal importance.
Then there is no need for many countries, especially
the ones that became independent during post‐social‐
ist period, to make up something else. There are quite
effective methods and structures, developed over
decades of educational experience and proven suc‐
cessful in practice in the West. Deep study and com‐
parison of this Western body of educational practice
with the practices of Azerbaijan acquired during so‐
viet period, and a reasoned combination of the posi‐
tive parts of both models, methods, and practices
might be able to provide us with considerable posi‐
tive results in a short space of time.
Thus, I consider the Bologna Declaration, as re‐
flected in its recommendations, as having quite a
strong conceptual basis and therefore being the most
important strategic tool in the reformation of higher
education of our country. If we don’t try to under‐
stand why it’s extremely important for Azerbaijan to
integrate into the Bologna process as soon as possible,
then we, as before, will carry with us the same stereo‐
types as in Soviet times: the belief that there are no
problems in our higher education, and the illusion
that state borders are necessary to a successful univer‐
sity education. These notions will then override an
awareness of the contemporary strategic demand for,
and vital importance of, integration with European
educational structures. I am deeply convinced that
only the full‐fledged realization of the Bologna Decla‐
ration will be able to further fundamental change in
almost all areas of higher education of Azerbaijan.
Question: What do you see as the biggest prob‐
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lem towards fulfillment of recommendations of the
Bologna declaration?
Answer: First of all, before implementing any‐
thing, as does an American, one should examine and
learn about what is going to be accomplished, be‐
cause any innovation surely requires development of
new knowledge and the acquisition of new skills. But,
excuse me this is not the usual way we, Azerbaijanis,
do things. For instance, instead of frank admission of
a lack of accurate information about the Bologna
process a professor of one of the universities said that
Bologna process is some structure, created in Bologna
and that the university where he works joined it in
1997— i.e. two years before signing of declaration!.
Another professor called the Bologna process “a new
educational system.” And all of this, three and half
years after Azerbaijan joined the Bologna declaration!
Imagine what the answers of students of those peda‐
gogues would be!
Here comes a logical question: why do we have, to
put it mildly, such a disorder in Azerbaijan (and, by
the way, not only in the field of education)? What is
the reason behind not being capable to realize and
calculate the clearly evident socio‐economic and fi‐
nancial benefits promised through the implementa‐
tion of recommendations of the Bologna process, a
simple path towards western practices? Maybe, even,
after seventeen years of independence, we continue to
live with Soviet stereotypes and remain ready mainly
to tackle only the things that are sure to offer immedi‐
ate success in eyes of our bosses? Naturally, develop‐
ing an intellectual component to education is not a
matter of simple repair. It is not just the demonstra‐
tion of newly bought computers. Indeed, the renova‐
tion of an educational system takes much longer, and
involves difficult, sometimes even invisible opera‐
tions. That’s why this work doesn’t offer any instant
effects in the view of many officials.
Question: What is the essence of the main recom‐
mendations of the Bologna declaration?
Answer: If we join the first and second statements
of the declaration, it’s possible to say briefly that it
calls for a transition from national systems of higher
education to more transparent systems easily under‐
standable by all participating countries. It does this
by establishing comparable degrees, promoting im‐
plementation of similar or matching two‐level pro‐
grams and qualifications of higher education, where
the adoption of a single recognizable addendum to
each comparable diploma can increase job placement
opportunities of European citizens, and increase in‐
ternational competitiveness of the European system
of higher education.
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The Bologna Declaration recommended the imple‐
mentation of a two‐level higher education structure
everywhere. The first level is the Bachelor’s degree
with duration of three to four years and the second
level is the Master’s course, taking one to two years.
Azerbaijan’s universities shifted to this system of edu‐
cation in 1993 and so we would expect that we
might have gained some good experience during the
intervening years already but…
In all of Europe the Bachelor’s degree is now rec‐
ognized as the basic level of higher education and
serves as the principal qualification for the labor mar‐
ket; 80% of all personnel are expected to be prepared
in this level. Unfortunately, there is a false idea
among most in Azerbaijani society and even among
our employers that the Bachelor’s degree is only an
interim step on the way to the real higher education
of a Master’s degree.
So, the holder of a Bachelor’s degree is a specialist
with a higher education who can apply the broad
spectrum of his or her knowledge and competence in
various fields of activity. This broad, yet specialized
qualification makes it possible for a person to adapt
to varying conditions of labor activity, to test his or
her strengths and opportunities. After some time, if
he or she realizes it is necessary to further improve
his skills and knowledge towards the solution of
more specialized professional or scientific tasks, then
he or she can continue on to the next level of educa‐
tion –a Master’s degree.
Even after fifteen years under a two‐level system
of higher education, our country hasn’t obtained the
infrastructure and content typical of western universi‐
ties. Here, we often hear the opinion that the Master’s
(or magistrate) degree was built by shrinking the pro‐
gram of the Bachelor’s degree. Holders of a Master’s
degree, instructors, and even parents clearly express
this opinion. Because of this, many graduate students
are students only in the records of universities, while
in fact they are employed in paid full‐time jobs the
very first day of studies. In these jobs, they practice
their skills throughout the time that should be spent
Quarterly Journal |
19
BOLOGNA DECLARATION WHERE WE ARE?
on gaining new specialized competencies through
study, research of literature in libraries, writing of
course works, essay writing, and group projects.
Now, working while attending university is a com‐
mon practice for those that study abroad. It’s true that
some of those studying for Master’s Degrees in the
West work as a teaching or research assistant during
their free time, before or after their study day. But this
is only to the benefit of Master’s students: this type of
employment is established to closely coordinate with
the student’s study of a higher level of practical, sci‐
entific, teaching activity—not work dependent on re‐
view of what was already learned at the Bachelor’s
level, but work that actually relies on and further de‐
velops the student’s education and competence at a
higher Master’s level.
The next important aspect of the Bologna Declara‐
tion is the European system of transferable credits,
that is, figures of labor intensity. The credit system
was initially conceived in the higher education sys‐
tems of the USA. I’ll remind everyone that the credit
is a unit of study or coursework defined through as‐
signments and tests. It is a numerical way of calculat‐
ing the amount and level of student learning.
Assessed through class work and testing, credits ex‐
press the usual time necessary to master a particular
body of skills and knowledge. This is a mechanism
that helps each university evaluate courses taken by
students at other universities. It also offers “saving”
and “portability” functions: students may move
through their education with time gaps and change
universities. By the way, students may save credits for
as long a period time of as they wish. Earned credits
are never lost.
A credit system has been established in 26 univer‐
sities of Azerbaijan and by this year it must extend to
all our universities. But today’s reality is that only em‐
ployees of the Ministry of Education, a small number
of educational leaders, and the head staff of universi‐
ties fully understand all the nuances of this system To
the question of about the essence of the credit system,
a professor at one of the universities where the sys‐
tem is in partial operation, compares this system with
100 credit grade; an associate professor says about
credited subjects that the students later lose those
credits, and a senior teacher declares that, in this new
system of education, a student who fails an exam can,
with the help of “credit,” pay money to re‐take exam.
I can offer even more nonsensical answers from stu‐
dents that study in this very credit system, but what
is the point? All of this misinformation about the
credit system circulates even as the Ministry of Edu‐
cation of the Republic adopted it in 2006 and pro‐
nounced in 2007 that it was completed with a
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statement about “the exemplary organization of
teaching in universities in the credit system!”
In all of the European universities where there is a
credit system is in place, instructors have to develop a
syllabus for each course describing and defining the
course content and the specific requirements and ob‐
jectives and methods by which they will assess stu‐
dents’ learning in their disciplines. In this way, each
student knows what he must accomplish to earn
course credits. Instructors must prepare, post and
maintain an individual and course web pages within
the educational web‐portal of the university, keeping
an up‐to‐date list of the information sources, materi‐
als, electronic links, and assignments necessary for in‐
dependent work of students in each course.
Instructors also prepare texts and multimedia compo‐
nents of lectures, seminar plans, model assignments
and tests etc. Now, in order to find out the reality in
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our universities in Azerbaijan, to find out that there is
almost nothing done towards the fulfillment of these
aspects of the Bologna process, it’s quite enough just
to visit website of any Azerbaijan university. It is a
fact that you cannot find the above‐mentioned “Ex‐
emplary organization of teaching in universities in
the credit system” at any website! Given this lack of
posted information, how can our universities broad‐
cast their information for all of the partner educa‐
tional institutions in the Bologna process? What about
an individual page for each instructor with their en‐
tire course pages in the educational web‐portal of the
Azerbaijan universities? What about competency re‐
quirements of each class??
Question: How is it possible to bring these re‐
forms up to date and draw the attention of the gen‐
eral public to the Bologna process?
Answer: For last 5‐6 years I have repeatedly said
that any reform can give tangible results only if its
essence is clear to everyone who will have to fulfill
these reforms, when every single letter of this innova‐
tion is brought to the direct participants in a fully ac‐
cessible form.. It’s not a secret that there never was
any special attention paid to an explanation of what is
being reformed, why it is reformed, and who should
do what to achieve success in reform.
All of this propaganda work (and using this So‐
viet‐ sounding word here is appropriate) towards the
study and acknowledgement of the main ideas of
such a complex document – the Bologna declaration,
should have been purposefully and systematically es‐
tablished within the country and within each individ‐
ual university three years ago. Certainly, it’s not late
even now to work out a “Public awareness” plan, to
completely lay out the specifics for each group of par‐
ticipants in the Bologna process. “Public awareness”
is “a must” so that the ideas of the Bologna Declara‐
tion can be taken as tools, transformed into firm
knowledge and steady competence for each univer‐
sity head and instructor. The meaning and practical
sense of these ideas must be brought to and under‐
stood by each student, as well as the general and
parental communities.
Based on foreign experience, it’s extremely impor‐
tant not to skimp on resources, on the financial sup‐
port of this plan, as considerable sums will be needed
for this explanation of ideas of the Bologna Declara‐
tion: organization of programs on television, creation
of websites, publication of booklets, a prospectus, de‐
velopment of seminars and trainings to cover all par‐
ticipants in the process—and it’s desirable to
motivate participants of trainings with some addi‐
tional monetary stimulus.
As long as none of these steps and programs is re‐
alized then no matter how high quality or commen‐
surate to international standards the regulatory
documents worked out by the Ministry of Education
are, they can only be good on paper. At best, they can
be patented as original intellectual property of their
developer, the Ministry of Education itself. Any
delay of the process, following the good‐old soviet
principle of “maybe we fall behind” will subse‐
quently require even greater financial, intellectual
and other state expenditures.
Why do we so easily refuse the social, economic
and, if you wish, political benefits that systematic re‐
alization of the Bologna declaration promises us?
What can be more advantageous than the establish‐
ment, together with Europe, of a considerably more
advanced and equivalent higher education system in
the Republic of Azerbaijan?
Quarterly Journal |
21
EDUCATING GIRLS IN A VILLAGE SCHOOL OF ASTARA
EDUCATING GIRLS
IN A VILLAGE SCHOOL OF ASTARA
The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan
(section two, chapter III, article 42) guarantees the
right to free compulsory primary and secondary
education for all citizens.. Despite the compulsory
nature of education, we have witnessed many chil‐
dren in the southern regions of Azerbaijan who
have dropped out early; this is especially true for
girls. Many female students who begin school at
the age of 6 do not finish 11th grade. Traditionally,
parents maintain the final decision regarding their
daughters’ ability to go to school and how long
they will remain. Their choice is influenced by sev‐
eral factors, but the desirability to have boys over
girls, the entrenched gender roles, and the culture
of early marriages certainly make a profound im‐
pact on how they view this topic.
BACKGROUND
This article’s focus is on the education of girls in
the southern regions of Azerbaijan, but because
this is a male‐dominated society, it is imperative to
briefly discuss the role of men in this culture. In
the Astara region, the preference to have sons over
daughters is one that spans multiple generations.
Though one might suspect this is true only in des‐
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titute families, this is not the case. We have ob‐
served this attitude from very wealthy to very poor
social classes. Parents believe that all efforts and
energy of the family should go towards rearing
sons since they are the ones who will eventually
need good jobs to support their own families as
well as their parents. As a result, sons are encour‐
aged to be educated at least through secondary
school. If they go farther, better. In Azerbaijan offi‐
cial estimates for drop‐out rates during the com‐
pulsory cycle (Grades 1–11) are very low— around
1%–2% 2—but survey data show that actual atten‐
dance rates are lower than enrollment rates sug‐
gest. The UNICEF MICS found that attendance
rates were 88.4% among primary school children,
although no significant variations were seen in
boys’ and girls’ primary school attendance either
by region, rural‐urban location, or household
wealth. However, differences in overall attendance
rates were seen between various regions. In the
West and Southwest of Azerbaijan, 6% fewer girls
and boys attended school (85.1%) than in Baku
(91%) that is even.3 In Astara, boys also quit school,
but the drop out rate we have witnessed is much
lower for boys than for girls.
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Second, the gender roles in rural villages are
deeply ingrained, having been perpetuated for
decades. The man’s role is to be the breadwinner in
the family; the woman’s is to stay home taking care
of domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning,
washing, ironing, and caring for children. This
does not mean that it is forbidden for women to
work. Due to financial restraints caused by a hus‐
band’s death, his incapacity to work or lack of
work, his desertion of the family, or inability to
earn enough money, women do find themselves in
the job market at times. When they work, they per‐
form jobs considered to be only “acceptable” for
women: teaching, working at the bazaar, or doing
yard work. “Yet this increase of responsibilities
[for the woman] has not led to an increase in sta‐
tus.” This mentality that girls are only meant for
marriage and home has continued generation after
generation and is difficult to change.
Third, the people of that region have themselves
been raised with the tradition that girls marry at an
early age. In many ways, life is not very different
than it was half a century ago. It is only natural
that families are going to perpetuate this behavior
because it is what they are most familiar with.
From the above description regarding the im‐
portance of sons and gender roles, it is not surpris‐
ing that parents do not invest as much energy in
their daughters. Their only vision for these young
girls is as wives and mothers–not as women who
might have successful careers. Because parents do
not consider this option, they do not recognize the
value of education, and, therefore, do not insist
that their daughters finish their secondary educa‐
tion. Instead, withdrawing daughters early is quite
common, and the most prominent reason is the
parents’ desire for their daughters to marry early.
Further compounding the issue are the families’ fi‐
nancial situations, parental concerns regarding
family honor, the daughters’ own desires to marry,
and the poor educational system itself, all of which
are heavily influenced by son preference and gen‐
der roles.
THE ISSUE
Even in the year 2009, early marriage is the
most common reason female students do not com‐
plete their education in the village schools of As‐
tara. Girls may marry as young as age 13, despite
the legal age for marriage is 17.
Competition between families to marry their
daughters first exists in this region. It is often the
mothers, not the fathers, who are extremely proud
to have their children marry at a very young age
Aygun Dadashova is a secondary
English teacher in the village school of
Mashkhan, Astara, Azerbaijan
Kathy Taylor is a U.S. Depart‐
ment of State English Language Fel‐
low, working with the Azerbaijan
English Teachers’ Association in
Lankaran, Azerbaijan 1
Quarterly Journal |
23
EDUCATING GIRLS IN A VILLAGE SCHOOL OF ASTARA
and push their daughters to marry early. The fa‐
thers are not always involved in the decision be‐
cause they are absent from the home and working.
This behavior of the mothers almost appears to be
a continuation of childhood competition with other
girls—except now they are adult women who are
using their own daughters as pawns in the game of
life. The mothers dress their daughters in beautiful
clothes and take them places in order to show them
off to prospective husbands or to other mothers
who have eligible sons. Interestingly enough, the
game does not seem to involve finding the “best”
or most suitable son‐in‐law, it is just a matter of
getting the daughter married sooner than someone
else’s daughter.
Mothers want their daughters to marry early for
several reasons‐the most pressing being the poor
economic conditions of the family. Consequently, it
is very difficult to raise a family on little income.
By marrying their daughter early, they rid them‐
selves of the financial responsibilities of that child
and pass them on to the new husband and his fam‐
ily.
Furthermore, according to Azerbaijani culture,
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family honor is very important. Because parents
want their children to mature into respectable
young adults, the latterʹs behavior is constantly on
their mind and they are more concerned about
their daughters than their sons. Males are there‐
fore raised more liberally than females. The philos‐
ophy “boys will be boys” is acceptable, whereas,
girls are given no such slack. The fundamental con‐
cern is that daughters might get a “bad” reputation
with their “immoral” behavior, which will dis‐
honor the family. By the time girls reach 7th grade,
parents are already anxious about how school
might influence them negatively. If parents have
heard about other female students behaving badly
at schools, they are concerned their daughters will
act similarly. Eventually, they begin to think that
schools corrupt their children, and do not benefit
them. By encouraging their daughters to leave
school and get married at a young age, the parents
are freed from worry about raising that child any‐
more since her behavior is someone else’s responsi‐
bility!
We have witnessed how fiancés of several
young girls have a significant impact on their com‐
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pletion of school. These men, who are typically
several years older, are often working far away and
are worried that their future wives might meet
other men at school. They think if the girls stay at
home, then they will not have the opportunity to
meet anyone else. Furthermore, because it is a
male‐dominated society, it is socially unacceptable
that these girls are more independent, self‐confi‐
dent, and better educated than they are. Girls with
too much knowledge are a threat to their hus‐
bands. These men feel they have to be in charge
and in control. No matter what, they expect their
eventual wife to follow the traditionally accepted
gender roles and remain submissive.
Sometimes the decision to leave school to marry
early is the daughters’ decision, not only the par‐
ents’. As girls have grown up, they have not seen
alternative options regarding life choices; all they
know is marriage. No one has taught these young
women the value of education; nor they do not un‐
derstand the far‐reaching positive consequences of
a well‐educated mother According to the report
entitled, Because I am a Girl: The State of the
World’s Girls 2007, “the family is where children
first learn about their potential.4 It is here that
many girls are socialized to believe that they have
a lower social status than boys.” These girls have
had little or no exposure to female role models
who have graduated from secondary school, uni‐
versity, or college, and have been successful in ca‐
reers. Unfortunately, many of these girls are not
serious about school and seem to attend just to
“have fun.” They put little effort into their work
and barely pay attention to what is going on. Con‐
sequently, they are poor students who are not get‐
ting lots of positive feedback from teachers and
peers. At some point in time, the competition to get
engaged is intense and girls taunt each other in
order to make the unengaged girl jealous. Once
they do become engaged, they are even more dis‐
tracted by plans for marriage and their eventual
move to their husbands’ homes. Due to their lack
of interest in school, these married or engaged girls
frequently drop out before they finish 11th grade.
Unfortunately, sex‐disaggregated data on out of‐
school children are not available, but reports are
increasing that rural girls at secondary‐school lev‐
els are particularly vulnerable to being pressured
by their families to withdraw from education to
undertake other paid/unpaid work, protect their
“morality,” and/or prepare for early marriages5.
Regular detailed assessments of girls’ and boys’ at‐
tendance/participation and achievement rates by
income group, location (rural/urban/region) and
different levels of schooling are required to better
establish whether gender inequality in access to
education has emerged over the last several years.
The current situation is at fault for many girls
dropping out of school at an early age. Although
the textbooks are free and quite new, the informa‐
tion in them is often not accurate. The teachers
themselves are woefully inadequate in their teach‐
ing skills. They lack training and the majority of
them continue to “preach” at the students, requir‐
ing rote memorization and failing to use methods
that will engage any child. It is amazing that any
child finishes school with antiquated facilities,
poor instructors, and limited equipment.
Girls’ high drop out rate from secondary educa‐
tion is a serious problem in the southern region. As
mentioned earlier, the reasons for this are many,
and are tightly interwoven with today’s national
culture, as well as all the cultures that have influ‐
enced this region. It is almost impossible to iden‐
tify which came first, as with the “chicken or egg”
theory. How does it evolve that a culture places
such a low value upon the existence of a girl?
THE WAY FORWARD TO EDUCATING
WOMEN
Providing education for girls is a difficult task
considering the conservativeness of this region,
due in part to its geographical remoteness in the
country, its distance from the capital, and its posi‐
tion on the border with Iran. As with many issues
in society, one of the main solutions is educating
the people–all the people. Two main areas affecting
girls’ education require addressing. The first one is
the need to teach society the value of women and
their positive role in today’s world. This is a huge
challenge which will, in my opinion, take years to
change. There are many international develop‐
ment agencies, such as the United Nations Popula‐
tion Fund (UNFPA), that “promote the right of
every woman, man, and child to enjoy a life of
health and equal opportunity.”6 Allowing interna‐
tional agencies to come into the country to train
both men and women in this sensitive area of gen‐
der relations is one way to move forward. The sec‐
ond one is the need for modernization and
assistance with regard to economic and health sec‐
tors, which in turn influence poverty and educa‐
tion. Again, an agency such as UNFPA “ helps
governments, at their request, to formulate policies
and strategies to help reduce poverty and support
sustainable development.”
Long‐term intervention with funding and train‐
ing from both the government and non‐govern‐
Quarterly Journal |
25
EDUCATING GIRLS IN A VILLAGE SCHOOL OF ASTARA
Another vital topic that directly impacts girls’
education is the need for modernization and eco‐
nomic stimulus in the southern region as a way to
alleviate poverty. Government involvement is re‐
quired to help create secure jobs for both men and
women. Financial incentives to start businesses are
necessary to foster the growth of entrepreneurs
who will in turn provide more employment oppor‐
tunities. Recruiting foreign specialists who train
local farmers and sellers with new methods and re‐
place archaic equipment , will improve product
quality, increase production capacity, and ulti‐
mately increase the salary of the farmer. As a re‐
sult of new businesses, jobs, and improved
training, many families can be reunited with scores
of fathers returning from jobs in other cities and
countries. Better family incomes will eliminate one
of the financial reasons girls are withdrawn from
school and married at a young age. Having both
parents at home may help also provide more stable
co‐parenting skills, which in turn will help with
discipline issues.
The need to modernize the educational system
is essential in order to provide an education that
all children deserve. It is amazing the drop out rate
is not even higher. Inadequate condition of school
facilities, absence of necessary equipment, anti‐
quated curriculum, poor quality of teachers and
continuation of unsuccessful teaching methods
sends a strong message to all that education needs
more attention. An outside world perspective
needs to be brought into the regions by promoting
students and teachers to study in other countries,
inviting foreign specialists to introduce new ideas,
starting pen pal exchanges, and encouraging travel
to other regions and countries. After being actively
supported in these endeavors, girls and women
will understand there are many more options for
their futures than they had ever realized.
At the same time the government should intro‐
duce gender awareness training as a mandatory
component of all teacher training programs. Edu‐
cation ministry should revise school curricula and
textbooks to remove stereotyped images of men’s
and women’s roles and promote behavior that does
not validate or condone gender inequality and gen‐
der‐specific violence. People desperately need the
Azerbaijani government to take increased efforts in
helping them improve the quality of their lives–
this is especially true in the lives of women. In a re‐
sponse to an article about Muslim girls’ struggle
for education, Pat Young says,
Statistics tell us clearly that the status of women
in a country determines the status of a nation.
Women spend a higher proportion of what they
have on their children, they often determine
whether and how well their children will be edu‐
cated. An educated woman is better able to nourish
her children, both emotionally and physically. Any
nation that wants to improve its status must edu‐
cate its girls.8
It is time to invest in our most untapped poten‐
tial—our daughters.
1
Authors would like to pass special thanks to Joyce Hahn, Peace Corps Volunteer,
Lankaran, Azerbaijan
5
2
Azerbaijan. Baku
mental groups are imperative to scratch the surface
of complicated problems affecting girls, and, in
turn, women. Regular workshops in the following
topics may, over time, begin to reap benefits of
change if the Azerbaijani government, local execu‐
tive committees, and education departments truly
approve and support the necessity of change. Sug‐
gested topics include but are not limited to:
women’s rights, empowerment of women, support
services for females, mothers’ return to school,
childcare options, parental discipline, improved
school‐family relations, family planning clinics,
family health care, and skills training for females.
If people begin to understand how girls and even‐
tually women can enrich a community, it is hoped
that they will start to incorporate their daughters
into mainstream society and provide them with the
education they need to improve the lives of all.
[Being a mother is] a position of such power
and influence. She holds in her hands the destiny
of nations, for to her comes the responsibility and
opportunity of molding the nationʹs citizens.
–Spencer W. Kimball 7
2003. Azerbaijan Republic Poverty Assessment. Volume II: Main Report. World Bank,
Washington.
6
3
http://www.unfpa.org./about/index.htm retrieved on February 22, 2009.
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). 2002. Reaching the Last Few: Girls Educa‐
tion in
UNFPA (The United Nations Population Fund). Meeting Development Goals
7
Azerbaijan. Baku
Kimball, Spencer W., http://mommylife.net/archives/2006/02/inspiring_words.html. Re‐
trieved on January 28, 2009.
4
8
Because I am a Girl: The State of the World’s Girls 2007, Executive Summary.
Retrieved on February 18, 2009.
26
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). 2002. Reaching the Last Few: Girls Educa‐
tion in
www.aaa.org.az
Young, Pat. “Your Comments.” Faisal, Safa. (2003). Muslim girls struggle for education.
Retrieved on January 26, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3130234.stm
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Quarterly Journal |
27
“PROFESSOR, I DISAGREE”. TEACHING AND LEARNING DIFFERENTLY ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
“PROFESSOR, I DISAGREE”.
TEACHING AND LEARNING DIFFERENTLY
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
PROLOGUE: ALIEN REALITY
It was 3 minutes to 17.00 when I boarded the eleva‐
tor in the hotel where I stayed my first couple of weeks
in Rochester, New York. I was on my way to catch the
5 p.m. bus to the College of Business where my first
official class in the Rochester Institute of Technology
(RIT), the university where I did my master’s degree
as part of the Muskie Scholarship, was scheduled to
start. When I stepped outside, the bus had gone – I
could even see its back in the mist of exhaust pipe
fumes turning around the corner. I was one minute
late and it was gone. Damn! I couldn’t believe it but it
was the new reality I had to adjust to – things were not
so laid back as in Baku. With the next bus not sched‐
uled until the next hour and no time to call a cab, I had
to walk, or to be precise, run to the university 5 km
away … it was hell of a run.
When I entered the room it was filled with people.
Phil Tyler, the Marketing Professor, a short, round and
cheerful man, was introducing himself. “I am sorry I
am late. I missed my bus,” my apologies started. “I
was just one minute late and it was gone. Your public
bus system is so bad: there is only one bus every
hour.” Looking at me above his reading spectacles he
said, smiling, “But the bus was on time. It was you
who were late.”
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This little episode was a proof that things in the US
were different from Azerbaijan and I had to come to
terms with these differences. The old‐fashioned blame‐
it‐on‐others attitude, often successful in Azerbaijan,
did not work here. A sense of responsibility for your
actions prevailed over it‐is‐my‐bad‐luck philosophy.
But more importantly, it was my first encounter with a
teacher in a class and Tyler struck me as gentle but
firm. Later I came to discover that such were most
teachers at RIT.
PROFESSOR VERSUS MUALLIM:
THE ISSUE OF ENTHUSIASM
If I were to use a few words to describe professors
at RIT, it would be fair, knowledgeable, helpful, open‐
minded, relaxed, and enthusiastic. Well, when I come
to think of my teachers in Azerbaijan (and I actually
had very good teachers both in school and university),
I would still say there is a considerable gap between
the two groups. So where is the gap? Well, it is in
many things, some big and others small, all of them af‐
fecting the teacher‐student relationship. The key dif‐
ference, in my view, is the issue of enthusiasm.
Not a secret that teachers in the west are more fi‐
nancially secure than their colleagues in Azerbaijan:
they also have access to versatile academic and logisti‐
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cal resources: publications, conferences, professional
associations, personal computers and classrooms
equipped with modern high‐tech equipment. Back in
the land of fire, unfortunately, the teacher often faces a
daunting task to bring the light of knowledge to the
young in a poorly lit, badly heated and under‐
equipped classroom.
Some can argue that a lot of universities in Azerbai‐
jan now have modern classrooms equipped with latest
information technology and brand new desks and
chairs. However, even these students are faced with
obsolete teaching methods. Most of the teachers re‐
ceive low salaries and consequently demand bribes for
better grades.
The result is an absence of enthusiasm to share
knowledge, to inspire or to instigate change. In fact,
most Azerbaijani teachers I know who are enthusiastic
are those financially secure from other sources, such
well‐to‐do families or private tutorships.
AM I SUPPOSED TO READ ALL THIS?!
When I first looked at the amount of reading re‐
quired before the class I was shocked, to say the least:
100 pages of essential textbook, two books with sup‐
plementary reading and one case study 35 pages long.
So much text in Azerbaijan would equal the amount of
annual reading for a whole subject.
This however turned out to be a cornerstone of
teacher‐student relationship in US universities. The
concept is simple: the teacher does not spend time in
class to talk you through all theoretical stuff – she ex‐
pects you and everyone else to know it. What she
spends time on is holding conversations among stu‐
dents on topics of relevance. In my “History of the
Mass Media” class (which basically is just another his‐
tory class) our teacher Rudy Pugliese spent a lot of
time asking questions. Moreover, those were not spe‐
cific inquiries like the date of invention or the working
principle of the radio but rather “why” questions.
“What kind of history class is that?” I thought first.
“How am I supposed to know why something hap‐
pened and, even if I do, who cares?” Later I under‐
stood that it aimed at developing and sharpening our
argument skills beyond everything else. The rationale
is plain and simple: we don’t graduate with a baggage
of useless statistics and book readings but with abili‐
ties to analyze problems and offer solutions.
In Azerbaijan reading is also important but it fol‐
lows the actual instruction or a lecture. So once you
have received your portion of narrated lecture scrib‐
bling it onto paper while your teacher is pacing him‐
self up and down the classroom, there is not much
conversation (let alone a debate) going on. Students
mostly read when they prepare for exams and some‐
Rashad Bayramov is a graduate of the
2002‐2003 Edmund S. Muskie Fellowship pro‐
gramme and has M.S. in Communications and
Marketing from Rochester Institute of Technol‐
ogy (USA) and M.A. in English from Azerbai‐
jan University of Languages. Upon his return
from U.S. in July 2004 Rashad joined BP as the
Brand Officer in the Communications and Ex‐
ternal Affairs (C&EA) team to help raise brand
awareness and strengthen the BP brand inside
and outside the company. Rashad also coordi‐
nated the BP Helios Awards programme in the
Caspian region and Russia in 2004 and 2005.
In 2006, Rashad led the country‐wide BP brand
research in Azerbaijan: this work helped BP un‐
derstand its image in Azerbaijan and identified
areas for building mutually‐beneficial relation‐
ships with the public. In late 2007 Rashad was
promoted to the position of team leader respon‐
sible for Compass, BP employee magazine in
Azerbaijan, and the company’s employee en‐
gagement programme. Before joining BP,
Rashad worked with the Organization for Secu‐
rity and Co‐operation in Europe (OSCE) Office
in Baku as Political and Media Assistant and
Internews Azerbaijan (NGO for media develop‐
ment) as Communications Consultant.
Quarterly Journal |
29
“PROFESSOR, I DISAGREE”. TEACHING AND LEARNING DIFFERENTLY ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
times for seminars. The result is the knowledge which
is compiled overnight and mostly lost after the semi‐
nar or the exam is over.
FIVE PEOPLE AND A PIZZA
There is a whole tradition with certain universities
to base their entire method of teaching on case studies
(Harvard is a great example). RIT was good at it as
well, engaging students from multiple backgrounds
and nationalities to resolve problems of fictitious com‐
panies. I remember especially well my Global Market‐
ing class where I was assigned to a team of 5 students:
two of them Americans, one Turkish and one Puerto
Rican. It was my first true inter‐cultural work experi‐
ence with all team members weighing in to listen and
agree the final format. I remember we sat in a library
room – all five of us, with our drinks and a large pizza,
“fighting” over a particularly ambiguous piece of in‐
formation (or to be precise, over the pricing strategy
for our imaginary product in different markets across
the world) and it dawned on me that going through
this experience is close to a team meeting in a regular
corporation. Professors encouraged us to meet and
work in groups to make our educational experience as
close as possible to a real business environment.
I was never exposed to a case study in Azerbaijan
so there is no way of comparing two approaches.
Some private schools have started using them and
even creating custom‐made case studies for Azerbaijan
but there is still a long way to go.
YOU CAN’T DO THAT!
Taboos are not common in US classes. Of course,
coming to the class naked shouting obscenities would
probably be over the top, but otherwise you are free to
speak your mind and behave in any way you feel com‐
fortable. A graduate of a completely different system
of thinking, I had to re‐adjust to this new reality and it
was a pleasant transformation. It started with bringing
bottles of cold apple juice to the class (sold in vending
machines inside the college building) and sitting with
your feet crossed on the chair, even freely walking in
and out of the room.
The entire teacher‐student relationship in the class
is that of two equals, not superior to inferior, as it is
often in Azerbaijan. The teacher asks you questions
and encourages a debate among students. Of course,
the teacher always has the right to interfere and offer
an insight or an opinion. But such interventions are
not meant to dissuade the opponent from his or her
opinion. Rather, they demonstrate the willingness and
enthusiasm of the teacher to engage in a quality argu‐
ment the ultimate goal of which is not to arrive at a so‐
lution but to understand that there could be multiple
30
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ways to handle any problem.
I was the only person from the former Soviet Union
in many classes and enjoyed the privilege of a diverg‐
ing opinion on a lot of issues, from crafting a message
to sponsoring marketing campaigns. My experience
was not discounted as old and obsolete. On the con‐
trary, it was viewed as unique and full of potentially
viable approaches. I once talked about the dawn of the
era of commercials on Azerbaijani television and was
amazed how much interest this caused in the class‐
room. They all wanted a piece of unique experience:
no judging, just listening and trying to understand.
In Azerbaijan, you face taboos everywhere: cannot
eat or drink in class, leave the classroom without per‐
mission, or behave the way you want. Most impor‐
tantly, you cannot openly question the truth of your
teacher’s words. “Professor, I disagree” is an alien ex‐
pression in most Azerbaijani classrooms unless, as
teachers may think, you are a headstrong youth or a
complete dork. Questioning a teacher’s opinion is like
questioning their authority: The teacher is the boss and
the boss is always right.
RESPECT: TWO MEANINGS
ACROSS THE OCEAN
Corruption in education is an awful phenomenon.
It is debilitating to all parties involved, but foremost to
the teachers and students. It strips the teacher off the
ability and often the desire to be enthusiastic and the
student from the desire to be a keen learner. However,
when a student approaches a teacher in Azerbaijan
and uses the word “respect,” it is an effort to bribe the
teacher’s evaluation and attitude.
This same word has a completely different
meaning in US: teachers are respected because
they are believed to be knowledgeable and be‐
cause they hold a certain power over your destiny
at school. Respect is often rooted in your near‐ab‐
solute inability to change the teacher’s opinion of
you through anything but your performance in
class.
Because students and teachers are not bound in a
corrupt relationship with one another, they can freely
engage in conversations and interactions. Most impor‐
tantly, they want to do so because they view the class at‐
mosphere as one most conducive to learning and
experimenting. They learn from one another‐‐and this is
not just nice words. In one of my classes I did a brief
presentation about Azerbaijan as an example of a high‐
context culture. At the end it was the professor (not the
students) who asked the most questions and was keen
to get some additional information about the country.
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FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
If you want to do something out of the ordinary, a
US college is the best place. It is not an exaggeration.
You can experiment with your life and personality and
interests as much as you want. Many US students
choose universities away from their home towns so
that they can choose to be who they wish without fac‐
ing guilt and pressure bullied into them by friends and
relatives.
Universities are also hotbeds of liberal thinking:
both students and teachers often express opinions and
participate in groups most viable in an exclusively aca‐
demic world. I think the number of anti‐war, anti‐
abortion, anti‐government and anti‐you‐name‐it
campaigns I saw in my years of US study surpass any‐
thing I’ve seen throughout my entire life. At most US
universities, there are no limitations on such passion‐
ate civic display: there is only an interest from others
or no interest at all. It is the public who gives your
protest weight (through sheer attendance) or renders it
miniscule (through paying no attention). Teachers
themselves shy away from commenting on political,
religious, and many other personal issues. They re‐
spect everyone’s right to think and behave as they feel
appropriate as long as it is within the law.
In Azerbaijan the idea of expressing yourself in a
classroom sounds oxymoronic. Sure, one is expected
to come to school prepared but that is just a few para‐
graphs you read in a book. When it comes to your own
opinion, it is something that is often considered sec‐
ondary, if not altogether irrelevant in the process of
learning. “Smart people wrote that book and I don’t
care what you think about it. You’d better shut up and
learn what you are taught,” an Azerbaijani teacher
would say to a bold student who tries to challenge the
status quo.
EPILOGUE: THE CHANGE WE NEED
While I wrote this article, I had an informal conver‐
sation with a few friends of mine, all of whom were
exposed to both Azerbaijani and American education.
For about ten minutes we had a brainstorming session
looking for disparities between the two systems of ed‐
ucation. One argued that while education in Azerbai‐
jan is virtually non‐existent, it is vibrant in the US.
Another asserted that Azerbaijani schools are some‐
what reluctant to develop independent thinking and
creativity, while US institutions encourage leadership
and decision making. Some contended that corruption
is the “necessary” evil in the Azerbaijani system while
merit‐based relationship is the normal thing in the US.
I have only one thought to add: if we want change, this
is the place to start.
Quarterly Journal |
31
REFLECTIONS ON EDUCATION IN AZERBAIJAN
REFLECTIONS ON
EDUCATION IN AZERBAIJAN
FROM MY PERSPECTIVE
There are many differences between how learn‐
ing takes place in Azerbaijan and my home in the
United States, and I intend to explore some of those
differences. After two years teaching English and
computer skills at School #1 in Ismayilli, I gained in‐
sight on the education system in Azerbaijan through
the eyes of a dedicated teacher and the ears of an
eager student. Now, working at an international ed‐
ucation organization in Baku, I witness the efforts of
some of the brightest Azerbaijani youth, those that
have been selected through a competitive process to
study in America. Both my students from Ismayilli
and the alumni of our programs are equally ad‐
mirable and inspire me in my daily work – but they
represent different aspects of education in this coun‐
try.
For me to accurately share my reflections on edu‐
cation in Azerbaijan, I have to juxtapose the foreign‐
educated elite and the potential they hold for
impacting change with the average citizen that bears
the weight of the future on their shoulders. I am
able to do this because my two years of teaching in
Ismayilli contrast so dramatically with my current
work in Baku. I feel strongly that the foreign‐edu‐
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cated elite of Azerbaijan are poised to play a leading
role in the future of the country across spheres as
broad as education and economics. To do that, they
must never forget to use the educational wealth they
have gained for the benefits of all of Azerbaijan by
making connections to the youth around the coun‐
try.
As premise for this opinion piece, let me state un‐
equivocally that I value education and the positive
influence it can have on individuals and society. I
define education as a lifelong process that estab‐
lishes fundamental knowledge of the world and
gives the tools to build upon that base with a critical
eye and a skilled hand. Education can take place
anywhere ‐ at home, at school, through work, or in
personal relations. Each society has different means
of educating its youth, and to come from one culture
into another necessitates that you encounter the dif‐
ferences in how youth is prepared to address the
world. I have observed many different aspects of ed‐
ucation across this country, but I always come back
to two sides of the educational coin – those with op‐
portunities and those without.
When faced with the broad topic of education in
Azerbaijan, I therefore grapple with the paradoxes
winter
evident in that juxtaposition – ordinary vs. elite, re‐
gional vs. urban, the learning vs. the learned. I
would like to walk through some of those para‐
doxes, as seen by the eyes of a foreigner who is not
an academic, and discuss ways out of the tensions of
unequal opportunity that I have been able to wit‐
ness.
THE PARADOXES I SAW
The challenge of working as a guest within the
field of education in Azerbaijan is that what is said
does not match what is done. I come from a culture
that values actions. Common American proverbs
and sayings mirror this value. For example, we say
“actions speak louder than words” and we respect a
man who can “walk the walk,” not just “talk the
talk.” Therefore, encountering an education system
where a school director tells you proudly that his
school has a computer learning center but you visit a
room that does not have regular electricity, it can be
very frustrating. Yes, the school does have a room
with computers, but there are no actions taking place
in that room that facilitate learning because the com‐
puters can never be turned on. The actions of many
of the educators I worked with, as viewed from long
term guest in the classroom, often did not coincide
with the words that they spoke. It can cause visitors
to become skeptical of every word that people say.
It takes a long time to learn the social cues to navi‐
gate comfortably between what is heard and what
the likely reality will be.
When I first arrived in Azerbaijan as a naïve
American without a deep understanding of Azerbai‐
jan, I saw missed opportunities, people cheating
themselves out of an education. I saw students moti‐
vated to succeed but stifled by an education system
that does not reward effort. I saw teachers discour‐
aged from teaching in the classroom so they can earn
money by tutoring outside of class. I saw parents
who are proud of their children’s abilities yet facili‐
tate bribery and therefore never allow their child to
fully develop their potential. I saw an economy that
begs for skilled workers yet a curriculum that does
not teach technical skills. I saw citizens who value
higher education yet hold degrees devalued by cor‐
ruption. The opportunities for learning that are lost
as students move through the education system was
painful to witness.
I saw a society that historically values education,
but has not foster modern institutions to sustain
learning. From Fountain Square to Ganja, and
Nakhchivan to Guba, I saw children proudly reciting
the ancient works of Nizami and humming the notes
composed by Hajibeyov while struggling to stay
Amy Petersen is currently the
Country Director of American Coun‐
cils for International Education
(ACTR/ACCELS) in Baku, Azerbai‐
jan. Amy spent two years in the first
group of Peace Corps volunteers to
serve in Azerbaijan from 2003 – 2005
where she worked at School #1 in Is‐
mayilli as an English and computer
skills teacher. Amy has her MA de‐
gree in International Education from
George Washington University.
Quarterly Journal |
33
REFLECTIONS ON EDUCATION IN AZERBAIJAN
warm in frigid schools. I have wandered the rooms
of H. Z. Tagiyev’s mansion and learned about the
school for girls he established in 1901, while at the
same time hearing of girls in modern Azerbaijan
taken out of school too early and never given the
chance to fulfill their dreams. I have visited houses
in villages nestled under the peaks of the Caucus
Mountains where old men recite the poems of Tol‐
stoy and recount the dramas of Jack London’s ad‐
ventures, while young children have no books to
read in Azeri. Families have shelves filled with
world literature written in an alphabet no longer
used and youth are not presented with enough op‐
portunities to read in the modern Latin alphabet.
The paradox of rich history with a depleted present
was frustrating to encounter.
I saw a country flush with wealth yet more fo‐
cused on the facades of education than the core. I
saw changes in physical infrastructure and technol‐
ogy, but stagnancy in the skills of educators to make
use of the available resources. I saw students with
technology at their fingertips but few teachers able
to harness the strength of the internet to enhance ed‐
ucation. I saw youth craving meaningful employ‐
ment yet without the skills to be of use and money
being squandered on useless projects that neglect to
bring jobs to the people.
Many of the paradoxes I saw during my first
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years working as a teacher still exist. I continue to
feel that many aspects of the education system do
more to hold students back from learning than pro‐
vide them opportunities to develop their full poten‐
tial. That being said, I have had the privilege in
Azerbaijan to work among some of the most talented
and dedicated people I have ever met in my life, and
I am not talking about the ones who have studied
abroad. These remarkable people have far more tal‐
ents than many of my American colleagues and are
the products of the education in Azerbaijan, so the
system obviously has its strengths. Many are work‐
ing to improve the education system through the
growing range of reforms. Current programs at the
Ministry of Education and NGOs alike provide just
such a chance for young Azerbaijanis to mature into
skilled citizens with pride in their country and
awareness of the world around them.
THE POTENTIAL I SEE
So, what could a guest like me do in an education
system I saw filled with paradoxes? How could I
move beyond the frustration of hearing one thing
and seeing another? I had to learn to see the poten‐
tial of the future supported by the strength of the
past.
I see potential in every student in Azerbaijan. I
see potential in every teacher, in every parent. Stu‐
dents are inquiring about ways to improve their
skills; they seek opportunities for the best education
at home and abroad. Teachers are learning new
methods and engaging the Ministry of Education in
the reform process. School directors are working
with local ministries to test new methods of financ‐
ing their schools to provide enough resources to all
students. The Ministry of Education is committed to
bringing about large‐scale change in curricula to
align primary and secondary education with world
standards and to synchronize higher education with
the European system via the Bologna process. These
are all steps that look forward, and I believe they are
actions that match the words of reform spoken by
educational leaders.
In higher education, I see students reaching out
to find educational opportunities – conversation
clubs, volunteer projects, language classes, skill
building classes, and study abroad programs. Right
now most of those opportunities are outside of the
education system – students leave their university
campus to build the skills they will need as they
enter the workforce. When students skip class to
take a job because they know they will learn more at
work than at school, the university system must
change.
winter
If the current education system is not able to pro‐
vide enough opportunities for meaningful academic
and professional growth, students will seek educa‐
tional development outside of the country. Interest
in study abroad programs has increased ten fold in
the past years. I see education abroad as positive for
Azerbaijan because returning students bring skills
and experience that can be applied at home. The
government recognizes the benefits of foreign educa‐
tion via the State Scholarship Program that aims to
provide partial to full scholarships for 5,000 Azerbai‐
jani students to study abroad for both bachelors and
masters degrees between 2007 and 2015. This is a
fantastic initiative that will increase the human capi‐
tal of the country by training more skilled workers.
At the same time, Azerbaijan must work to develop
an education system to create similar opportunities
locally and embrace the ideas and suggestions
brought back by foreign‐educated students. Without
the parallel growth between national educational
and educational opportunities abroad, the gulf that I
initially saw between the internationally educated
elite and the average students will continue to grow.
If I could do one thing within the education sys‐
tem, it would be to encourage the process of discov‐
ery ‐ creating a space for students to grown into
critically thinking adults. Right now, outside of lim‐
ited pockets of local educational excellence, study
abroad offers that space. In my current position, I fa‐
cilitate the opportunity for many Azeri youth to dis‐
cover themselves and gain critical thinking skills
while discovering a new country, a new system of
education, and a new civil society. I see many posi‐
tive changes in those students as they return to their
home country and engage in meaningful community
and professional work. I also think that same
process of discovery can be facilitated without cross‐
ing any borders. Experience abroad can increase a
student’s worldview, but it should not supercede the
value of a local degree.
I find the mandate “To those to whom much is
given, much is expected” to be a powerful inspira‐
tion for those in fortunate places to give back to their
communities. I feel some of the paradoxes that dis‐
heartened me when I first arrived here could be alle‐
viated if people lived by this maxim. It is hard to do
alone. Therefore, people moving towards change
need to create networks to support each other in
their endeavors of improving the education system
and creating dialogue. Alumni of spectacular educa‐
tional opportunities abroad need to coordinate to fa‐
cilitate changes from the bottom up. In my work I
see many people collaborating in this way – from
youth groups to teachers to volunteers and business‐
men. I feel a groundswell of people that recognize
the negative effects of the educational paradoxes that
plague the system and express an urgency to make
changes. Thus, with this momentum and indicators
of a promising future, I can only envision opportuni‐
ties expanding that will decrease the contradictions
that hinder true progress.
As I continually reflect on education in Azerbai‐
jan, I come back to one central fact ‐ there are amaz‐
ing people in Azerbaijan doing amazing things. For
me to erase the paradoxes that mar my discussion, I
would like to see more of those amazing people as
proud agents of change within their own educa‐
tional system. I want anyone in the country to be
able to see the clear path that a young girl in a vil‐
lage in the Talish Mountains can take from pre‐
school through university. A path where her parents
will not have to bribe teachers to get her into the
right class or to secure the right grade and her uni‐
versity education will prepare her with skills for a
career that honestly supports both her family and
her country. I want to wipe out the paradoxes be‐
tween what is spoken and what is seen, to align stu‐
dent ambitions with opportunities for development.
My experience here and the people I have had the
privilege to work and share my life with, have given
me hope that beyond the paradoxes is potential for
success for all students in the system. I believe that
is possible. The question is – do you?
Quarterly Journal |
35
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR FACULTY DEVELOPMENT IN AZERBAIJAN
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
FOR FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
IN AZERBAIJAN1
Twenty years ago I was a brand new middle
school teacher in a poor district school facing the
first class that would be all mine2. Textbooks had
not yet been distributed, materials were lacking in
the classroom, and I was looking at six hours a day
with 30 noisy twelve‐year‐olds. “What to do?” as I
hear so frequently in Azerbaijan. We had paper
and pencil and my knowledge of our subject areas,
but not much else.
Luckily, I’d had a good teacher preparation pro‐
gram with plenty of practical mentoring in the
classroom; I relied heavily on the methods of the
master teachers with whom I had worked to bring
subjects to life with my students that year. I also
had the good fortune to participate in a weeklong
teacher development colloquium just before the
school year started during which experienced
teachers gave workshops on their favorite teaching
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units and strategies. During these workshops, I
met and learned from other new teachers like my‐
self, as well as from teachers in their middle years
and teachers on the verge of retirement—a wealth
of experience and stories and support. Importantly,
we were encouraged to participate by the state
school system and received “professional develop‐
ment credits” that would help advance our
salaries.
I now teach at the university level. But the same
process of teacher development and collaboration
sustains my work now as then. At my university in
the United States I participate in a regular lunch
time colloquium on teaching writing. At confer‐
ences I attend each year there are special sessions
on new teaching strategies for different subjects
and groups of students. Unfortunately, at the Uni‐
versity level, we too often privilege the develop‐
winter
ment of subject area knowledge at the expense of
teaching and learning methods. Somehow, we
think that with adult learners—even the young
adults at University—we don’t need to pay atten‐
tion to how we teach, only what. This can be true
in the United States as well as in Azerbaijan. How‐
ever, my work in Azerbaijan during 2007‐8 as a lec‐
turer at public and private universities reminded
me how important the process of teaching is.
I had many wonderful students in my classes in
Baku. However, while many had in their heads a
wealth of memorized facts, they had little sense of
how to order and use these facts to create new un‐
derstandings. For example, some knew the titles
and publication dates of everything John Steinbeck
had written but had never read one of his books,
much less written an essay independently analyz‐
ing his work. Many knew the capitals of every
country in the world or even had entire chapters
from history books memorized, word for word, but
they had little sense of how to theorize about his‐
torical patterns in how nations form. Most knew
the grammar “rules” of English, but many of these
students could hardly speak or write for basic com‐
munication. When I assigned a simple, short liter‐
ary analysis essay, only five out of seventy students
in my fourth year class in American Literature at
public university turned one in; it was clear they
had never written anything like it before. In short,
most of my Azerbaijani university students saw
themselves only as receivers, not as makers of
knowledge. Where do they learn this is so? From
us, their mentors and teachers.
In January and February of 2008, I organized
and offered a weeklong professional development
workshop in teaching methods for language and
literature teachers. We worked on a huge range of
topics—probably too many for one week: design‐
ing a strong syllabus (rarely the teacher’s responsi‐
bility in Azerbaijan, but this will change); using
internet technology and web discussion forums;
developing students’ critical thinking and writing
fluency; and expanding evaluation strategies be‐
yond the standard “exam” format.
What was fascinating to me was the degree to
which many of the faculty wanted to be exactly
like their students at this workshop, that is, sit, lis‐
ten, receive information, and then, go away. Sev‐
eral were more active, but frustrated, having
expected I would hand them, ready‐made, brilliant
new lessons for their particular subject areas. An‐
other very small group was more engaged, inter‐
acting with the material and immediately
considering how to apply it in their own classes.
Alison Mandaville, MFA, PhD,
Visiting Professor at Pacific Lutheran
University, was a Fulbright Scholar to
Azerbaijan in 2007‐8. She taught
American Literature, Ethnic Studies
and Critical Theory in Azerbaijan uni‐
versities. She has presented and pub‐
lished articles on topics in literature,
women studies, and education. Build‐
ing on her childhood Turkish, she
studies Azerbaijani language and to‐
gether with colleagues in Baku, has
translated Azerbaijani poetry and
short stories for forthcoming publica‐
tion in the US. In addition to her
scholarly work, she is also a poet, pub‐
lished in more than a dozen journals
in the US.
Quarterly Journal |
37
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR FACULTY DEVELOPMENT IN AZERBAIJAN
Like my Azerbaijani students, these Azerbaijani
teachers were often not inclined to listen to each
other’s comments on workshop material. When
one of the teachers spoke (in reference to the work‐
shop material), they usually directed their com‐
ments only to me, while the other teachers chatted
with each other, ignoring the teacher speaking—
not unlike my students! Most of the Azerbaijani
teachers obviously saw the faculty development
workshop as a kind of “direct instruction” model—
me to them. Instead, I was trying to engage them in
a “workshop” model, where participants discuss
and try things out together in a structured, but col‐
laborative, environment. Most of the teachers did
not see themselves as makers of either knowledge
or of teaching methods3.
The teachers not only were behaving just like
my students when speaking in class, they also mir‐
rored my students’ resistance to writing. When I
asked the faculty in the workshop to write, to re‐
flect on some point or brainstorm ideas (I gave
them the option of writing in any language in
which they were comfortable) it was as if I had
asked most of them to perform hard labor. Indeed,
only a few took any notes the entire week. This
was a great group of teachers; most were clearly in‐
terested in and knowledgeable about their subjects
and, for the most part, interested in strengthening
their teaching. But they had developed a static
sense of teaching and learning.
Participation in professional conversations,
through both speaking and writing, is critical to
the collaboration which is the basis of all good fac‐
ulty development. Without speaking and listening
to each other, Azerbaijani teachers cannot use their
most precious resource—each other—to “grow”
their teaching. Without regularly using writing as a
tool both for exploration and manipulation of
ideas, and to share those ideas with others beyond
face to face communication, Azerbaijani teachers
cannot evolve their teaching to help students meet
the ever changing conditions and demands of the
larger world. To teach in isolation is like research‐
ing in isolation; it will go nowhere new.
Despite challenges, stronger faculty develop‐
ment in Azerbaijan is quite possible. My Azerbai‐
jani students at private university offer an example
of how quickly progress can be made to develop a
more dynamic learning model in the classroom,
even when students are not used to it. At the be‐
ginning of the school year, I assigned to my stu‐
dents the short literary essay I mentioned above.
Just as at the public university, at private one, I re‐
ceived only a handful of essays on the due date.
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The students at both universities were very similar.
“What to do?” I quickly re‐structured my writing
assignments. Knowing students had access to a
computer lab on campus and that many used
email, I set up a google group online and required
my students to post short, analytical response pa‐
pers to the assigned readings each week before
class. I also required them to read each other’s
writing and post short, online responses to each
other. I told students that each week’s writing
would be graded and a large portion of their final
grade would reflect this work. Remarkably, by the
end of the first semester, although students had
never done anything like this before, more than
90% were participating—and doing a good job.
Other teachers at this private university started
asking me about this strategy and the following se‐
mester, two others began to try it out. Why did it
work and what can it tell us about addressing the
challenges of faculty development?
First of all, this strategy was successful because
it built on what the students were already very
good at: socializing. They loved to talk with each
other. They just weren’t used to doing it to analyze
and debate class readings. The google group pro‐
vided a structured way—in writing—for them to
build on their strength and speak and listen to each
other without interruption. Second, I tried to
model the idea of reading and analyzing texts to‐
gether in the classroom. I modeled thinking about
my ideas out loud—and listening to them think
about them. I gave them class time to do this in
groups. Finally, I built on a relationship with the
students over time, developing mutual respect and
a positive dynamic learning environment where I
made it clear I was learning from them as much as
they were learning from me.
This project was far more successful at the pri‐
vate university than it was at the public one, where
I was unsuccessful in getting enough of the stu‐
dents on the internet to make it work at all. The
reasons for this were multiple. First, at private uni‐
versity, I worked with classes of about 30 students
versus more like 70 at the public. Secondly, proba‐
bly for socioeconomic reasons, nearly all of my stu‐
dents were able to get access to a computer either
at school or home. Most importantly, at this private
university, I had much more power when it came
to grading. With the full backing of the department
in which I taught, I was given absolute final say on
all curricular choices and the grades I gave. Stu‐
dents who appealed to the chair were told to talk
with me. Therefore, students knew they had to go
through me to get the grade—and the only way to
winter
get the grade was through the work I assigned. In
fact, at this private university, I did fail some stu‐
dents who then had to attend a summer session or
return the following year. This experience offers a
powerful lesson for faculty development—faculty
must have institutional support for their authority
as a teacher or else students won’t respect changes
in educational strategies. If students know they can
always appeal a grade or assignment, or get it
changed somehow, suddenly their work matters a
whole lot less. Students need to be able to respect
and trust that the work they do for their teachers
counts.
The same is true for teachers. I was surprised
when several Azerbaijani teachers asked me if they
would receive a “certificate” for their participation
in the workshop I led. Although we do give certifi‐
cates of participation at times in the US, it is not
common for faculty development activities at the
university level. However, teachers at all levels in
the U.S. do receive credit for professional develop‐
ment activities, increasing their rank as well as
salary. At a teaching institution, all faculties are ex‐
pected to participate in teaching development
throughout their careers. Just as institutional sup‐
port was key to the success of my project at private
university in student response writing, so it is for
faculty development. The administrators at the
public university kept track of who was and was
not attending my workshop—am I’m sure atten‐
dance was better for it. Next time I will offer cer‐
tificates.
However, even without certificates, by the end
of the week, those teachers who were still coming
faithfully were willing to work in groups and
began to use the information and practice from our
activities together to plan their own new lesson
ideas. For example, one teacher in practical English
planned a unit using news stories to study current
events, developing students’ socio‐political vocab‐
ulary and discussion skills. Another began to con‐
sider how he might overcome students’ lack of
practice with contemporary English language texts
by teaching his students to use his personal meth‐
ods of language learning, including reading Eng‐
lish language magazines aloud in front of a mirror
and practicing dialog from English language TV
shows. Both of these teachers were starting to see
themselves as creators of their own effective cur‐
riculum and teaching strategies. I can only imagine
that a year‐long colloquium in teaching methods
might produce a much more engaged, and dy‐
namic teachers.
Professional development for University teach‐
Quarterly Journal |
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CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR FACULTY DEVELOPMENT IN AZERBAIJAN
ers in Azerbaijan must build on what is already
here and working. I met, in many fields, teachers
doing great work—teachers who recreate what
they do in the classroom every day based on
changes in students, outside events and materials;
teachers who know when students are interested,
when they seem to respond, when they leave
classes better able to analyze and create in their
subject areas. Teachers in Azerbaijan need only to
begin to pay attention to their own teaching—and
there is no better way to become aware of and ac‐
countable for one’s own teaching methods than to
explain and show them to someone else—to one’s
fellow faculty. Without collaboration, there is no
cross‐fertilization and even good teaching will die
out, for no one is sharing. Without collaboration,
there is no sustainable accountability, and bad
teaching will continue.
Remember the colloquium I attended my first
week as a “real” teacher? It was taught by other
teachers and attended by teachers both young and
old; it was like a good research conference, where
no one cares whether you have this title or that
title, and everyone just goes by their name and ex‐
pertise. It gave us all a sense of being a profes‐
sional learning community, not separated by titles
of “professor” and “lecturer” or “expert” and “am‐
ateur.” After two days into my workshop here, sev‐
eral of the older teachers stopped coming, perhaps
thinking they had little to learn from someone
younger than them (me), perhaps impatient with
their other younger colleagues in the group. They
did not realize that I expected them not only to be
receivers, but creators of our work together.
If teachers have a sense of their own authority
as expert facilitators for learning in their chosen
fields, if they are backed up by institutions who
support their expertise, and finally, if they draw on
each other’s best practices in a collaborative model,
then faculty development in Azerbaijan will be
successful. There are many challenges to faculty
development in teaching in Azerbaijan, but based
on my observations, through sustained collabora‐
tion and strong institutional support from universi‐
ties and organizations like AAA, each is
surmountable. Azerbaijani teachers and students
are clearly ready.
1
Based on a presentation at the “Enhancing Academic Quality Assurance: Needs and
Challenges.” An International Conference Baku, Azerbaijan. 10 April, 2008.
2
I taught all subjects (math, science, language arts etc.) to one class of students daily.
This is common for schools in the United States up to grade six or seven (twelve year
olds).
3
In addition to the current conditions for education in Azerbaijan, there are many his‐
torical reasons for teachers who feel separated from knowledge production—for exam‐
ple, the separation of research from teaching institutions and the suppression of
particular areas of critical work under the USSR.
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