The experiment on teachers continues

From now on, teachers working in the country's general educational institutions will be certified every five years to check their proficiency. The certificate will be valid for five years, until the next inspection.

Certification of pedagogical workers is an external evaluation of the teacher's professional competence (including pedagogy and psychology, practical skills of applying modern methods and technologies of teaching), which is carried out through independent testing, self-assessment and learning practical experience.

Lately the domestic system of general education resembles a test site, where both students and teachers act as guinea pigs. The introduction of new programs and textbooks, a new model of inter-class and final exams, the adjustment of the duration of the school year and seasonal vacations, the diagnostic evaluation of teachers, the revision of their training loads - all this is a series of experiments and experiments. The purpose of the innovations is to improve the quality of school education in the country, the level of knowledge of students so that they can successfully participate not only in subject Olympiads, but also managed to pass international testing of PISA, assessing the literacy of schoolchildren and the ability to apply knowledge in practice.

According to the State Examination Center's report, on the results of the 2016-2017 academic year, the average student of 11th grade at the final exam in the language of instruction ("Azerbaijani language", "Russian language") scored 46.8 points, in "mathematics" - 38.7 points. A more detailed analysis of the data shows that more than 15% of the tested scored from 0 to 20 points on the "Azerbaijani language", 29.3% of the tested - 20 to 40 points; 24% of the tested - 40 to 60 points; 21, 5% of the examiners - 60-80 points; and only 9.4% of ninth-graders scored from 80 to 100 points. The results on "mathematics" are even worse - 30% of the examiners scored 0-20 points; 27.7% of the tested - 20-40 points; 20.2% of the tested - 40-60 points; 14.7% of the tested - 60- 80 points; 5.4% of the tested - 80-100 points.

The assessments scale shows, there are predominantly students with very poor marks. Over 20% of the graduates of the 9th grade decided not to continue their studies (the results of the final exams in the 11th grade - the subject of a separate analytical article - the author).

Experts explain such disappointing results by the low level of teaching and the quality of education of children in schools. The key figure in this process, of course, is the teacher, and teacher"s attitude to work.

The expert on education Kamran Asadov notes, that the forthcoming certification of teachers can positively affect the situation in this area.

"The last time in Azerbaijan, the certification of school teachers was conducted in 1994. Then, for some unknown reason, this process was frozen. In 2014 began the diagnostic evaluation of teachers of schools and lyceums. To date, more than 142,000 teachers of general education institutions have participated in testing, of which about 45% had unsatisfactory results, but, nevertheless, they continued their pedagogical activity. In other words, this model of proficiency testing did not play a positive role in optimizing the staffing of schools, as well as improving the level of education of children, as the initiators of innovation believed. A certified teacher must receive a salary, depending on knowledge, competence, and innovative initiatives; and not on age and length of service. Today the teacher"s salary depends on the workload, the availability of a diploma and work experience. Differential salary system for certification provides not the existence of experience, but knowledge, talent and professional qualities of a person," Asadov said. So, Azerbaijani teachers are preparing for a new experiment. How will it end?