On September 29–30, ANQA organised a two-day pilot training for IT VET institutions' teachers as part of the “Building Innovative Teaching Capacities in VET (Development of Research and Digital Skills)” project, implemented with the support of the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation. The sessions were led by Ruben Topchyan, PhD in Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Associate Professor, ANQA’s director.
The training highlighted that student curiosity is the basis for the cultivation of research skills in the VET sector. Teachers should nurture curiosity, shaping it into a core professional trait, alongside the ability to pose relevant questions, collect, analyse and compare data and generate new knowledge. It was stressed that research curiosity does not develop on its own, requiring organised, hands-on experience directly connected to real-world situations. The student should leave the classroom with new questions, not pre-packaged solutions.
The discussions addressed the key steps needed to prepare specialists with a proactive and research-oriented mindset. A six-step research model was presented, comprising:
- Curiosity
- Issue formulation
- Data collection
- Analysis and evaluation
- Presentation and application of findings
- Reflection and continuous enhancement.
The session included examples of how IT students can examine programme failures in practice, gather and compare data, develop solutions, and share them with peers. This model was viewed as a systematic pathway that leads from curiosity to the creation of new knowledge. Additionally, participants were introduced to a range of practical methods and tools that help students recognise patterns, formulate research questions, and transform curiosity into a structured study.
The pilot training aimed to evaluate the content and materials intended for the core training, identifying effective approaches and areas requiring enhancement. Previously, similar pilot trainings had already been conducted for teachers from medical and agricultural VET institutions.
About the project
With the support from the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation, ANQA conducts “Building innovative teaching capacities in VET (development of research and digital skills)” project. The project aims to to equip VET institutions’ teachers with practical research and digital skills, enabling them to independently revise and modernise academic programmes and course descriptors in line with labour market requirements and the National Qualifications Framework.
Expected outcomes:
- 80 teachers from VET institutions in the agricultural, medical and IT sectors will undergo practical training.
- Academic programmes will be revised to be more practical and modern, aligned with the requirements of the labour market.
- Academic programmes will be revised to be more practical and modern, aligned with the requirements of the labour market.
The overarching goal is to transform VET students not only into skilled practitioners, but also into research-minded, adaptable, and proactive specialists prepared for the challenges of the modern and evolving labour market.