Research on Development Dynamics of Children Enrolled in Preschool Institutions and Observation of Factors Affecting Their Development

RESEARCH ON DEVELOPMENT DYNAMICS OF CHILDREN ENROLLED IN PRESCHOOL INSTITUTIONS AND OBSERVATION OF FACTORS AFFECTING THEIR DEVELOPMENT

SA “Center for Education Projects” PIU

Second interim report

Yerevan July 2017

Table of Contents

1. Executive summary ...... 4 1.1. Introduction ...... 4 1.1.1. First group of issues ...... 5 1.1.2. Second group of issues ...... 5 2. Description of fieldwork ...... 7 2.1. Establishment of working groups ...... 7 2.2. Preparation of specialists enrolled in the fieldwork ...... 7 2.3. Implementation of fieldwork at the beginning of academic year ...... 8 2.3.1. Testing of children attending preschool institutions ...... 8 2.3.2. Testing of children not attending preschool institutions ...... 9 2.4. Implementation of fieldwork at the end of academic year ...... 10 2.4.1. Testing of children attending preschool institutions ...... 11 2.4.2. Testing of children not attending preschool institutions ...... 11 2.5. Quantitative picture of fieldwork ...... 13 3. Issues/oversights ...... 17 4. Results analysis ...... 18 4.1. Analysis principles ...... 18 4.1.1. Principles of quantitative analysis ...... 19 5. Regional analysis ...... 24 5.1. Armavir region ...... 24 5.1.1. Armavir №5 primary school SNCO after Zoravar Andranik Ozanyan (preschool Manchuk) ...... 24 5.1.2. Metsamor N1 primary school SNCO (Preschool Arevik) ...... 36 5.1.3. Voskehat secondary school SNCO ...... 46 5.1.4. Generalized analysis ...... 57 5.2. Tavush region ...... 60 5.2.1. RA Tavush region Dovegh secondary school SNCO ...... 60 5.2.2. RA Tavush region Voskepar secondary school SNCO after H. Barseghyan ...... 71 5.2.3. RA Tavush region Nerkin Tsaghkavan secondary school SNCO ...... 81 5.2.4. Generalized analysis ...... 90 5.3. Lori region ...... 94 5.3.1. Stepanavan №1 primary school SNCO ...... 94 5.3.2. Spitak N3 Primary School SNCO ...... 103 5.3.3. N6 Primary School after S. Shahumyan SNCO ...... 113 2

5.3.4. Generalized analysis ...... 124 6. Analysis by indicators ...... 128 6.1. Analysis of class observation by criteria ...... 128 6.2 The testing analysis of children by factors and subfields ...... 140 6.3. Generalised gender results by factors and subfields ...... 147 6.4. Socio-demographic description of families whose children both attend and do not attend to a preschool and description of children development dynamics according to gender ...... 151 7. General overview/summary ...... 157 7.1. Overview of qualitative results ...... 157 7.2. Quantitative analysis summary ...... 162 7.2.1. Summary of Child Testing: ...... 162 7.2.2. Summary of classes observed ...... 163 Conclusions and recommendations ...... 164

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A lot of research has been done for assessment of preschool institutions’ role and importance in the education sphere and ofthe children development. The results reveal that preschools affect positively the quality of elementary education, increase the child’s ability to adapt to the school environment, perceptivity and learning progress. The main goal of preschool education is to form a basis for the children’s physical, psychological and intellectual development, preparing them for school.

Preschool education is also emerging in Armenia. One of its priorities is to make preschool education accessible for everyone through reconstruction and foundation of preschool institutions, paying a special attention to increase of the level of enrollment of children from socially vulnerable families. The purposeof this research is to analyze the development dynamics of children enrolled and not enrolled in institutions implementing preschool education micro-projects and the affecting it factors / each year, perregions and micro-projects implementation process /.

This research will allow not only to statethe effect of the project on the preschool education efficiency and children development, but also to work outa set of recommendations directed to further development of preschool education in the future.

1.1. Introduction

Highlighting the importance of preschool education issues and the need for reforms in the system, the RA government has signed agreements with the World Bank to support the implementation of the Education Improvement Project. The RA government's main goal is to improve the quality and accessibility of preschool education services, with special emphasis on increasing the enrollment of children from socially vulnerable families in preschool institutions.

In the scope of the program the establishment of preschool institutions has been and will be made at different times, therefore it was planned to implement a phased study as well, covering each year the regions where preschools had been newly established.

This project aims to study the development dynamics of children enrolled and not enrolled in preschool institutions and the factors affecting their development in the regions of the RA, by the process of micro project implementation. Certain issues have been distinguished for implementation of the research:

(1) Describe the development dynamics of children enrolled and not enrolled in micro- projects, by appropriate areas at the beginning and end of the year; and

(2) Analyze factors affecting the development dynamics of children enrolled and not enrolled1in micro-projects.

For the first group of issues quantitative research tools have been used: children testing, class observation. For the second group of issues qualitative research tools have been used, such as: in- depth interviews, focus group discussions, observation of physical environment, standardized survey of parentssocio-demographic characteristics.

See the detailed description below, by groups of issues.

1.1.1. First group of issues

Implementation of first group of issues implies the following steps:

 Study the development level of skills, abilities and knowledge of children enrolled and not enrolled in preschool institutions at the beginning of the school year.  Study the development level of skills, abilities and knowledge of children enrolled and not enrolled in preschool institutions at the end of the school year.  Compare and analyze the results of the above mentioned two steps.

1.1.2. Second group of issues

The logic of analysis of factors affecting the development dynamics of children enrolled and not enrolled2 in preschool institutions is presented below:

Description of each community in each region:

1. Description of preschool model:  days per week,  hours per day,  staff,  the number of trained staff,  food provision,  sleeping facilities. 2. Description of physical conditions of preschool institutions and identification of problems. 3. Description of preschool personnel, work experience, opinions, and possible issues.

1For this group of children only the factors of gender issues and family social-economic status have been distinguished as factors affecting the development dynamics 2For this group of children only the factors of gender issues and family social-economic status have been distinguished as factors affecting the development dynamics 5

4. Description of opinions, perceptions, expectations and attitudes of parents of children attending preschool institutions:  Description of focus group discussions with parents of children attending preschools,  Description of interviews with parents of children attending preschool institutions and having special needs,  Description of interviews with parents of socially vulnerable children attending preschool,  Description of interviews with parents of children attending preschool institutions, who perform paid work in the preschool. 5. Description of social-demographic conditions of families of children attending and not attending preschool institutions.

6. Description of the effect of gender issues on the development dynamics of children attending and not attending preschool institutions3.

7. Description of differences revealed during the research done at the beginning and at the end of the academic year.

For accurate analysis of micro-projects effectiveness the descriptions of aforementioned issues should be synthesized. Hence, the dynamics of children development, factors affecting the latter and the generalized results should have been well observed.

The report is composed of the following sections:

 Description of the fieldwork /where the whole process of fieldwork is presented/,  Mistakes/problems,where each problem that arose during both fieldwork and analysis, and during theoverallprocess is describedin detail,  Analysis of results, where the results of both qualitative and quantitative research are explained by communities, regions and the elements described,  Summary of results, which includes conclusion of the research, summary of each aforementioned group of issues, and general conclusions.

3 Source: results of children testing 6

2. DESCRIPTION OF FIELDWORK

This research was conducted during the period of 2016-2017 in three regions of Armenia: Armavir, Lori, and Tavush. The fieldwork was carried out through four stages as it is presented below.

2.1. Establishment of working groups

A working group was established to conduct the research. The group was composed of a coordinator, methodologist-experts, interviewers responsible for the qualitative part of the research, testers of children’s educational development, stenographers of qualitative interviews, data entry specialists and analysts concerning physical environment, class observations and children’s testing.

Fieldwork was implemented by two working groups having similar structure, each of which having two qualitative interviewers and two testing specialists. However, these two working groups were used only during one visit, and during the other visits the work was implemented by themain research group.

The composition of qualitative interview specialists during the fieldwork at the end of the school year in general remained unchanged compared with the beginning of the year. This allowed observingpossible changes in the physical environment, ways of application of teaching methods and principles by the preschool staff,changes in parents’ expectations and attitude towards preschools, and in their enrollment in preschool life,in methods of children upbringing, as well as in the satisfaction with the physical conditions of the preschool. At the same time, personal experience,attitude and knowledge of the researchers, have had their effect, asthe same researchers have conducted the fieldwork both at the beginning and at the end of the year.

Due to time scarcity and for optimal management of work, interviewers were assigned with specific roles. Each researcher has had informants of the same category, specifically parents and tutors were interviewed by the same interviewer because of the priority in organizing and conducting focus group discussions. The interviews with micro-project directors were also conducted by the same interviewer to ensure the interviewer’s adequacy and maintain the information quality.

2.2. Preparation of specialists enrolled in the fieldwork

Experts and methodologists presented short descriptionof the micro-project, the purpose, deadlines and tools of the research;they discussed the principles of work allocation and organization. Questionnaires werepresented to the interviewers, all the sections of which were explained in detail to make sure that the interviewers clearly understand the purpose of the questions.

All the questionable issues that triggered low-confidence or a need for help among interviewers were discussed. The cases that may require quick orientation and specific conduct for ensuring the smoothness of the process were also discussed. Preparatory works were followed by tools approbation.

2.3. Implementation of fieldwork at the beginning of academic year

At the beginning of academic year visits to 27 communitieswere organized for testing of children attending and not attending preschool institutions. Working day almost always started early in the morning and ended quite late. Nevertheless, working groups did their job enthusiastically in order to get representative and accurate results. Visits were made by one group in all communities (both prime and reserve).

According to the methodology, 18 children aged 5-6 should have been tested in the prime community. Afterwards, for the group of children attending preschool in each community a group of children not attending preschool institutions should have been formed, which should have been identical with the group of children attending preschools by all the main criteria: number of children as well as gender and age structure of the group. Therefore the group of children attending preschools was tested at the beginning of community visitto obtain the structural description of children attending preschool institutions.

2.3.1. Testing of children attending preschool institutions

At the beginning of academic year, fieldworkfor children testing was conducted during the period from9 to25 of November, 2016. Of the total number of children enrolled in preschool institutions, the sampling number provided for by the methodology (not less than 10 children for each case) was examinedduring the fieldwork. It is worth to mention that because of small number of children in three preschools in Tavush region provided by sampling, additional visits were made to other three preschools of the same region (Dovegh-Achajur, Voskepar-Yenokavan, Nerkin Tsaghkavan- Vazashen) to maintain the sampling number provided by the methodology and to ensure the representativeness of the sampling parameters.

Agreements for focus group discussions with parents were made beforehand - the director of micro project or the tutor were informed about the visit, the number of beneficiary children was checked out, and it was requested to ensure the presence of sufficient number of parents in the morning for focus group discussions.

Selection of specific dates for conducting visits to communities was made based on some factors such as: ensuring the presence of required number of beneficiary children and selection of

8 appropriate destination taking into account weather conditions, distance from the capital, abilityto complete the work in one/two days, etc. Thus, visits to each regional communitywere not arrangedin successive dates. The schedule of visits is presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Schedule of fieldwork planned in the prime communities for the beginning of 2016- 2017 academic year, by regions

Region Village/City Date Armavir 10.11.2016 Armavir Metsamor 09.11.2016 Voskehat 10.11.2016 Dovegh4 23.11.2016 Tavush Voskepar5 23.11.2016 Nerkin Tsaghkavan6 22.11.2016 Stepanavan 24.11.2016 Lori Vanadzor 25.11.2016 Spitak 25.11.2016

2.3.2. Testing of children not attending preschool institutions

As a category of respondents, children not attending preschool institutions and their parents werealso interviewed (in cases when not attending children have been tested in the prime community).

In those communities where sufficient number of not attending children werenot present, reserve communities were selected (according to the methodology). According to the methodology, priorities were given to reserve communities; however, sometimes there have not been sufficient number of children in those communities as well. The next selection was made by coordinators based on the principle of short distance from the prime community and the absence of a preschool. Sometimes, two or more reserve communities were selected and sometimes those reserve communities were far from the prime community, because there were either no 5-6 year old children in the nearby communities or there were preschools operating in those communities.

Reasons for not having sufficient number of children in those communities were as follows: initially the number of children aged 5-6 was small, some of them had relocated/emigrated, were sick, were factually living in other communities or were attending a kindergarten.

Therefore, for some prime communities, generalized groups of non-attending children with certain gender composition were formed. A control group for each preschool was selected from the

4Additional children inquiries were conducted in Aknaghbyur preschool as well, as the number of children in Dovegh preschool was insufficient. 5Additional children inquiries were conducted in Yenokavan preschool as well, as the number of children in Voskepar preschool was insufficient. 6Additional children inquiries were conducted in Vazashen preschool as well, as the number of children in Nerkin Tsakhkavan preschool was insufficient. 9 mentioned generalized groups taking into account the distribution by gender and quantity as well as the distance of the reserve community from the prime community.

Table 2: Schedule of visits to the selected reserve communities for the beginning of 2016-2017 academic year, by regions and prime communities.

Region Prime community Reserve community Date Armavir Mrgashat 10.11.2016 Aknalich 09.11.2016 Metsamor Armavir Taronik 16.11.2016 Taronik Voskehat 16.11.2016 Mrgastan Koghb 23.11.2016 Dovegh Berdavan 23.11.2016 Achajur 22.11.2016 Azatamut 25.11.2016 Tavush Kirants Voskepar Sarigyugh 22.11.2016 Achajur Azatamut 25.11.2016 Nerkin Tsaghkavan Sarigyugh 22.11.2016 Loriberd Urasar Stepanavan Pushkino 24.11.2016 Lori Amrakits Armanis Vanadzor Vanadzor 25.11.2016 Spitak Spitak 25.11.2016

Meetings with children not attending preschool institutions were organized with the support of head teachers of secondary schools,village municipalities under the direct supervision of village heads, city municipality (Education division of Spitak municipality), polyclinics, etc. Meetings were organized in schools, at children’s homes or in community councils.

2.4. Implementation of fieldwork at the end of academic year

At the end of academic year visits were organized to the same 27 communities visited at the beginning of the year. Fieldwork at the end of was implemented in the period from May 17to June23, 2017.

For the analysis of children development dynamics, children tested in the previous stage should have been tested in this stage of the fieldwork. Some of the children tested during the previous stage were absent during the end of year visit due to sickness, relocation/emigration and other reasons. Analysis was based on the results of children tested in both stages of fieldwork maintaining the gender distribution foreseen by the methodology.

2.4.1. Testing of children attending preschool institutions

Appointments for interviews were made beforehand. As in the previous stage, the coordinator specified the morning meeting time with the head teacher or one of the tutors in order to ensure the presence of children attending preschool, observe the classes, not disturb children from sleep/lunch/breakfast and complete the work before the children leave the preschool. Moreover, time was agreed for conducting focus group discussions with parents.

Similar to the visits made at the beginning of the year, visits were made at the year end to the other three preschools in addition to the three visited preschools in Tavush region (Dovegh-Achajur, Voskepar-Yenokavan, Nerkin Tsaghkavan-Vazashen) to ensure the representativeness 7 of the sampling parameters

The time schedule by regions of visitsmade to the prime communities is presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Schedule of fieldwork planned in the prime communities at the end of 2016-2017 academic year, by marzes

Region Village/City Date Armavir 17.05.2017 Armavir Metsamor 17.05.2017 Voskehat 19.05.2017 Dovegh8 21.06.2017 Tavush Voskepar9 21.06.2017 Nerkin Tsaghkavan10 20.06.2017 Stepanavan 22.06.2017 Lori Vanadzor 23.06.2017 Spitak 23.06.2017

2.4.2. Testing of children not attending preschool institutions

Meetings with children not attending preschool institutions were organized with the support of head teachers of the communities secondary schools, village municipalitiesunder the direct supervision of village heads, Education department of the city municipality (Education department of the city Spitak), polyclinics (in Vanadzor). Meetings were organized either in schools, at children’s homes, or in community councils.

7Although the sampling number provided by the methodology was maintained during the additional visits, giving the priority to the correct gender distribution, the final sampling number was smaller than the number provided by the methodology. 8Additional children inquiries were conducted in Aknaghbyur preschool as well, as the number of children in Dovegh preschool was insufficient. 9Additional children inquiries were conducted in Yenokavan preschool as well, as the number of children in Voskepar preschool was insufficient. 10Additional children inquiries were conducted in Vazashen preschool as well, as the number of children in Nerkin Tsakhkavan preschool was insufficient. 11

Table 4:Schedule of fieldwork in the reserve communities planned for the end of 2016-2017 academic year, by regions and prime communities

Region Prime community Reserve community Date

Armavir Mrgashat 17.05.2017 Aknalich Metsamor 17.05.2017 Armavir Taronik Taronik 17.05.2017 Voskehat Mrgastan 19.05.2017 Koghb 21.06.2017 Dovegh Berdavan 21.06.2017 Achajur 20.06.2017 Azatamut 20.06.2017 Tavush Kirants Voskepar Sarigyugh 20.06.2017 Achajur Azatamut Nerkin Tsaghkavan 20.06.2017 Sarigyugh Loriberd Urasar Stepanavan Pushkino 22.06.2017 Lori Amrakits Armanis Vanadzor Vanadzor 23.06.2017 Spitak Spitak 23.06.2017

2.5. Quantitative picture of fieldwork

474 standardized interviews were conducted with 5-6 yearsold childrenattending and not attending preschool institutions at the beginning and at the end of academic year, out of which the number of children tested at the beginning and at the end of the year comprised 256 and 218 children, respectively. In general, 140 children attending preschool institutions and 11611 children not attending preschool institutions were tested, out of which 104 and 8412 children were retested, respectively. There was a slight deviation from the number of children foreseen by the methodology, but the statistical representativeness of gender and quantity was maintained during the analysis(except for some communities: Voskepar, Nerkin Tsaghkavan and Vanadzor). As a result, 172 children aged 5-6 participated in the analysis, of which the number of children attending and not attending preschools comprised 88 and 84, respectively.

Table 5: The number of tested and retested children attending and not attending preschool institutions at the beginning and at the end of 2016-2017 academic year, by regions

Number of retested Number of retested Number of tested children not beneficiary children children not Number of tested attending preschool Region Village/City (of which attending beneficiary children institutions (of participated in the preschool analysis) institutions which participated in the analysis) Armavir 19 10 (10) 16 14 (10) Armavir Metsamor 19 15 (11) 15 13 (11)

11-12The mentioned number does not correspond to the total number of presented in the table tested children not attending preschool, as there were reserve communities used for several prime communities.

Voskehat 18 15 (11) 11 11 (11) Dovegh13 14 14 (12) 23 17 (12) Tavush Voskepar14 10 10 (9)15 14 11 (9) Nerkin Tsaghkavan16 11 10 (8)17 15 12 (8) Stepanavan 16 11 (10) 11 10 (10) Lori Vanadzor 21 9 (7)18 25 14 (7) Spitak 12 10 (10) 12 11 (10) Total 140 104 (88) 142 106 (88)

Interviews with the head teacher, tutor and parents of beneficiary children were conducted in each community. Focus group discussions were conducted with the parents as well. In the preschools of these communities the categoriesof tutor assistant and parents working for payment were missing.In case there were categories of parents of children with special needs and children from socially vulnerable families, interviews were conducted with those parents as well. More detailed description of each category is presented in the Analysis section.

13Additional children inquiries were conducted in Aknaghbyur preschool as well, as the number of children in Dovegh preschool was insufficient. 14Additional children inquiries were conducted in Yenokavan preschool as well, as the number of children in Voskepar preschool was insufficient. 15, 17The sample size planned by the methodology was not kept in order to keep the gender distribution. 16Additional children inquiries were conducted in Vazashen preschool as well, as the number of children in Nerkin Tsakhkavan preschool was insufficient.

18The preschool did not provide the required number of children due to absences. 14

Table 6: Qualitative research conducted by regions and categories at the beginning and end of 2016-2017 academic year.

Parents of children not attending preschools Region Village/City At preschools Beginning of End of year year 1 focus group discussion 1 in-depth interview with the head teacher Armavir 0 0 2 in-depth interviews with tutors 1 in depth interview with a parent from socially vulnerable family 1 focus group discussion 1 in-depth interview with the head teacher Armavir Metsamor 0 0 2 in-depth interviews with tutors

1 in-depth interview with the parent of a child with special needs 1 focus group discussion 1 in-depth interview with the head teacher Voskehat 1 in-depth interview with the tutor 0 0 1 in depth interview with a parent from socially vulnerable family 1 in-depth interview with the parent of a child with special needs 1 focus group discussion 1 in-depth interview with the head teacher Dovegh19 0 0 1 in-depth interview with the tutor 1 in depth interview with a parent from socially vulnerable family 1 focus group discussion Tavush 1 in-depth interview with the head teacher Voskepar20 0 0 1 in-depth interview with the tutor 1 in depth interview with a parent from socially vulnerable family Nerkin 1 focus group discussion 0 0

19Additional children inquiries were conducted in Achajur preschool as well, as the number of children in Dovegh preschool was insufficient. 20Additional children inquiries were conducted in Yenokavan preschool as well, as the number of children in Voskepar preschool was insufficient. 15

Tsaghkavan21 1 in-depth interview with the head teacher 1 in-depth interview with the tutor 1 in depth interview with a parent from socially vulnerable family 1 focus group discussion 1 in-depth interview with the head teacher Stepanavan 0 0 1 in-depth interview with tutor 1 in depth interview with a parent from socially vulnerable family 1 focus group discussion Lori 1 in-depth interview with the head teacher Vanadzor 4 4 1 in-depth interview with tutor22 1 in-depth interview with a parent from socially vulnerable family 1 focus group discussion 1 in-depth interview with the head teacher Spitak 4 4 1 in-depth interview with the tutor 1 in depth interview with a parent from socially vulnerable family

21Additional children inquiries were conducted in Vazashen preschool as well, as the number of children in Nerkin Tsakhkavan preschool was insufficient. 22Two tutors were interviewed at the year end, as at the beginning of the year it was presented that the tutor worked without compensation. 16

3. ISSUES/OVERSIGHTS

During the research various issues were brought up, a part of which was related to fieldwork, while the other part – to research tools, communities or micro projects. The issues related to fieldwork were as follows:

1. Fieldwork started in November that istwo months later than it had been provided for by the Contract, according to which the work should start from September.

 The aim of the fieldwork conducted at the beginning of the year was to benchmark the initial condition of different categories of research: preschool personnel, parents opinion, children’s knowledge, and physical environment. This was realizable parallel to the launch of preschool activities (the academic year started in November). Thus, the deviation from the timeframes provided by the contract is explained by late opening of the preschools.

2. During the fieldwork a considerable problem was to maintain the sample of focus group discussions. According to sample criteria, it was almost impossible to select parents in all regions, because there were working parents. Interviewers were guided by the principle of focus group discussion with accessible parents.

3. Regarding testing of children not attending preschool institutions a problem was to maintain the time of meeting and number of children agreed beforehand. There were communities where the number of available children during the visit was not maintained (due to sickness or absence from the community). As a result, additional reserve communities were involved that did not have preschools.

Lessons learned from the fieldwork for further effectiveness of the project are as follows:

1. For the effectiveness of further stages of the project it is notable and more preferable to define a specific criterion for some operations not by methodology, rather act by situational orientation and through selection of optimal selection of principles in case of true arrangement of circumstances. Despite of the two-visit requirement by the methodology, visits to communities both at the beginning and at

the end of the year were organized in one day due to weather conditions and time constraints. However, this did not affect the quality of results achieved.

2. Afterwards, as it can be seen in the tables describing the schedule of visits made both at the beginning and at the end of academic year, visits to different communities of each region were organized not on sequential dates and not by the the sequence of communities planned by the methodology. Reasons were different: ensuring the presence of the required number of children; selection of convenient route because of weather conditions; distance from the capital; time mismatch related to the late opening or early completion of classes in the preschool. The result is the insignificance of the sequence of communities for the quality of results and comparability of data. The consequence is that the sequence of visited communities did not have significant impact on the quality of the results and the comparability of the data.

4. RESULTS ANALYSIS

Analysis of all data collected during the research is presented in this section. As the research mainly aims at analyzing the development dynamics of children and factors affecting their development process, it is appropriate to present the results by two sections: children development dynamics and factors affecting their development process. Moreover, analysis is presented by factor, community and regional sections. But before reaching the main results of the research, principles of analysis are presented below.

4.1. Analysis principles

Analysis of qualitative section includes focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and physical environment observations, while quantitativeanalysis includes class observations and testing of children.

4.1.1. Principles of quantitative analysis

4.1.1.1. Child testing

For the analysis of children development dynamics enrolled in preschool institutions188 beneficiary children (104 children attending preschools, 84 children not attending preschool institutions) have been evaluatedand all of them passed both preliminary and secondary testing. The dynamics of children development can be observed only through this kind of analysis.

The group of children not enrolled in preschool institutions served as a control group for the analysis. Children not enrolled in preschool institutions are either inhabitants of the same region, or inhabitants of the closest community due to the insufficient number of children in the selected communities. For measurement of program effectiveness, testing results of control group for the beginning/end of the year will be compared with the results of the observation group for the beginning/end of the year.

Based on “State education criterion of preschool education”, all the assignments included in the evaluation package can be differentiated into five fields, which in turn can be differentiated into the following subfields:

 General math knowledge (the child has basic math knowledge, knowledge of size and shape, spatial perception, time reading ability) /assignments 2, 3, 5,6,9,10/ /cognitive field/,

 Logic and thinking (the child is able to compare, explore the phenomena and objects, find solutions to various problems, find patterns, perform critical analysis) /assignments 11,4/ /cognitive field/,

 Oral speech perception (the child has a proper vocabulary of his age, recognizes linguistic notions, displays knowledge of various sounds and grammar concepts, shows interest in books and reading, expresses and understands words, tells stories) /assignment 7/ /speech development/,

 Early reading (the child understands the principles of printed word, distinguishes letters and their images in books) /assignments 1,8/ /speech development/,

 Writing and drawing skills (the child exhibits development of coordination, balance and control when walking, running, lounging, and moving, displays painting, modeling, cutting, building skills) /assignments 12, 13/ /motor function field/:

The analysis of development dynamics of children enrolled in preschool institutions as well as analysis of development level of children not enrolled in program was implemented based on the following principles:

 analysis of the development dynamics of children enrolled and not enrolled inpreschool institutions of each target community according to the criteria mentioned above,

 analysis of the development dynamics of children enrolled and not enrolled inpreschool institutions of each target region according to the criteria mentioned above,

 comparison of the generalized results of the analysis for all regions according to the criteria mentioned above.

Analyzed data is presented through histograms in percentages. Each figure is accompanied by descriptive analysis.

4.1.1.2. Class observations

Class observations conducted in preschool institutions give an opportunity for getting insights and analyse the following areas:

 purpose,

 objectives /developmental, teaching, instructional/,

 structure /type of class, clear sequence of class stages, time constraints, correspondence of class stages to the type of child’s cognitive activity, etc./..

 content /scientism and significance of the material presented, , correspondence of the content, complexity and scope of the material to the age peculiarities of the child, the ratio of didactic and theoretical material, relation of the material presented to the real life, etc./

 methodological saturation /usage of diverse educational methods and tactics, justification of their selection, feasibility and effectiveness of application, etc./,

 behavioral and operational peculiarities of children /activeness, independence, interest, attention stability during different stages of the class, organized activity, peculiarities of children’s intergroup and interpersonal relationships, as well as relationships with the teacher/,

 peculiarities of teacher’s professional qualities /familiarity with the material, preparedness for the lesson, pedagogical skills, usage of communication skills with the child, speech literacy, teacher’s attitude, etc./,

 general results /implementation of class plan, reaching the target, quality, inferences directed towards improvement of future work, strengthening of success, etc./.

Each class can be analyzed based on different approaches. During the analysis the criteria and characteristics separated in class observation cards were considered.

Class observation cards were analyzed based on the following principles:

 Comprehensive analysis of class observation cards of each preschool, by the separated eight criteria in each card,

 Comprehensive analysis of class observation cards of preschools in each region, by the separated eight criteria in each card,

 General average indicators of all eight criteria, by all regions.

For more accurate illustration of comparative results obtained during the analysis of classes held in preschools, the data is presented in the following way:

 Comparison of each criterion, by all preschools,

 Analysis of each criterion, by regions,

 Analysis of class observation results, by the general average indicators of preschools in all communities/regions.

Analysed data is presented in the form of histograms and in percentages. Each figure is accompanied with descriptive analysis.

4.1.2. Principles of qualitative analysis

4.1.2.1. Interviews and discussions

For understanding and stating the notion of appropriate personnel recruitment for preschool institutions and for decent management of microproject and children upbringing, the following activities have been performed:

 Focus group discussions, which have been implemented among the parents of children enrolled in preschool institutions,

 In-depth interviews, by the following categories:

o micro project directors

o tutors,

o assistants of tutors,

o parents of children with special needs,

o parents of socially vulnerable children,

o parents performing paid work in the preschool,

o parents of children not attending preschools. During the analysis the effect of respondents surveyed for each category, their characteristics and skills were taken into account. Analysis of interviews and discussions was implemented based on the following principles:

 comprehensive analysis of interviews and discussions in each preschool, by the aforementioned categories,

 comprehensive analysis of interviews and discussions inthe selected preschools of each region, by the aforementioned categories.

We have tried to maximally show the comparative situation for different preschools in the same region. Analysed data are mainly presented through text.

4.1.2.2. Physical environment observation

Observation of physical environment in preschool institutions was implemented by the following criteria:

 child security,

 conformity to the dimensions of the child: accessibility of accessories (objects, building conditions and other supplies) for the child,

 availability of required materials, which may include: books, desks, hygene means, etc,

 accessibility of materials, which will show how easily children can make use of them,

 movability of the environment,

 workability of accessories.

During the analysis, the effect of each criterion on child physical development was taken into account. Analysis was performed based on the following principles:

 Complete analysis of physical environment observation held in each preschool, by criteria,

 Complete analysis of physical environment observation held in preschools of each region.

We have tried to maximally show the comparative situation for different preschools in the same region. Analysed data are mainly presented through text and figures.

5. REGIONAL ANALYSIS

5.1. Armavir region

Three communities have been selected in the region, and all three are based on school, The communities selected in this region are Armavir, Metsamor and Voskehat.

5.1.1. Armavir №5 primary school SNCO after Zoravar Andranik Ozanyan (preschool Manchuk)

The preschool was established on the school basis and has two groups of children. According to the budget foreseen by the micro project for one group, the community preschool is classified in the region as one having “average” resources (financial criteria for community classification of the region included in the sample).

During the visits the preschool was working according to the following model:

 5 days in a week;

 part-time working regime - 09:00-14:00;

 two tutors were working in the preschool during the visits;

 both of the tutors were trained;

 the children were provided with one hot meal a day within the framework of the UNFood Program;

 the preschool was heated from the school’s central heating system;

 the preschool did not have sleeping facilities.

General description of preschool conditions is as follows:

 The preschool has been provided withgroup rooms, wardrobe,water-closets (separate for girls and boys).

 Teacher’s room, classrooms, wardrobe and water-closets were in correspondence with the established requirements of renovation, security, children size, accessibility and cleanliness (as no tutor assistant was envisaged in the preschool

within the Program framework, the tutor during the classes was not able to keep track of the hygiene of children after using the toilet) (see Pictures 1 and 2).

 The preschool was provided with permanent cold water supply.

 The preschool had central heating system.

Picture 1. Beginning of year, Armavir, W.C. Picture 2. Beginning of year, Armavir, group room

Conditions of group rooms and working centers matched the requirements of defined norms. Although the centers had not been separated yet, the supplies were available. The natural sciences center was furnished partly, and only the role play center was missing (See Pictures 3 and 4). The group rooms had wardrobes, carpets, tables and chairs, toy cabinets, blackboards, TVs, a water appliance, etc. The group room was light enough. The preschool children's food was organized at the school cafeteria, within the framework of the UN Food Program (parents paid 2000 AMD per month). The preschool used the school’s outdoor playground and cafeteria.

Picture 3. Armavir, wardrobes Picture 4. Armavir, cabinet

According to the head teacher, the preschool was created to provide corresponding number of first graders and to make the school a complex structure; and the school teachers and parents expressed a desire to give their children and grandchildren a preschool education (about 30 children).

According to the head teacher, creation of the preschool was an essential investment for the community as provision of food was free for the socially vulnerable families; at the same time it provided the children with an opportunity for development and getting ready for school. Parents brought their children to the preschool as the kindergarten’s fees were quite high.

The strength of the preschool, according to the head teacher, could be considered that children were well fed in preschool, they were playing and learning,and the weakness is that the staff was new and had no experience yet.

The head teacher mentioned that more money should be given for didactic materials.

The preschool’s two tutors and head teacher were satisfied with the building conditions, however the head teacher mentioned that there was a shortage of didactic materials, reasoning that they would never be too much; a wish was expressed that water appliances be installed in the group rooms. According to one of the tutors, the number of cabinets in the preschool group room was

insufficient, and it would be preferable to have a door between the rooms, as the group room becomes walkthrough and inconvenient.

All the work centers, according to the head teacher, were available; however some of them were not separated.

Head teacher and two tutors were working at the preschool. The head teacher had previously worked as a researcher, scientific secretary, and then as school principal. One of the tutors used to work in kindergarten and had more or less experience, and the other did not work. Both of them started working at the preschool start up. The tutors were trained and mastered the provisions of the pre-school curriculum.

One of the tutors stated that the working time was long reasoning that at the end of the lessons the children would not have been receptive. If we take into account the fact that this tutor did not work before, this could be a consequence of a lack of work experience. Both tutors worked jointly andused the same materials.

According to the tutors, the training was very interesting and informative. One of the tutors expressed a wish that the training would take longer and the other said that the training was very useful as it helped to obtain self-confidence and systematize the knowledge.

Both tutors used an integrated principle of practice, trying to reinforce the same subject in different subjects. The class activities were conducted through games and exercises. One of the tutors focused on all aspects of child development, trying to develop all areas together, while the other (who did not work before) focused on the child's cognitive development, but considered all the spheres to be primary. The children were appreciated by the encouraging method (starlets, smiles); the course was planned on a daily basis.

One of the tutors did not have a tutorial plan at the time of the visit, but the tutor insisted that it was ready, only the cover sheet was to be prepared. The other tutor, who had a summary plan, did not count the time factor. The lessons were conducted with demonstrations, didactic materials, game methods, and exercises stimulating thinking were used. Individual approach to children was applied. There was no difference in gender issues between children. During the lessons, group work and research activities as well as knowledge acquisition through cooperation

were not observed. The tutors did not use the child development dynamics monitoring and evaluation leaflets.

The tutors insisted that the abilities of the strongest children in these groups exceeded their age. As for the weak children, in one of the groups there were children who did not recognize the colors. The main problem of a child with average abilities was absentmindedness.According to both tutors, the abilities of children differed by gender: the boys were smarter.

There were close relationships with the parents; theyhelped to decorate the room, to make handmade items.

The socio-economic situation of the families was in general satisfactory. One of the tutors found that children were bringing their families problems to the preschool, and that they were well informed of the home problems.

As for the influence of the socio-economic situation of the family / community on the child development, the tutors believed that it had an indirect impact. Children were unable to concentrate because of lack of means and being aware of their home problems, as if they were bringing their problems to the preschool. The head teacher claimed that the socio-economic situation of the community had an impact on children's development, for example, the parents of the community could not afford financially to bring their children to theater, cinema and other cultural sites.

During the focus group discussions held with parents it turned out that families of children attending preschool institutions were mainly composed of 4-7 members, and no family was enrolled in the list of people getting social benefit. In general, fathers were working, and mothers were caring for the family. In one of the families, mother was working as well. The main purpose of taking their children to preschool institutions was to ensure their education and adaptation to school. The parents were satisfied with the tutors in terms of the child’s discipline, knowledge received, security and other issues.

During the focus group discussion, it became clear that the children of the participant families were mostly cleaning up after themselves at home and helping with the simple housework. Two of the parents who participated in the focus group mentioned that their child was doing shopping without assistance. In the majority of cases, children were self-sufficient only in nutrition

anddressingissues; however in hygiene and other issues, the mother was obliged to help the child. An interview with a parent of a socially vulnerable family made it clear that the mother did not give the child independence in domestic issues. The child was self-determined only when deciding on his or her occupation: to paintor to play.

Mainly mothers were responsible for children upbringing in the family, and sometimes fathers and grandmothers helped them. Parents were equally engaged in the issues of the children upbringing. In the absence of mothers, the grandmothers were mainly taking care of the children. The child's daily routine was mainly designed by mothers, taking into consideration, if possible, the child's wishes.

Parents generally found that the parent's decisions and requirements were to be explained to the child.

A child may be punished for lying, spending long time on computer, and so on. The punishment was in the form of putting in a corner or taking away the child’s favorite things.

Half of the children of the parents participating in the discussion attended kindergarten, thanks to which the children learned rhymes and songs, discipline and regime. However, according to the parents, unlike the preschool, the main emphasis at the kindergarten was placed on eating and sleeping, rather than learning. The main reason for the transfer of the child to the preschool was the kindergarten fee. From an interview with a parent of a socially vulnerable child, it became clear that the child had attended a kindergarten, but the parent took the child out of kindergarten because of the high fee (AMD 7,000 per month). In the preschool this child was provided with fee exemption.

Parents believed that teaching (teaching methods, topics), family (parents' influence) and the environment had a major impact on the development of the child.

Parents who took part in the discussion expressed their desire to create certain groups (at that time they had to pay an additional amount of 2000 AMD per month for food only). In general, parents were very content with the work of the preschool and the opportunity that their child will go to the first grade integrated with school. From an interview with a parent of a socially vulnerable child it turned out that she would also like the child to have additional lessons, however she was unable to pay for that.

Parents also mentioned that they had visited the preschool several times and were very satisfied. Additionally, at the meetings, they were given an advice onhygiene issues and on being friendly with the children. The parents' only concern was that an assistant was needed for the tutor.

In general, one can say that in this preschool a close relationship was established between parents and tutors. The tutors were able to involve parents in their children's preschool life.

The following is an excerpt from the in-depth interview with head teacher: “The community did not want to hear aboutmaking a financial contribution, and we decided to solve this issue through donors... I had a number of donors who had made preliminary payments for construction in the amount of 1,800,000... ”, “We try not to disturb the parents, as the parents of more needy families collect from 1,000 to 2,000 AMDfor food. Only two parents applied to the director concerning the food, and they were exempt from payment as having a status of a vulnerable family...”

As a cash contribution, the parents paid only for stationery, which was very difficult for them (this was revealed during the deep interview with the socially vulnerable parent, while no parent mentioned about that during the focus group discussion).

With regard to the continuity of the program, the director did not see any danger, as the applicants were numerous,and some of them were refused.

End of year visit can be described as follows:

Compared to the beginning of year, the weakness of the preschool at the year-end was, according to the head teacher, absence of a room for a rest and inability to completely solve the food issue.

In connection with the general conditions, parents noted that the food in the preschool is not varied: rice, buckwheat, peas, and there are children who do not eat grains (2000 drams per month). And in case of an extended stay, the food was diverse, for which parents pay 6,000 drams a month.

There are no changes at the end of the year regarding building conditions. All beneficiary parties are satisfied with the existing conditions.

There has been an increase in some work centers' supplies, handmade items, improvised didactic materials as compared with the beginning of the year. However, both the director and the tutors

point out in their interviews that they need "good" didactic materials. This problem was also actual at the beginning of the year (see Figures 5 and 6).

Picture 5: End of year, Armavir, group room Picture 6. End of year, Armavir, group room, technical center

One of the tutors mentioned that a closer cooperation with the parents should be established in the future as their approaches to some of the issues are incorrect; for example, when money was promised to a child for the score of 10 painted on the hand. At the year end the tutors applied much more methods during classes: brainstorming, interview, games, exercises; the children became more attached to the school; and the tutors became more experienced.

According to the tutors the children became more active, independent and communicative. In general, the children have knowledge of letters and numbers, and they showed significant progress. The parents argue that children have gained new knowledge, behaviors and discipline, they reason well, and are ready for school.

As regards the development of children by gender, at the end of the year tutors pointed out that the boys are more active and linked it with the fact that the girls' parents were spending less time with their children.

The tutors apply individual approach towards the children. Parents find that the children are more advanced compared with their adult children at the same age, and that the role of preschool in this matter is great. Parents have assisted in making handmade items, decorating the

grouproom, they were aware of the day's routine, class topics, and helped to get decorative accessories during events. Parents of one of the groups mentioned that their tutor had some other mentality and was strict in financial matters, for example, when the parents wanted to buy articles for the event or supplies for children, the tutor did not allow that.

During the focus group discussion the parents mentioned that after the preschool they take the children to sing and dance classes, and it would have been more advisable if those classes were held in the preschool. They are ready to pay an additional amount for that.

One of the tutors said that having a preschool is advantageous for the schools as the children become ready for the first grade.

The whole picture of the class observation at Armavir preschool Manchuk is above average. Methods, learning activities and questions criteria have maximum representation /100.00%/, which shows that tutors carry out the classroom activities efficiently and ensure through questions the right direction of classes towards the targets. All the other criteria liewithin 75% and above.

Figure 1: Analysis of class observation results in preschool Manchuk of Armavir community

100,00 100,00 100,00 90,63 92,86 90,23 80,00 83,33 75,00 5. Time 2. Methods 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities 7. Children participation

6. Developing environment

Figure 2: Analysis of children testing and retesting results inArmavir

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 90,00 90,00 90,00 90,00 90,00 90,00 90,00 90,00 80,00 80,00 70,00 70,00 70,00 70,00 70,00 65,00 60,00 60,00 60,00 60,00 55,00 50,00 50,00 50,00 47,50 45,00 40,00 40,00 40,00 30,00 30,00 25,00 20,00 20,00 20,00 20,00 10,00 10,00 10,00 10,00 5,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception differences 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 11.Recognition of similarities- 7. Response to multistep instruction

When looking at the testing and retesting results of Armavir preschool Manchuk (Figure 2), we see that a significant increase has been observed in (7) response to multistep instructions indicator /30.00%90.00%/ of oral speech perception subfield, (4) forming stereotypes indicator /40.00%90.00%/ of logic and thinking subfield, and (10) time reading indicator/50.00%90.00%/ of general math knowledge subfield. The indicator of (12) basic writing skills of writing and drawing skills subfield remained unchanged.

When looking at the testing and retesting results of children not attending preschool institutions, we see that the most significant increase has been observed in the (3) number recognition /20.00%60.00%/ and (9) recognition of left-right/70.00%100.00%/ indicators of general math knowledge subfield. Negative trend has been observed in the (6) math knowledge indicator /47.00%40.00%/ of general math knowledge subfield. The indicator of (8) letter recognition /0.00%0.00%/ of early reading subfield remained unchanged.

Looking at Figure 2, we can see that the testing results of children attending preschool institutions are significantly higher than the results of children not attending preschool institutions except for (7) response to multistep instructions indicator /30.00% and 40.00%/ of oral speech perception subfield. The most significant difference has been observed in the (3) number recognition indicator/50.00%/ of general math knowledge subfield, and(11) recognition of similarities–differences indicator /40.00%/ of (2) logic and thinking subfield. No differences were observed regarding (2) spatial perception indicator of general math knowledge subfield and (8) letter recognition indicator of early reading subfield.

Comparison of the retesting results of the children attending and not attending the preschool shows that the children attending preschool have higher results at the year end regarding almost all the criteria than the children not attending preschool. The most significant difference was observed in the following criteria: (10) time reading /70.00%/,(6) math knowledge /50.00%/ and (3) number recognition /40.00%/indicators of general math knowledge subfield; (11) recognition of similarities–differences /40.00%/ and (4) forming stereotypes/45.00%/ indicators of logic and thinking subfield. No differences were observed regarding (5) basic math notionsand (9) recognition of left-right indicators of general math knowledge subfield as well as (13) sensual motional skills indicator of writing and drawing skillssubfield.

Figure 3: Comparison of children testing results in Armavir by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 90,00 90,00 83,33 72,67 60,83 60,00 53,33 50,00 50,00 50,00 47,67 47,50 47,50 45,00 42,67 40,00 36,25 35,00 31,75 30,00 30,00 27,50 25,00 22,50

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception reading drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

In Figure 3 we can see that compared to the testing results of children from Armavir preschool Manchuk, a significant increase has been observed in the retesting results regarding (3) oral speech perception subfield /40.00%90.00%/ and (2) logic and thinking subfield /50.00%90.00%/.

Looking at the testing and retesting results of children not attending preschool institutions (Figure 3), we can see that an increase has been observed in all thesubfields, and the most significant increase was observed regarding (3) oral speech perception subfield /40.00%60.00%/.

Looking at the Figure 3, we can see that testing results of children attending preschool institutions exceed testing results of children not attending preschool institutions regarding all the subfields except for the (3) oral speech perception subfield /10.00%/. The results of beneficiary children mostly exceeded the results of control group for the (2) logic and thinking subfield /27.50%/.

Comparing the results of children attending and not attending preschool institutions, we can see that the children attending preschool institutions recorded higher results than children not attending preschool institutions. Significant difference is observed in the following subfields:

(2)logic and thinking/42.50%/,(1) general math knowledge/30.00%/ and (3) oral speech perception subfield /30.00%/.

5.1.2. Metsamor N1 primary school SNCO (Preschool Arevik)

The preschool has been established on the basis of school and has two senior groups of children. According to the budget foreseen by the micro-project for one group, the community preschool is classified as one having “average” financial resources (financial criteria for community classification of the region included in the sample).

During the visits the preschool was working according to the following model:

 5 days in a week,

 part-time working regime - 09:00-13:00,

 two tutors were working in the preschool during the visit,

 Both tutors were trained

 children were eating one-time hot meal

 the preschool was heated from the school’s central heating system;

 the preschool did not have sleeping facilities.

General description of preschool conditions is as follows:

 The preschool has been provided with group rooms, wardrobe, water-closets (which were not separated by gender, but provided with separating doors between toilet bowls).

 Classrooms, wardrobe and water-closets were in correspondence with the established requirements of renovation, security, children size, accessibility and cleanliness (as no tutor assistant was envisaged in the preschool within the program framework, the tutor during the classes was not able to keep track of the hygiene of children after using the toilet) (see Pict. 7 and 8).

 The preschool was provided with permanent cold water supply.

 The preschool had central heating system.

Picture 7: Beginning of year, Metrsamor, Picture 8: Beginning of year, Metrsamor, water closet group room

Conditions of the group room and working centers matched the requirements of defined norms, although they were not too rich in diversity (See Pictures 9 and 10). Group rooms had wardrobes, carpets, tables and chairs, toy cabinets, boards, TVs, digital devices, electric heater, vacuum cleaner, etc. Classroom was quite light. Preschool children were eating in the school canteen and the food was financed by the parents (1000 AMD monthly).

Picture 9: Beginning of year, Metsamor, Picture 10: Beginning of year, Metsamor, cabinet wardrobes According to the head teacher, as the kindergartens in the area were not working during winter months, taking care of the children became a problem for working parents. Creation of a preschool allowed the community to provide preschool education and day care for the children

during the winter months as well. Children would be able to move smoothly to the school due to the launch of the preschool; the child would not encounter any cognitive or emotional barriers. In addition, the preschool was located within the same school, and the child would be adapted to the school environment, workers, etc.

The strength of the preschool, according to the head teacher, was its being furnished and equipped with stationery as well as having trained specialists. Compared with the local kindergarten, besides the tutors, there were also social workers and a logopedist. And as a weak side, the fact of not provision of the morning food (in connection with the regime) was mentioned.

The preschool used the school’s open playground with old equipment. Head teacher mentioned that the necessary equipment and supplies will be provided until next spring. According to the tutors and head teacher, the preschool has perfect building conditions, as it has been just repaired.

There were no separated work centers in the group rooms, however the needed supplies were available; only sport and natural sciences centers were weakly equipped. In one of the preschool groups the role play center was missing.

Head teacher and two tutors were working in the preschool. The head teacher previously worked as teacher of Armenian language and literature. Both tutors had no work experience, and they started to work at the preschool since its opening. The tutors were trained for the teaching program of the preschool.

Tutors were satisfied with the working conditions. Both tutors of Metsamor preschool were trained. According to the tutors, the training was very interesting and informative. They learned many songs, games and didactic techniques. They both expressed a wish that the training would take longer.

The tutors used an integrated principle of practice, trying to reinforce the same topic in different subjects. The class activities were conducted through games and exercises. Both tutors focused on all aspects of child development, evaluated the children through the encouraging method (starlets, heros), the course was planned on a daily basis using different methodical books.

One of the tutors did not have a class summary plan, the other tutor had the plan, however the explanations were not followed by demonstrations: pictures, cards, objects. Both tutors did not count the time factor. Individual approach to children was applied, andthere was no difference in gender issues between children. The tutors did not use the child development dynamics monitoring and evaluation leaflets.

According to the tutors, the strongest children in these groups had a knowledge of numbers (there was a child that could count from 1 to 100), some of the letters, could distinguish between domestic and wild animals, they could recite, sing, etc.; and the weak children were just learning all these things. According to both tutors, the abilities of children did not differ by gender.

The parents took part in the preschool’s life to certain extent; in particular, they implemented work regarding cleaning and arranging the supplies, as well as helped in to making handmade items.

According to the head teacher and tutors, the socio-economic situation of the community’s families was satisfactory. As for the influence of the socio-economic situation of the family/community on the child development, the tutors believed that it had an indirect impact, and the preschool served as a medium to smooth over these differences on some issues. The head teacher was also of the opinion that the community’s socio-economic situation had an indirect effect on the children’s development; however the preschool helped the children develop in “equal” good conditions. Families of children attending preschool institutions were mainly composed of 4-7 members

During the focus group discussions held with parents, where the families of the participants consistedof 3-10 persons, no family was enrolled in the list of people getting social benefit. In general, the fathers of the families were working (nature of work: outward and inward, equally distributed), and the mothers were caring for the family. In two of the families, mothers were working as well. The main purpose of taking their children to preschool institutions was to ensure their education and adaptation to school. The parents were satisfied with the tutors in terms of the child’s discipline, knowledge received, security and other issues.

The children of the participant families were mostly cleaning up after themselves at home and helping with the simple housework. In few families the children made shopping on their own.

In the majority of cases, children were self-sufficient only in nutrition; however in hygiene and other issues, the mother was obliged to help the child.

Mothers and fathers shared the responsibility for children’s care and upbringing,except for the cases where the father was engaged in work outside the region; in these cases mother took care of the child, and father participated in upbringing issues (sometimes through phone calls). In the absence of mothers, the grandmothers were mainly taking care of the children. The child's daily routine was mainly designed by mothers, taking into consideration, if possible, the child's wishes.

Parents generally found that the parent's decisions and requirements were to be explained to the child.

A child may be punished for lying, spending long time on computer games, beating smaller children, leaving the house without warning, etc. The punishment was in the form of taking away the child’s favorite things trying to psychologically suppress the child as much as possible (however it was mentioned during the discussion that sometimes the voice was raised at the child).

Half of the children of the parents participating in the discussion attended kindergarten, thanks to which the children became more independent and sociable, learned languages. From an interview with a parent of a socially vulnerable child, it became clear that the child had attended a kindergarten, but the parent transferred the child to the preschool because of the absence of a logopedist.

Parents believed that teaching (teaching methods, topics) and family (parents' influence) had a major impact on the development of the child.

Parents who took part in the discussion expressed their desire to create certain groups and improve the food provided. In general, parents were very content with the work of the preschool and the opportunity that their child will go to the first grade integrated with school.

Only the community made a financial investment contribution to launch the activities of this preschool, and the parents provided current non-monetary assistance (“paint yourself”, pencils, plasticine). The parents paid additionally only for food,AMD 1,000 each month.

With regard to the continuity of the program, the director did not see any danger, as the demand was very high.

End of year visit can be described as follows:

Compared to the beginning of year, there have been an increase in sporting and natural sciences work centers' supplies, handmade items; posters (see pictures 11 and 12).

Head teacher mentioned that they have an intention to renovate and refresh the inventory, and the stationery should be bought by the school (at the beginning of the year a parent of a child with special needs mentioned that they themselves take the stationery to the preschool). Head teacher also expressed the wish to receive guidebooks and methodical literature.

One of the tutors mentioned during an interview at the year-end that they have an assistant and charwoman who made the cleaning and helped the children in using the toilet.

There were children who had been crying and shy, but at the end of the year their parents said that the children go to the preschool with pleasure.

Logopedist worked with children with special needs and the results were obvious. In general the children are literate, know the numbers, pronounce the words by syllables, and know the school's discipline. They have strong children who add and subtract three-digit numbers, know the vowels and consonants, etc. There were children who were very shy and did not speak, and at theyear-end they became more active and completely involved in the classes.

Picture 11. End of year, Metsamor, technical Picture 12. End of year, Metsamor, group room, center

The tutors became more experienced; they applied tests, games, exercises. One of the tutors mentioned at the beginning of the year that she would like to have a ready-made lesson plan, however at the year-end she said she would not like to have a similar plan as it would limit the tutor’s creative approach; she makes use of different books and selects the best materials for the classes adapting them to wishes and capabilities of her group’s children.

What concerns the children’s differentiation by gender, one of the tutors pointed out that there is no differences, and the other tutor mentioned that a difference was noted during the preschool graduation ceremony where the girls were singing better than the boys.

At the year end the parents claimed that the children had acquired new knowledge, were ready for school and familiar with the school life. These children are more advanced compared with the adult children at the same age and, in the parents’ opinion, this is due to the preschool. The preschool provided the parents with more free time for taking care of everyday needs and finding employment.

The class observation data presented in Figure 4 attest that in Metsamor preschool Arevik as well the program is implemented successfully.Learning activities, questions, and children’s activity criteriahave maximum representation /100.00%/, and the other criteria are in the range of 78.13% - 96.43%.

Figure 4: Analysis of class observation results in preschool Arevikof Metsamor community

100,00 100,00 100,00 91,67 96,43 91,19 80,00 78,13 83,33 5. Time 2. Methods 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills environment 6. Developing TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities 7. Children participation

Figure 5: Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Metsamor

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 95,45 95,45 95,45 90,91 90,91 90,91 86,36 86,36 86,36 81,82 81,82 72,73 72,73 72,73 72,73 68,18 63,64 63,64 63,64 61,36 59,09 54,55 45,45 45,45 40,91 36,36 36,36 34,09 27,27 27,27 27,27 25,00 18,18 18,18 18,18 18,18 18,18 9,09 9,09 9,09 6,82 2,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception differences 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 11.Recognition of similarities- 7. Response to multistep instruction

When looking at the testing and retesting results of Metsamor preschool Arevik in Figure 5, we can see that a significant increase has been observed in the (4) forming stereotypes indicator /36.36%86.36%/ of logic and thinking subfield and (3) number recognition indicator /54.55%81.82%/ of general math knowledge subfield.There was no change in (13) )sensual motional skills indicator /100.00%100.00%/ of writing and drawing skills subfield, which however remained on the maximum scale.

When looking at the testing and retesting results of children in control group, we see that there was no change in only (9) recognition of left-right indicator /72.13%72.13%/ of general math knowledge subfield. a negative change has been observed in and (3) number recognition indicator /27.27%18.18%/ of general math knowledge subfield and in (13) ) sensual motional skills indicator /90.91%61.36%/ of writing and drawing skills subfield; for all remaining indicators the retesting results were higher than the testing ones. Moreover, the maximum increase was observed regarding (11) recognition of similarities–differences indicator /27.27%63.64%/of logic and thinking subfield.

When looking at the Figure 6, we can see that the testing results of the children attending preschool Arevik of Metsamor community as regards the indicators are mainly exceeding the testing results of the children in control group, except for the (6) math knowledge indicator /6.82%/ and (10) time reading indicator /7.09%/ of general math knowledge subfield. The most significant difference was observed regarding (1) printed text indicator /45.45%/ of early reading subfield. There are no differences between the attending and not attending children regarding the (2) spatial perception indicator/0.00%/of general math knowledge subfield, (4) forming stereotypes indicator /36.36%/ of logic and thinking subfield, and (12) basic writing skills indicator /0.00%/ of writing and drawing skills subfield.

Comparing the retesting results of children from target and control groups, we see that the performance of the target group regarding all the indicators is higher than that of the control group. Difference has been mainly observed in the following indicators: (3) number recognition indicator /63.64%/ of general math knowledge subfield, (4) forming stereotypes/40.91%/ of logic and thinking subfield, and (13) sensual-motional skills/38.64%/of writing and drawing skills subfield.

Figure 6: Comparison of children testing results in Metsamor by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 90,91 90,91 81,82 73,03 72,73 67,42 63,64 59,09 56,82 54,55 54,16 52,27 50,00 48,71 45,45 43,52 43,18 41,29 40,91 38,86 34,09 32,95 31,82 20,45

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception reading drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

When looking at the testing and retesting results of children attending preschool Arevik in Metsamor community(Figure 6),we can see that a significant increase has been observed in (2) logic and thinking/59.27%90.91%/ and (1) general math knowledge subfields./43.52%67.42%/ subfields.

In Figure 6 we can see that the testing and retesting results of control group have increased, except for (5) writing and drawing skills/45.45%%34.09%/ subfield. Significant increase has been observed in (2) logic and thinking/31.82%54.55%/ and early reading/20.45%40.91%/ subfields.

Looking at Figure 6, we can see that retesting results of children attending preschool institutions exceed testing results of children not attending preschool institutions for all subfields. Significant increase has been observed in (4) early reading/22.73%/ and (2) logic and thinking/20.45%/ subfields.

Comparing the retesting results of children attending and not attending preschool institutions we can see that children attending preschool institutions get higher results than children in the

control group. Significant increase has been observed in the (2) logic and thinking/36.36%/subfield.

5.1.3. Voskehat secondary school SNCO

The preschool is established on the school basis and has one group of children.According to the budget foreseen by the micro-project for one group, the community preschool is classified as one having “large” financial resources (financial criteria for community classification of the region included in the sample).

During the visits the preschool was working according to the following model:

 5 days in a week,

 part-time working regime - 09:00-13:00,

 one tutor was working in the preschool during the visit,

 the tutor was trained,

 children were having one cold meal a day,

 the preschool was heated from the school’s central heating system;

 the preschool did not have sleeping facilities.

General description of the preschool conditions is as follows:

 The preschool has been provided with a group room, play room, water-closet (its separating by gender as well as furnishingwith doors between toilet bowlswould be preferable).

 Group room, play room, wardrobe and water-closets were in correspondence with the established requirements of renovation, security, children size, accessibility and cleanliness (as no tutor assistant was envisaged in the preschool within the Program framework, the tutor during the classes was not able to keep track of the hygiene of children after using the toilet) (see Pictures 13 and 14).

 The preschool was provided with permanent cold water supply.

 The preschool had central heating system.

Picture 13. Beginning of year, Voskehat, water- Picture 14. Beginning of year, Voskehat, closet group room Conditions of the classroom, playroom and working centers matched the requirements of defined norms, while from the perspective of diversity they were not very rich (See pictures 15 and 16). The preschool had wardrobes, carpet, tables and chairs, toy boxes, board, TV, digital device, vacuum cleaner, etc. The classroom and playroom were quite light. The preschool children were provided with cold meal once a day.

Picture 15. Beginning of year, Voskehat, group Picture 16. Beginning of year, Voskehat, room cabinet According to the head teacher, the preschool was created with the purpose of bringing up the children to the level allowing them to avoid difficulties of the first grade and be ready for school. Moreover, there was a demand for a preschool as children of different ages were in one group of the community’s kindergarten.

According to the head teacher, the parents were very happy about the creation of the preschool, as a child did not stay at home, was occupied, learned to speak competently and behave properly, communicated with the peers, and eventually became ready for school.

The strength of the preschool, according to the head teacher, was having children that were ready for school, and the weakness – absence of free meals (The parents said that a bun would be sufficient, however the head teacher intends to provide a hot meal. They should have joined the UN “Hot meal” Program, the community head had already bought all the necessary items, and they were ready for the program, however the latter was postponed).

The preschool’s building conditions were satisfactory; the parents only expressed a wish to regulate the issue of hot meal provision.

During the in-depth interview, the tutors mentioned that the working conditions were satisfactory, however the working time was insufficient (there were 32 children in the group, and it was difficult for the tutor to organize the educational part and regulate hygiene issues (the comment was taken out from the class observation)).

The work centers have not been separated yet in the group room, however the supplies for all centers were available. Only the supplies for the cooking and natural science centers were missing in the preschool. The preschool used the school’s open playground only for walking.

Head teacher and a tutor were working at the preschool. The tutor previously worked in kindergarten as a tutoress and then at the Echmiadzin municipality as a psychologist. The tutor was trained and mastered the provisions of the pre-school curriculum. Head teacher previously worked as a researcher, then at school as an organizer, and then – as a director.

The training was very interesting. the tutor mentioned that although she had basic knowledge, however during the training they performed group work which made the knowledge obtained more expressive. The tutor only argued that she was unable to work alone in a group of 32 and to meet the hygiene and other needs of the children; child-centered education could only be realized if there were an assistant or fewer children.

The tutor used an integrated principle of practice, trying to reinforce the same topic in different subjects. The class activities were conducted through games and group work. She was focusing on the child’s educational/tutorialand emotional spheres, conducted a group assessment, planned the classes on a weekly basis (taken out from anin-depth interview with the tutor).

The tutor claimed that the strongest children could even go to the first grade, and that the weak children did not even know the basic forms of intercommunication. According to the tutor, the children’s abilities were differing by gender; the girls were more active.

Parents often visited the preschool to get information on the children’s progress, problems and the preschool’s everyday life.

According to the head teacher, the socio-economic situation of the community’s families was in general satisfactory. According to the tutor, there were many parents in the community that did not have a professional education.

Head teacher claimed that the socio-economic situation has an impact on the children’s development, however they were doing to minimize that influence. Also the tutor mentioned about the direct influence and, in addition to the head teacher’s opinion, she stated that there were children who spoke to other children with screaming and did not know the rules of communication.

During the focus group discussion with the parents it turned out that the families of the participants were composed of 4-11 members, and no family was enrolled in the list of people getting social benefit. In general, fathers were working, and mothers were caring for the family except for two cases; in one case the mother was a student, and in the other case the mother was in maternity leave. In one of the families, mother was working as well. In one family grandfather was engaged in the land cultivation activity. The main purpose of the children to attend the preschool was becoming educated and ready for school. Parents were content with educators, child’s discipline, knowledge, security, and other issues.

The children of the given families were mostly cleaning up after themselves at home and helping with the simple housework. One of the parents who attended the focus group mentioned that the child was also doing shopping without assistance, and the other parent said that the child did not have responsibilities at home. In the majority of cases, children were self-sufficient only in nutrition, dressing and washing issues, however in bathing and hair brushing issues the mother was obliged to help the child. An interview with a parent of a socially vulnerable family made it clear that in general the mother did not give the child independence in domestic issues, even in relation to food and clothing.

Mainly mothers were responsible for children's care, and sometimes fathers and grandmothers helped them. Parents were equally engaged in the issues of the children upbringing. In the absence of mothers, the grandmothers were mainly taking care of the children; in one case – the father and in the other case – the brother-in-law's wife were taking care of the children, however the parents' absences were not of frequent nature. The main reasons of absences were the work, meetings, events, etc. The child's daily life was planned by mothers, taking into account the child's wishes if possible.

Parents generally found that their decisions and requirements should have been explained to the child. From an interview with a parent of a socially vulnerable family, it became clear that the mother was trying to make explanations in words; however there were moments when her psycho-emotional state did not allow her to explain everything. An interview with a parent of a child with special needs made it clear that as the child had speech disorders, the mother was by all means explaining everything in words.

A child may be punished for lying, spending long time on computer, bringing home “bad words” from the street, etc. The punishment was mainly in the form of talking/explanation, putting in a corner or forbidding the child’s favorite occupation. There were also parents who punished the child through threatening, for example, not to take the child to painting classes or telling the father about the child's fault; in one of the cases there was a "cry room" in the house where the child was staying alone and crying until calming down

The majority of the children of the parents participating in the discussion attended a kindergarten; however the kindergarten's two groups were mixed and envisaged for children aged 2.5-5, and the teachers were unable to work on a common theme because of having groups of different ages. In the kindergarten, children learned to interact, sing, recite rhymes, tell tales, adapt to order, acquire autonomy. That is the reason why the children who attended the kindergarten were admitted to the preschool (an announcement about the opening of the preschool was posted on the kindergarten's door). From an interview with a parent of a socially vulnerable child, it became clear that the mother stopped sending the child to the kindergarten firstly because of the fee and then because of the distance. From an interview with a parent of a child with special needs it became clear that as the kindergarten's group was a mixed age group, and since the child had speech disorders, it was more appropriate to take the child to the

preschool with one age group where the child will be able to communicate with the children of the same age and develop the speech.

In parents' opinion, the family (parent's influence) and social-economic factors have a great effect on the child's development.

The parents participating in the discussion expressed an intention to organize provision of a hot meal, in which case two of the parents would be able to come daily to the preschool and look after the children during the mealtime. In general, the parents were very satisfied with the preschool's activity and the opportunity that the child will be prepared for school. During the in- depth interview, a parent of a child from the socially vulnerable family expressed a wish for having at the preschool a sports group and literature circle (how to communicate with a child from the 21 century).

Only the community made an investment in the form of money contribution for operating the preschool. During the in-depth interview, a parent of a child from the socially vulnerable family mentioned that they sent pencils and a sketchbook with the child; however the tutor said that the preschool will provide necessary stationery to the children and the parents should not worry about that.

After the focus group discussion it became clear that the children wished themselves that the parents provide them with new knowledge.

With regard to the continuity of the program, the director did not see any danger, as there was a demand for the preschool.

End of year visit can be described as follows:

The building’s condition is satisfactory; however the tutor mentioned that they have a humidity problem which may result in repairs in the near future. It was also noted that in the water closet the hygienic papers are installed above the children's accessibility (see Picture 17). Parents mentioned that sometimes a water supply problem arises, and as far as there is no section for cups, the children bring small bottles for water with them.

Of the work centers a cooking corner was not created, and the open play ground was not furnished with the needed equipment. The tutor and head teacher mentioned that in the work

centers there is a need in completing the supplies. In the group room the number of handmade decorations was increased (see Picture 18).

The head teacher mentioned that the tutor expressed a desire to have an assistant (the same issue was raised by the parents as well during the focus group discussion), as it was difficult to work with 32 children and to solve their problems as regards the water closet. However this problem has not received yet a solution as it was not envisaged by the program. Now they expect that they will be provided at least with a tutor for a group with 30 and more children. Moreover they had a problem with the tutor’s salary as they did not receive any help from the community. An assistance was provided by the parents on their own initiative (the monthly fee comprised 3000 AMD, and the payments for food are made each week depending on what the child will eat), and due to these amounts the stationery has been refreshed during the year. Concerning the food, the head teacher said that in the coming year they will transfer to the “Hot Meal” program and the children will be provided with hot meal.

Head teacher mentioned that the tutor is substituted by substitute tutor if needed (the tutor was absent for a valid reason and replaced by a substitute tutor). During the discussion the parents mentioned that in May the tutor was ill with pneumonia and had high temperature, however she came to the preschool for the classes as nobody was substituting for her.

The tutor mentioned that at the beginning of the year the children were disorganized, however at the year end their behavior improved and the level of knowledge rose; they became literate, know the numbers, and their growth is obvious. Parents noted that the children know the letters know the vowels and consonants, they add and subtract numbers, and sometimes they even correct their parent when the latter uses a dialectical or inferior language.

A parent of a child with special needs mentioned that no special means are applied in the preschool for the child's special needs (for example, a logopedist does not work with a child with speech disorder, as it has been made in other schools), and only the tutor works with the child. The parent has been satisfied with the tutor’s attitude towards the child.

A parent of a child from socially vulnerable family mentioned that her elder child who had attended a kindergarten did not have so much knowledge, and that the preschool provided a higher level of knowledge and development to her second child.

At the beginning of the year the tutor applied a thematic approach to teaching, however at the year-end it was mentioned during the interview that a child-centered approach was applied.

Picture 17. End of year, Voskehat, water closet Picture 18. End of year, Voskehat, group room,

Parents during the focus group discussion mentioned that there are families living far away from the preschool (about half an hour on foot). Reaching the preschool is difficult in winter, however in the most cases they agree with the parents having a vehicle and come to the preschool with them.

In Voskehat preschool the classes observation shows a picture above average, with only a relatively low representation of Objective criterion/50.00%/. The Questions criterion has maximum representation /100.00%/ which is an important factor concerning the child’s development in different areas. In the overall picture of the criteria, the criteria Time and Objective have a relatively low expression (75.00%). The remaining criteria are in the range of 68.75% -92.86%.

Figure 7: Analysis of class observation results in Voskehat preschool

100,00 92,86 87,50 89,29 80,00 83,33 81,47 68,75 50,00 5. Time 2. Methods 7. Children 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills participation environment 6. Developing TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities

Figure 8: Analysis of childrentesting and retesting results in Voskehat

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 100,00 100,00 95,45 90,91 90,91 90,91 90,91 86,36 81,82 81,82 81,82 81,82 81,82 77,27 75,00 72,73 72,73 68,18 68,18 63,64 63,64 59,09 54,55 54,55 54,55 54,55 54,55 54,55 54,55 45,45 45,45 45,45 45,45 45,45 43,18 40,91 36,36 36,36 31,82 29,55 27,27 18,18 18,18 11,36 9,09 9,09 9,09 2,27 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction

11.Recognition of similarities-differences

When looking at the testing and retesting results of Voskehat preschool (Figure 8), we see that a significant increase has been observed in (2) spatial perception/0.00%54.55%/ and (6) math knowledge /45.45%90.91%/ indicators of the general math knowledge subfield, and (4) forming stereotypes indicator /40.91%77.27%/ of the logic and thinking subfield. The indicator of (7) response to multistep instructions /90.91%/ of oral speech perception subfield and (5) basic math notions indicator /100.00%/ of general math knowledge subfield remained the same.

The retesting results of children in control group in Voskehat community mostly exceeds the testing results in (1) printed text indicator /45.45%68.18%/of early reading subfield. The testing result was lower than the retesting result in (3) number recognition indicator /18.18%/ of the general math knowledge subfield, (11) recognition of similarities–differences /4.54%/and (13) sensual-motional skills /6.82%/ indicators of logic and thinking subfield.

When looking at the (Figure 8), we see that the testing results of children in Voskehat community attending preschool exceed the testing results of children in control group, except for the (2) spatial perception indicator /9.09%/ of the general math knowledge subfield. The testing results of children attending preschool institutions are mostly exceeding the same results of children not attending preschool institutions in (7) response to multistep instructions indicator /36.36%/of oral speech perception subfield and (5) basic math notions indicator /27.27%/ of general math knowledge subfield. No differences have been observed in (8) letter recognition indicator /0.00%/of early reading subfield.

Comparing the retesting results of children from target and control groups, we see that the performance of the target group regarding all the indicators is higher than that of the control group. Difference has been mainly observed in the following indicators: (3) number recognition indicator /45.46%/of general math knowledge subfield, (4) forming stereotypes/40.91%/ of logic and thinking subfield, and (2) spatial perception/36.37%/ and (6) math knowledge /36.36%/ indicators of general math knowledge subfield.

Figure 9: Comparison of children results in Voskehat by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 90,91 90,91 79,55 77,27 72,50 64,77 63,64 55,91 54,55 54,55 54,55 52,27 52,27 50,00 48,64 45,45 45,45 45,08 43,18 42,05 41,97 38,64 27,27 22,73

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception reading drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

The testing and retesting results of children attending preschool in Voskehat community (Figure 9) show that there is a considerable increase in (2) logic and thinking subfield /54.55%79.55%/.

When looking at testing and retesting results of children of the control group (Figure 9), we can see that there is no substantial increase, but the change is positive, except for the (3) oral speech perception subfield which remained unchanged /90.91%/.

According to Figure 9, the testing results of children attending preschool exceed the results of children not attending preschool in all the subfields. The maximum difference is recorded in (3) oral speech perception/36.36%/ subfield.

Comparing the retesting results of children enrolled and not enrolled in preschool, it is obvious that the enrolled children have higher results than the control group children. Changes have mainly been observed in (2) Logic and thinking/34.1%/,(3) oral speech perception/27.27%/, andgeneral math knowledge/25.00%/subfields.

5.1.4. Generalized analysis

Generally, the program was quite successfully implemented in the three preschools of Armavir region. Efficiency increase of total micro project was observed in all three preschools.

Analysis of class observations in the preschools presents that all the criteria are above 72.22%. The Questions criterion has the highest performance /100%/.

Figure 10: Generalized analysis of class observation resultsin preschools ofArmavir region

100,00 96,43 95,83 94,05 87,63 83,33 80,00 79,17 72,22 5. Time 2. Methods 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities 7. Children participation 6. Developing environment

Figure 11:Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Armavir region

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 98,48 96,97 96,67 91,82 90,61 89,09 87,58 84,85 84,85 84,55 84,24 82,42 80,91 80,00 75,45 68,79 68,79 67,58 66,97 65,45 65,45 65,30 63,33 59,70 56,06 52,73 45,45 42,88 42,88 42,27 39,09 38,56 35,45 35,15 32,48 31,06 30,91 30,91 30,91 22,12 19,24 18,48 12,42 7,73 6,36 6,06 3,03 0,76 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction 11.Recognition of similarities-differences

Analysis of testing and retesting results of preschool children in Armavir region (Figure 11) shows that the testing results exceed the results of retesting regarding all the indicators. Maximum increase was recorded in (4) Forming stereotypesindicator /39.09%84.55%/of logic and thinking subfield and (6) math knowledge indicator /42.88%80.00%/ of general math knowledge subfield.

The testing results of children not attending preschool are mostly exceeding the retesting results, except for (13) sensual-motional skills indicator /80.91%75.45%/ of writing and drawing skills subfield. Mostly increased the following indicators: (1) printed text indicator /45.45%66.97%/ of the early reading subfield, (5) basic math notions indicator /68.79%87.58%/ of general math knowledgesubfield and (11) recognition of similarities–differences /35.45%56.06%/indicator of logic and thinking subfield.

Figure 11 shows that the testing results of children attending preschools in Armavir region regarding almost all the indicators exceed the testing results of children not attending preschools, except for the (2) spatial perception indicator /3.03%/ of the general math knowledge subfield. There is no difference regarding the (8) letter recognition indicator /0.00%/of early reading subfield, as in both cases the indicator is 0.00%. The testing results of the children attending preschool mostly exceed the testing results of the children not attending preschool regarding the following indicators: (5) basic math notions /29.69%/ and (3) number recognition /28.79%/indicators of general math knowledge subfield, and (11) recognition of similarities–differences indicator /30%/ of logic and thinking subfield.

Comparison of retesting results of children attending and not attending preschool shows that children attending preschool have higher results than children not attending preschool as regards all the indicators. Differences are mostly recorded regarding the following indicators: (3) number recognition indicator /49.7%/ of general math knowledge subfield, (4) forming stereotypes indicator /42.28%/of logic and thinking subfield, (6) math knowledge /37.12%/ and (10) time reading /32.42%/indicators of general math knowledge subfield, and (11) recognition of similarities–differences indicator /33.03%/ of logic and thinking subfield.

Figure 12:Comparison of children testing results in Armavir region by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 90,61 86,82 76,01 72,73 67,58 65,45 57,95 52,96 52,73 52,27 52,27 50,91 49,17 49,09 48,96 48,34 41,59 40,83 38,09 37,53 36,52 33,26 32,65 22,73

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early reading 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

Based on Figure 12, the preschool program have had an efficient progress in Armavir region, as there is a positive dynamics in the development level of children enrolled in the program.

5.2. Tavush region

Three preschools were chosen in the region, and all of them were established on the basis of school.Because of small number of children in the three preschools provided by sampling, Dovegh, Voskepar, and Nerkin Tsaghkavan, in Tavush region, additional visits were made to the other three preschools of the same region as well (Aknaghbyur for Dovegh, Yenokavan for Voskepar, and Vazashen for Nerkin Tsaghkavan), to maintain the sampling number provided by the methodology and to ensure the representativeness of the sampling parameters.

5.2.1. RA Tavush region Dovegh secondary school SNCO

The preschool was established on the school basis and has one group of children. According to the budget foreseen by the micro project for one group, the community preschool is classified in the region as one having “large” resources (financial criteria for community classification of the region included in the sample).

During our visits the preschool was working according to the following model:

 5 days in a week,  part-time working regime - 09:00-12:40,  one tutor was working in the preschool during the visit,  the tutor was trained,  children were having one cold meal a day,  the preschool was heated through electric heaters;  the preschool did not have sleeping facilities. General description of the preschool conditions is as follows:

 The preschool has been provided with a group room, wardrobe, and water-closet (the toilet bowls were located in separate cameras).

 Group room, wardrobe and water-closets were in correspondence with the established requirements of renovation, security, children size, accessibility and cleanliness (as no tutor assistant was envisaged in the preschool within the Program framework, the tutor during the classes was not able to keep track of the hygiene of children after using the toilet) (see Pictures 19 and 20).

 The preschool was provided with permanent cold water.  The preschool was heated through electric heaters and at the time of our visit it was cold in the wardrobe and water closet; it was relatively warmer in the group room.

Picture 19. Beginning of the year: Dovegh, Picture 20. Beginning of the year, Dovegh, water-closet group room Conditions of the group room and working centers were mainly satisfying the defined norms, while from the point of diversity of materials they were not rich (See Pictures 21 and 22). The

preschool had wardrobes, carpet, tables and chairs, boxes for toys, blackboards TVset, DVD player, vacuum cleaner, electric heaters, etc. The group room and wardrobe were light enough. The children were provided with cold meal once a day.

Picture 21. Beginning of the year: Dovegh, Picture 22. Beginning of the year: Dovegh, wardrobes cabinet

According to the head teacher the main purpose of the program was involving the children of preschool ageand preparing them for school. Head teacher said that creation of a preschool would provide the children an opportunity to communicate with each other, as there was no kindergarten in the community, and there was a need for the children’s socialization.

The strength of the preschool, according to the head teacher, was having children that were ready for school, the community’s need for a preschool, availability of an education program, and availability of trained tutors, and the weakness –insufficiency of the conditions.

The preschool’s building conditions were satisfactory, except for the heating issue; the preschool was heated by using electricity. During an in-depth interview the tutor mentioned that it was a little cold in the preschool, and as far as the school was located far from the village, it was difficult for the parents to bring the children to the preschool. During the focus group discussion the parents mentioned that they were very satisfied with the general conditions of the preschool, however it was a little cold, and there were few toys in the preschool. During the interviews the parents, head teacher and tutors mentioned that the main problem was the long distance from the village and absence of transportation means.

Head teacher mentioned that a solution should be found for the food problem; they had a dining area, which should be slightly improved and adjusted to the children’s size.

The work centers have not been separated yet in the group room, however the supplies for all centers were available. The literacy and art centers were well equipped. There were insufficient didactic materials regarding the other centers; the tutor mentioned during the in-depth interview that all the centers could be completed with necessary supplies.

Head teacher and a tutor were working at the preschool. The tutor previously worked in the community’s kindergarten. The tutor was trained and mastered the provisions of the pre-school curriculum. Head teacher previously worked as a school principal, and then as a director.

The training was very interesting. The tutor mentioned that the training was well organized; she received necessary literature and new knowledge. She would like to have more practice and more handicraft training.

According to the tutor, they could apply the knowledge received to a minimum extent, as the corresponding conditions were missing in the village.

The tutor had a summary plan, but she did not count the time factor. The lessons were conducted with demonstrations and didactic materials, however during the lessons a group work and knowledge acquisition through cooperation were not applied. The tutor applied an individual approach towards the children, she used the child development dynamics monitoring and evaluation leaflets. No differences were made among the children regarding gender issues.

The tutor applied a child-centered approach during the lessons, as this created cooperation atmosphere, and she worked individually with each child. The classes were conducted through games. The tutor was focusing on self-service, cognitive and linguistic spheres, she used individual assessment, and prepared instruction plans on a monthly basis.

The tutor mentioned that the strongest child distinguished numbers, colors, geometric imagery, was able to clearly express ideas. A weak child did not know the colors, did not distinguish left from right, and could not express ideas; and children with average abilities knew all these things. According to the tutor the children’s abilities did not differ depending on gender.

Parents provided assistance during meals. What concerns their participation in the education process, they were almost not involved. They often came to the preschool to get information about the child’s progress and problems, as well as on the preschool’s everyday life.

The community’s inhabitants were mainly engaged in agriculture, but as most of the land plots were borderline, the residents could not fully cultivate them, andthere was no job in the community. The tutor mentioned that there were in general no conditions for the children in the community; children learn through seeing, however there has been nothing to see in the community.

According to the head teacher, the social economic situation of the families in the community was in general insufficient. The tutor said that many parents in the community did not have vocational education.

Head teacher found that the social economic situation in the community did not affect significantly the children’s development, as the education activities were realized according to the curriculum. The tutor mentioned that socio-economic conditions had a direct impact on the children’s development.

During the focus group discussions held with parents it turned out that the families of participants were composed of 5-9 members, three of the six families were enrolled in the list of people getting social benefit. In general, fathers were working, and mothers were caring for the family. In one of the families, only the wife of the beneficiary child’s uncle was working. Four families were engaged in agriculture, they had animals, were cultivating land. The children helped their parents in all these works. Themain purpose of children attending the preschool was being educated. The parents sent their children to the preschool taking into account the preschool conditions: tutor’s attitude, heating, cleanliness, building conditions; they were satisfied with the tutors in terms of the child’s discipline, knowledge received, security and other issues.

The children of these families were mainly involved in simple housework: feeding chickens, giving them hens (socially vulnerable child), cleaning up after themselves.In the majority of

cases, children were self-sufficient only in nutrition, dressing, and washing issues, however the mother was obliged to help the child when bathing and using the toilet.

Mainly mothers were responsible for taking care of the children, and sometimes fathers and grandmothers helped them. In the absence of mothers, the grandmothers, father, elder sister or brother were mainly taking care of the children, however the parents' absences were not of frequent nature: school or shop visits, digging (from an in-depth interview with a parent of socially vulnerable family). The child's daily life was planned by mothers, taking into account the child's wishes if possible.

Parents generally found that their decisions and requirements should have been explained to the child. A child may be punished for lying, spending long time on computer, disobeying the adults, etc. The punishment was mainly in the form of forbidding the child’s favorite occupation, however the parents often explained the children their faults There were also parents who punished the child through threatening that they would tell the father about the child's fault, as the child was afraid of father.

The majority of the children of the parents participating in the discussion did not attend a kindergarten because of its absence in the community.

According to the parents, the child’s development was greatly affected by the other parents and children as well as learning conditions. The participating parents expressed a wish that their children become literate, the food problem is solved (provided twice a day), the children have an extended day.

In general, the parents were very satisfied with the preschool's activity and the opportunity that the child will be prepared for school.

The focus group discussion revealed that when teaching something to their children, the parents made use of games and songs. In both cases the children themselves aimed at getting new knowledge from the parents.

No parent and community contributions were made for launching this preschool. The parents were collecting 80 AMD daily for provision of a cold meal.

According to the head teacher there was an issue of continuity of the preschool depending on the number of children aged 5 or 6. Thus, the head teacher intended to involve children of lower age group as well and open a second group in the preschool.

End of year visit can be described as follows:

The building’s conditions are well-appointed and beautiful. During the focus group discussion the parents mentioned that they would like that the court be improved and swings be installed.

The number of handmade decorations and posters increased in work centers (see Picture 23). The tutor and head teacher mentioned that there is a need for replenishment of supplies and materials. A parent of socially vulnerable family noted that the toys are insufficient as they are being broken by the children.

The parents expressed a wish that dance and sing groups be opened at the preschool.

Picture 23. End of year, Dovegh, group room, hand made supplies During the interview, a parent of a socially vulnerable family mentioned that her child freely communicates with the peers at the preschool and is ready for school. Other parents said that their children became more independent, and their logical reasoning was improved. The tutor mentioned that at the beginning of the year there were children that could not recognize the colors, count until ten, and at the year-end they were able to recognize the colors, count backward from ten to one, played roles during the preschool events, and learned how to behave properly. Regarding gender differences, girls were more active, and the family influence in this is great.

During an interview the head teacher mentioned concerning construction work that it would be desirable that there be an organization which would organize all the work and tenders and be

accountable to the PIU, as the head teacher cannot know all the details concerning the construction and coordinate properly the work to be performed. Head teacher also mentioned about involving lower age children, as this would facilitate the mothers’ responsibilities and allow them to implement agricultural work.

The head teacher said that the preschool is solving socialization issue, children are becoming educated, and the parents are getting free time.

The community’s socio-economic situation is not good, according to the tutor, there are no other opportunities for children besides the preschool for playing, occupying themselves, no events are organized, and this affects the children’s development. The distance from village is also creating a problem (40 minutes) which is worsening in winters.

The data presented in Figure 13 attest that the program in Dovegh preschool is implemented successfully. Objective and Questions criteria have maximum representation /100.00%/, the next criteria is Methods /96.43%/ which ensure the correctness of the lesson orientation, selection of targeted methods and the consolidation through questions; the other criteria are in the range above average /81.25% - 96.43%/.

Figure13: Analysis of class observation results in Dovegh preschool

100,00 96,43 100,00 87,50 89,29 89,72 81,25 80,00 83,33 5. Time 2. Methods 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities 7. Children participation 6. Developing environment

Figure 14:Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Dovegh

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 100,00 100,00 91,67 91,67 85,42 83,33 83,33 79,17 79,17 75,00 75,00 75,00 75,00 70,83 66,67 66,67 58,33 56,25 54,17 54,17 54,17 50,00 41,67 41,67 41,67 37,50 37,50 33,33 33,33 33,33 31,25 29,17 29,17 25,00 25,00 25,00 25,00 25,00 22,92 8,33 8,33 8,33 4,17 2,08 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction

11.Recognition of similarities-differences

When looking at the testing and retesting results of the preschool children in Dovegh community in Figure 14, we can see that a significant increase has been observed in the (3) number recognition /25.00%66.67%/ and (6) Math knowledge/22.92%56.25%/ indicators of general math knowledge subfield, (7) response to multistep instructions /75.00%100.00%/ of oral speech perception subfield, and (8) letter recognition indicator /0.00%25.00%/ of early reading subfield.

According to the analysis of testing and retesting results of children not attending preschool, there is no difference for part of them, for example, (4) forming stereotypes indicator /25.00%/of logic and thinking subfield, (8) letter recognition indicator /0.00%/ of early readingsubfield, (9) recognition of left-right indicator /83.33%/ of general math knowledge subfield, (12) basic writing skills/0.00%/ and (13) ) sensual motional skills/75%/ indicators of writing and drawing skills subfield. There was a decrease in (1) printed text indicator /41.67%37.50%/ of early reading subfield and (5) basic math notions indicator /79.17%70.83%/ of general math knowledge subfield.

Based on the Figure 14, the testing results of children attending preschool mostly exceed the testing results of children not attending preschool. An adverse result was recorded only regarding (6) Math knowledge/22.92%29.17%/ indicator of general math knowledge subfield, and equal results – regarding (3) number recognition indicator/25.00%/ of general math knowledge subfield and (8) letter recognition indicator /0.00%/ of early reading subfield.

Comparing the retesting results of children from target and control groups, we see that at the year end the performance of the target group regarding all the indicators is higher than that of the control group. Difference has been mainly observed in the following indicators: (1) printed text indicator /37.5%/ of early reading subfield, (3) number recognition /26.66%/ and (5) basic math notions /29.17%/indicatorsof general math knowledge subfield (4) forming stereotypes/25.00%/ of logic and thinking subfield, (7) response to multistep instructions indicator /33.33%/ oforal speech perception subfield, and (8) letter recognition indicator /25.00%/ of early reading subfield.

Figure 15: Comparison of children testing results in Dovegh by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 75,00 66,67 62,15 61,81 58,33 52,08 50,00 45,97 45,49 44,79 42,01 41,67 40,63 39,65 37,50 37,50 37,50 37,08 33,33 31,25 27,08 20,83 18,75

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early reading 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

When looking at the testing and retesting results of children attending the preschool in Dovegh community (Figure 15), we can see that a significant increase has been observed in (3) number recognition indicator /75.00%100.00%/ of general math knowledge subfield.

In Figure 15 we can see that the recorded increase in testing and retesting results of control group was not significant, and a decrease was recorded only regarding (4) early reading subfield /20.83%18.75%/.

Looking at Figure 15, we can see that testing results of children attending preschool exceed testing results of children not attending preschool institutions for all subfields. Target group results mostly exceeded control group results regarding (3) oral speech perception subfield /16.67%/.

Comparing the retesting results of children attending and not attending preschool, we can see that the results of the children attending preschool are higher than the result of the children not attending preschool. The greatest difference was recorded for (3) oral speech perception subfield /33.33%/.

5.2.2. RA Tavush region Voskepar secondary school SNCO after H. Barseghyan

During our visits the preschool was working according to the following model:

 5 days in a week,  part-time working regime - 09:00-14:00,  one tutor was working in the preschool during the visits,  the tutor was trained,  children were having cold and hot mealstwice a day,  the preschool was heated through electric heaters;  the preschool did not have sleeping facilities. General description of the preschool conditions is as follows:

 The preschool has been provided with a group room, wardrobe - play room, and water-closet (the toilet bowls were not located in separate cameras, they were separated by partitions only).

 Group room, wardrobe – play room and water-closets were in correspondence with the established requirements of renovation, security, children size, accessibility and cleanliness (as no tutor assistant was envisaged in the preschool within the Program framework, the tutor during the classes was not able to keep track of the hygiene of children after using the toilet) (see Pictures 24 and 25).

 The preschool was provided with permanent cold water.  The preschool was heated through electric heaters and at the time of our visit it was pretty cold; there was a wood oven in the kitchen.

Picture 24. Beginning of the year: Picture 25. Beginning of the year, Voskepar, group room Voskepar, water-closet

Conditions of the group room, play room, and working centers were satisfying the defined norms, while from the point of diversity of materials they were not rich (See Pictures 26 and 27). The preschool had wardrobes, carpet, tables and chairs, boxes for toys, blackboard, TV set, DVD player, vacuum cleaner, electric heaters, etc. The group room and wardrobe were light enough. The children were provided with hot meal twice a day. The preschool had a kitchen as well, and it used the open play ground of the school.

Picture 26. Beginning of the year: Voskepar, play Picture 27. Beginning of the year: Voskepar, room cabinet

According to the head teacher the main purpose of the program was preparing the children for school. Head teacher said that creation of a preschool would provide the children with communication and development opportunities.

The strength of the preschool, according to the head teacher, was the availability of trained tutor, and no weakness was mentioned by head teacher.

The preschool’s building conditions were satisfactory, except for the heating issue; the preschool was heated by using electricity. During an in-depth interview the tutor mentioned that it was a little cold in the preschool, however the other conditions were satisfactory. During the focus group discussion the parents mentioned that they were very satisfied with the general conditions of the preschool,

The work centers have not been separated yet in the group room. The instruction materials, didactic supplies and toys were insufficient in the preschool. there weresome supplies and equipment for sports, arts and mathematics centers. Didactic materials for other centers were insufficient, and the tutor mentioned during an in-depth interview that the supplies for all centers need to be replenished. Parents mentioned during focus group discussion that toys were not enough.

Head teacher and a tutor were working at the preschool. The tutor did not work previously, she was trained and mastered the provisions of the pre-school curriculum. Head teacher previously worked as a school teacher, and then - as a director.

The training was very interesting. the tutor mentioned that the training was well organized, she received new knowledge concerning work centers and different teaching technics and games. She would like to have a longer training.

The tutor did not have a summary plan, she did not count the time factor, was not skilled in applying teaching methods, and did not state questions adapted to the children’s level. The lessons were conducted without visuals and didactic materials, as there were few supplies in the preschool, and during the lessons a group work and knowledge acquisition through cooperation were not applied. The tutor applied an individual approach towards the children, she provided necessary assistance, demonstrated mobility in the classroom, and did notuse the child

development dynamics monitoring and evaluation leaflets. No differences were made among the children regarding gender issues.

During interview the tutor mentioned that she conducted classes using an integrated approach as she worked individually with the children. The classes were conducted through games. The tutor was focusing on the linguistic sphere; she used individual assessment, and worked without preparing an instruction plan.

The tutor mentioned that the strongest child was very receptive and did not have speech disorders. The weak child could not express ideas; and the children with average abilities although had the needed knowledge, however they got confused very quickly. According to the tutor, the children’s abilities did not differ depending on gender.

Parents did not participate much in the preschool’s life, but they every day got information about the child’s progress and problems, as well as on the preschool’s everyday life.

The community’s inhabitants were mainly engaged in agriculture, but as most of the land plots were borderline, the residents could not fully cultivate them. The tutor mentioned that there were in general no conditions for the children, and no jobs in the community.

According to the head teacher, the social economic situations of the families in the community were not identical, and according to the tutor,all the families were in general needy.

Head teacher found that the social economic situation in the community directly affected the children’s development;the parents were unable to create proper conditions for their children and pay proper attention to their education. The tutor said that socio-economic conditions could have an impact on the children’s development; however she also mentioned that the parents tried to keep the children away as far as possible from the problems.

During the focus group discussions held with parents it turned out that the families of the participants were composed of 4-6 members, and two of the three families were enrolled in the list of people getting social benefit. Of the three families only one family had a working person. All families were engaged in agriculture, they had animals, were cultivating land. The children helped their parents to the possible extent in all these works. The main purpose of children attending the preschool was being ready for school. The parents sent their children to the

preschool in order that they can communicate with other children, become educated and disciplined. The parents were satisfied with the tutor.

The children of these families were mainly involved in simple housework: shopping, cleaning up after themselves, chopping wood; a parent of socially vulnerable family mentioned that her child did not have responsibilities at home because of being very young. In the majority of cases, children were self-sufficient only in nutrition, dressing, and washing issues, however the mother was obliged to help the child when bathing and using the toilet.

Mainly mothers were responsible for taking care of the children, and sometimes fathers and grandmothers helped them. In the absence of mothers, the grandmothers, father,grandfathers were mainly taking care of the children, however the parents' absences were not of frequent nature: visits to school, shop, hospital. The child's daily life was planned by mothers, taking into account the child's wishes if possible.

Parents generally found that their decisions and requirements should have been explained to the child. A child may be punished for lying, arguing with sisters-brothers, being naughty, etc. The punishment was mainly in the form of forbidding the child’s favorite occupation, putting in a corner, etc. There were also parents who punished the child by beating.

The majority of the preschool children did not attend a kindergarten because of its absence in the community.

According to the parents, the child’s development was greatly affected by the socio-economic conditions, parents and children as well as learning conditions.

In general, the parents were very satisfied with the preschool's activity and the opportunity that the child would be prepared for school.

When teaching something to their children, the parents made use of games and songs. In both cases the children themselves aimed at getting new knowledge from the parents.

No parent and community contributions were made for launching this preschool. According to the head teacher,the parents were paying2000 AMD monthly for food.

End of year visit can be described as follows:

During the year-end visit the tutor mentioned that, regarding the building’s conditions,there was no physical activity corner; this issue was raised by the tutor, however it could not be solved because of insufficient funds.

At the year-end the issue of work centers remained unsolved (see pictures 28 and 29). The tutor mentioned that the work cannot be carried by centers, as the corresponding materials are missing in the centers. The head teacher insisted that it was impossible to provide for everything within the program framework, and that they did everything possible. During the in-depth interview a parent of socially vulnerable family mentioned that there were few toys in the preschool. During the focus group discussion the parents mentioned that they see themselves that the toys and materials are insufficient, however, as one of them said, “half a loaf is better than no bread”, and the other parents agreed insisting that the tutor was very energetic and did everything to cover the lack. The parents mentioned that they would like to have certain circles at the preschool.

Working with young children is difficult (20 kids of which 4 kids are of the age 5-6); during the interview the tutor mentioned that “The corresponding materials are missing, that is why I work without using the centers, as it becomes convenient on that day; the younger children hinder much as they are not interested in the older children’s activities. I work with younger kids in a simple way; when making applications, I provide them with ready patterns, however they are unable to stick them without help. They hinder wishing to help the older children, as they tear and spoil the materials.

The tutor prepared different teaching plans taking into account the children’s preferences.

Picture 28. End of the year: Voskepar, group Picture 29 End of the year: Voskepar, group room, handmade supplies room, technical center

The tutor mentioned that at the beginning of the year there were very simple things that the children could not implement, and by the end of the year they made some progress. There were very "closed" children, but the tutor tried to motivate them and disclose their abilities in any way. The children can recite, dance well, differentiate the geometric shapes, count, add and subtract. Parents have pointed out during the focus group discussion that their children have learned a lot, and organized a great year-end event.

The parents claimed that their elder children had difficulties in attending school when they were in the same age, and these young children have been much attached to the school and know everything about the school life. A parent of socially vulnerable family mentioned that sending the child to the preschool provided her with much more free time to dedicate it to her other children.

According to the head teacher, only the transportation issue creates difficulties; however the villagers help each other and take with their children the other ones as well to the preschool.

The classes observation data in Voskepar preschool is presented in Figure 16. Here the Questions criteria has maximum representation /100.00%/, and the Objective criteria has lower representation /50.00%/. This means that the objective and importance of each lesson in the overall picture has not been clearly defined. However the overall picture is above average.

Figure16: Analysis of class observation results in Voskepar preschool

100,00 89,29 75,00 80,00 79,17 74,92 68,75 57,14 50,00 5. Time 2. Methods 7. Children 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills participation environment 6. Developing TOTAL AVERAGE

3. Teaching activities

Figure17:Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Voskepar

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 94,44 94,44 94,44 94,44 94,44 88,89 88,89 88,89 88,89 88,89 77,78 77,78 77,78 77,78 77,78 72,22 72,22 72,22 66,67 61,11 61,11 61,11 55,56 55,56 50,00 50,00 44,44 44,44 44,44 41,67 41,67 33,33 33,33 33,33 33,33 22,22 22,22 11,11 11,11 11,11 11,11 11,11 11,11 5,56 2,78 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction

11.Recognition of similarities-differences

When looking at the testing and retesting results of the preschool children in Voskepar community in Figure 17, we can see that a significant increase has been observed in the (6) Math knowledge/41.67%77.78%/indicator of general math knowledge subfield and (11) recognition of similarities–differences /61.11%94.44%/ indicator of logic and thinking subfield. No differences are recorded in (2) spatial perception indicator /11.11%/of the general math knowledge subfield, (4) forming stereotypes indicator /50.00%/of logic and thinking subfield, (7) response to multistep instructions /88.89%/,of oral speech perception subfield, and (13)sensual motional skills/94.44%/ indicator of writing and drawing skills subfield.

When looking at testing and retesting results of children not attending preschool, we see that there are no differences in (4) forming stereotypes indicator /33.33%/of logic and thinking subfield and (5) basic math notions indicator /72.22%/ of general math knowledge subfield. There was a decrease in (1) printed text indicator /72.22%55.56%/ of early reading subfield and (11) recognition of similarities–differences /44.44%33.33%/indicator of logic and thinking subfield. Mostly increased the (3) number recognition indicator /22.22%44.44%/ of general math knowledge subfield.

Looking at Figure 17, we can see that the testing results of children attending Voskepar preschool mostly exceed the testing results of children not attending preschool regarding all indicators, except for the (1) printed text indicator /11.11%/ of early reading subfield. No difference has been recorded regarding the following indicators: (6) Math knowledge /41.67%/ and (10) time reading /11.11%/ indicators of general math knowledge subfield, (8) letter recognition indicator /0.00%/ of early readingsubfield and (12) basic writing skills indicator /0.00%/ of writing and drawing skills subfield. Maximum increase was recorded regarding (3) number recognition indicator /33.34%/ of general math knowledge subfield and (13)sensual motional skills/33.33%/ indicator of writing and drawing skills subfield.

Comparing the retesting results of children from target and control groups, we see that the performance of the target group is higher than that of the control group. Difference has been mainly observed regarding(11) recognition of similarities–differences /61.11%/ indicator of logic and thinking subfield.

Figure 18: Comparison of children testing results in Voskepar by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 88,89 88,89 77,78 72,22 66,67 65,93 65,74 55,56 54,35 52,78 50,00 49,54 47,22 46,02 45,37 41,94 40,28 38,89 37,50 36,11 33,33 33,33 30,56 30,56

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early reading 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

According to the testing and retesting results of children in Voskepar community (Figure 18), there is a significant increase in (4) early reading/22.22%/ subfield.

In Figure 18 we can see that the testing and retesting results of control group children have decreased regarding (2) logic and thinking/5.56%/ and (4) early reading/2.78%/ subfields.

Looking at Figure 18, we can see that the testing results of children attending preschool exceed the retesting results of children not attending preschool for all subfields, except for (4) early reading/5.55%/and (3) oral speech perception /22.22%/ subfields.

Comparing the retesting results of children from target and control groups, we see that the performance of the target group is higher than that of the control group. Difference has been mainly observed regarding (2)indicator of logic and thinking subfield /38.89%/.

5.2.3. RA Tavush region Nerkin Tsaghkavan secondary school SNCO

The preschool is established on the school basis and has one group of children. According to the budget foreseen by the micro-project for one group, the community preschool is classified as one having “small” financial resources (financial criteria for community classification of the region included in the sample).

During the visits the preschool was working according to the following model:

 5 days in a week,

 part-time working regime - 09:00-13:30,

 one tutor was working in the preschool during the visit,

 the tutor was trained,

 children were having one hot and cold meal a day,

 the preschool was heated from the school’s central heating system;

 the preschool did not have sleeping facilities.

General description of the preschool conditions is as follows:

 The preschool has been provided with a group room, wardrobe - play room, and water-closet (there are no partitions between toilet bowls).

 Group room, wardrobe - play room, and water-closet were in correspondence with the established requirements of renovation, security, children size, accessibility and cleanliness (as no tutor assistant was envisaged in the preschool within the Program framework, the tutor during the classes was not able to keep track of the hygiene of children after using the toilet) (see Pictures 30 and 31).

 The preschool was provided with cold water supply (every other day).

 The preschool had central heating system, however it was pretty cold there during the time of our visit.

Picture 30. Beginning of year: Nerkin Picture 31. Beginning of year: Nerkin Tsaghkavan, water-closet Tsaghkavan, group room

The conditions of group room, play room and working centers were mainly satisfying the defined norms, however from the furnishings viewpoint they were not very rich(See pictures 32 and 33). The preschool had wardrobes, carpet, tables and chairs, cabinets, blackboard, TVset, sofa and so on. The group room and wardrobe were quite light. The preschool children were provided with hot and cold meal once a day. The preschool used the school’s canteen.

Picture 32. Beginning of year: Nerkin Tsaghkavan, wardrope Picture 33. Beginning of year: – play room Nerkin Tsaghkavan, cabinet

According to the head teacher the main purpose of the program was preparing the children for school. Moreover, creation of the preschool was of great importance for the community as it did not have a kindergarten.

The strength of the preschool, according to the head teacher, was the availability of a well- trained tutor and good conditions. The weakness was that it could be transferred to state financing, which may bring forth financial problems.

The preschool’s building conditions were satisfactory, and only the water was supplied every other day. During an in-depth interview the tutor mentioned that it was a little cold in the preschool, however the other conditions were satisfactory. During the focus group discussion the parents mentioned concerning the building conditions that they were very satisfied with the general conditions of the preschool, however it was a bit cold and there were few toys in the preschool.

The head teacher mentioned that the number of children was not sufficient due to the outflow of people from the village, and this created problems with funding.

The work centers have not been separated yet in the group room. There were very few instruction materials, didactic supplies and toys in the preschool. Some supplies and equipment were available for the sports and arts centers. Didactic materials for other centers were insufficient, and the tutor mentioned during an in-depth interview that the supplies for all centers need to be replenished. The head teacher and tutor mentioned during the in-depth interview that the educational supplies have been still in replenishment phase.

The training was very interesting. thetutor mentioned that the training was well organized, and she received necessary knowledge. However she also mentioned that the corresponding conditions in their community were missing for applying the obtained knowledge to the full extent: The program was complicated for the children of their preschool. She would like to have a longer training.

The tutor did not have a summary plan, she did not count the time factor, was not skilled in applying and combining teaching methods, and during the lessons a group work, research, and knowledge acquisition through cooperation were not used. The tutor applied an individual approach towards the children, and all the children were involved in thelesson. The tutor demonstrated mobility during the lesson, encouraged the children when they helped each other, was successful in teaching activities, used the child development dynamics monitoring and evaluation leaflets. No differences were made among the children regarding gender issues.

During an interview the tutor mentioned that she applied a child-centered approach during the lessons, as she worked with each child individually. The classes were conducted through drawing and singing. The tutor concentrated on the linguistic and motional areas, implemented individual assessment, and prepared a monthly instruction plan for the classes. Concerning the planning, the tutor mentioned that it would be desirable to have a well-defined curriculum.

The tutor mentioned that the strongest child was very capable and receptive. the weak child was from a socially vulnerable family, and he was very passive. The tutor said that the children’s capabilities did not differ depending on gender.

Parents did not have much participation in the preschool life, but they got daily information about the children’s progress.

The community’s inhabitants were mainly engaged in agriculture, but as most of the land plots were borderline, the residents could not fully cultivate them.According to the tutor, the social economic conditions of the families in the community were at average level.

The head teacher found that the social economic situation in the community directly affected the children’s development; the parents were unable to ensure sufficient conditions for the children. The tutor mentioned that the influence of socio-economic conditions on the children’s development was obvious; the children were depressed.

During the focus group discussions held with parents it turned out that the families of participants were composed of 6-10 members, six of the nine families were enrolled in the list of people getting social benefit. In seven families there was a working person. The families were engaged in agriculture, they had animals, were cultivating land. Only in one family the child helped the parents in these works. The main purpose of children attending the preschool was

getting ready for school and communicating with other children. Theparents were content with the tutor, as she was warm, tender, and patient.

The children of these families were mainly involved in simple housework: shopping, cleaning up after themselves. The child from a socially vulnerable family chopped wood andcultivated land. In the majority of cases, children were self-sufficient only in nutrition, dressing, and washing issues; however the mothers were obliged to help them when bathing and using the toilet.

Mainly mothers were responsible for taking care of the children, and sometimes fathers and grandmothers helped them. In the absence of mothers, the grandmothers and fatherwere mainly taking care of the children, however the parents' absences were not of frequent nature: visiting school, shop, hospital and, in some cases, going to work. Mothers and fathers were in general responsible for the child’s upbringing. The child's daily life was planned by mothers, taking into account the child's wishes if possible.

Parents generally found that their decisions and requirements should have been explained to the child. A child may be punished for lying, arguing with sisters-brothers. The punishment was mainly in the form of forbidding the child’s favorite occupation.A parent of a socially vulnerable family punished the child through beating.

The majority of the preschool children did not attend a kindergarten because of its absence in the community.

According to the parents, the child’s development was greatly affected by the other parents and children as well as learning conditions.

In general, the parents were very satisfied with the preschool's activity, tutor’s attitude, and the opportunity that the child will be prepared for school.

When teaching something to their children, the parents made use of games and songs, involved sisters-brothers in the teaching process.

No parent and community contributions were made for launching this preschool. The parents were paying500 AMD daily for provision of food.

The head teacher was going to ensure the continuity of the preschool through the assistance of the community, parents and donors.

End of year visit can be described as follows:

The building’s conditions are well-appointed, however, according to head teacher, they wish to improve the open playground and sports hall.

The head teacher mentioned that the school had a financing problem as the number of students was small. According to head teacher, creation of the preschool would solve the school’s financing problem, as the preschool’s prestige was high, and there would be students from nearby villages as well. For example, for September 2017, seven children were registered from the community, and four children – from the nearby villages.

The number of certain handmade supplies in the work centers increased compared with the beginning of the year; the group room was decorated with the pictures painted by the children. The tutor mentioned that it would be desirable to have certain toys(see picture 34). Parents also expressed a similar desire, mentioning especially the need in games enhancing logical thinking.

According to the head teacher, at the beginning of the year the tutor was stressed, as similar to children she had not been experienced. However at the year-end she became experienced enough.

During the interview the head teacher mentioned that the preschool provides the community’s children an opportunity to enter the school fully prepared. As far as there are mainly socially vulnerable families in the community (90% - according to head teacher), opening the preschool provided the children with an opportunity to spend at least some hours in a day in a beautifully furnished environment, and have quality food. According to the head teacher, children did not have many basic skills, for example, they did not know how to use the toilet.

Picture 34. End of year: Nerkin Tsaghkavan, group room

According to the tutor, children became very active, they learned some of the letters, numbers, how to behave properly. She also mentioned that when observing the differences in children’s capabilities by gender, it became clear that the girls were stronger because of their diligence. From the focus group discussion with the parents it became clear that the children learned in the preschool to draw, work with plasticine; parents could not spend much time with the children at home. One of the parents even mentioned that sometimes she attended the lessons with the tutor’s permission. A parent of a socially vulnerable family mentioned during the interview that she had noticed a significant progress in the child.

According to the head teacher, the preschool’s parents had a socialization problem, and while the tutor worked with the children, the head teacher worked with the parents. the tutor mentioned during the interview that from time to time the parents provide the preschool with stationery at her request. In this connection the parents mentioned that they (parents’ committee) collect 200 AMD monthly for the stationery and 500 AMD for food.

During the focus group discussion the parents mentioned that they would like that their children participate in different groups. There were families living far away (some children came from another community), which had difficulties in taking the child to the preschool, however they did that with pleasure.

The data regarding classes observation in Nerkin Tsaghkavan preschool are high enough (Figure 19). The Objective, Teaching activity, and Questions criteria have maximum representation /100.00%/; and the other criteria are in the range of 78.13% - 87.77%/.

Figure 19: Analysis of class observation results in Nerkin Tsaghkavan preschool

100,00 100,00 100,00 87,77 78,57 80,00 78,13 82,14 83,33 5. Time TOTAL AVERAGE activities 3. Teaching 2. Methods 7. Children 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills participation environment 6. Developing

Figure20: Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Nerkin Tsaghkavan

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 93,75 93,75 93,75 87,50 87,50 87,50 87,50 87,50 84,38 81,25 81,25 75,00 75,00 75,00 71,88 62,50 62,50 62,50 50,00 50,00 50,00 50,00 50,00 43,75 43,75 43,75 37,50 37,50 37,50 31,25 31,25 31,25 25,00 25,00 25,00 21,88 12,50 12,50 12,50 6,25 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction 11.Recognition of similarities-differences

When looking at the testing and retesting results of the preschool children in Nerkin Tsaghkavan community in Figure 20, we can see that a significant increase has been observed in the (11) recognition of similarities–differences /50.00%87.50%/ indicator of logic and thinking subfield.There were no changes in (5) basic math notions indicator /93.75%/ of general math knowledge subfield and (13)) sensual motional skills/100.00%/ indicator of writing and drawing skills subfield.

The retesting results of children of the control group of Nerkin Tsaghkavan community are mostly exceeding the testing results regarding (3) number recognition /25.00%/ and(9) recognition of left-right /25.00%/ indicators of general math knowledge subfield. The retesting result was lower than the testing result in (7) response to multistep instructions indicator /37.50%/ of oral speech perception subfield. There was no change in (1) printed text /43.75%/ and (8) letter recognition /0.00%/ indicators of early reading subfield, (4) forming stereotypes indicator /31.25%/of logic and thinking subfield, and (12) basic writing skills/0.00%/ indicator of writing and drawing skills subfield.

Looking at Figure 20, we can see that the testing results of children attending preschool in Nerkin Tsaghkavan community exceed the testing results of children not attending preschool regarding all indicators, except for (2) spatial perception indicator of the general math knowledge subfield, in which case the results are equal - 0.00%. The results of the target group mostly exceed the control group results regarding (1) printed text /37.50%/ indicator of early reading subfield.

Comparing the retesting results of children from target and control groups, we see that the performance of the target group is higher than that of the control group. Difference has been mainly observed in (7) response to multistep instructions indicator /62.5%/ of oral speech perception subfield.

Figure 21: Comparison of children testing results in Nerkin Tsaghkavan by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 87,50 75,00 75,00 73,54 68,75 63,02 60,94 58,13 53,13 53,13 50,00 47,92 46,88 46,88 42,19 40,52 38,33 37,50 37,50 35,42 28,13 21,88 21,88

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early reading 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

According to the testing and retesting results of Nerkin Tsaghkavan preschool (Figure 21), there is an essential increase in (2) logic and thinking /50.00%75.00%/ subfield.

Due to the testing and retesting results of control group (Figure 21), there is a significant increase in (1) general math knowledge/35.42%47.92%/subfield; and the (3) oral speech perception subfield decreased by 37.5%. No change was recorded regarding (4) early reading subfield /21.88%/.

Based on the Figure 21, the testing results of children attending the preschool exceeded the results of children not attending preschool. Maximum difference was recorded regarding(4) early reading subfield /31.25%/.

Based on the comparison of retesting results of children attending and not attending preschool, target group exceeds the results of control group.Maximum difference was recorded regarding (3) oral speech perception /62.5%/ subfield.

5.2.4. Generalized analysis

Of the three preschools in Tavush region the class observation showed average result only in Voskepar, which was for the Objective criterion. The program was quite successfully

implemented in Dovegh and Nerkin Tsaghkavan, and the criteria were in the range above 80%. The analysis of class observations in the preschools of the region presents that the Questions criterion has the highest performance /100%/. All the other criteria are in the range above 77%.

Figure 22: Generalized analysis of class observation results in preschoolsof Tavush region

100,00

85,42 86,90 83,33 81,94 84,14 77,38 80,00 78,13 5. Time 2. Methods 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities 7. Children participation 6. Developing environment

Figure 23: Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Tavush region

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 96,30 96,06 93,29 91,44 91,20 86,57 85,65 85,19 83,80 82,18 78,70 77,55 76,85 74,54 73,50 73,15 68,63 66,67 65,51 60,65 55,09 54,17 52,55 46,76 45,60 43,52 43,06 39,58 38,19 37,73 35,65 34,03 33,33 29,86 29,86 28,70 28,24 22,69 18,98 10,65 10,53 8,33 6,48 6,48 3,70 2,78 0,93 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction 11.Recognition of similarities-differences

Analysis of testing and retesting results of preschool children in Tavush region (Figure 23) shows that Maximum increase was recorded in (6) math knowledge/38.19%68.63%/ and (3) number recognition /43.52%73.15%/indicators of general math knowledge subfield, and (11) recognition of similarities–differences indicator /55.09%78.70%/of logic and thinking subfield.

The testing results of children not attending preschool are mostly exceeding the retesting results. At the end of academic year mostly decreased (1) printed text indicator /52.55%45.60%/ of the early reading subfield, and an increase was recorded for (3) number recognition /28.24%46.76%/indicator of general math knowledge subfield. There was no change in (2) spatial perception indicator /0.00%/ of the general math knowledge subfield and (4) forming stereotypes indicator /29.86%/of logic and thinking subfield.

Figure 23 shows that the testing results of children attending preschools in Tavush region exceed the testing results of children not attending preschools.The retesting results of children attending and not attending preschools in the Tavush region are the same as well. Maximum difference was recorded for (1) printed text indicator /40.05%/ of the early reading subfield and (11) recognition of similarities–differences indicator /39.12%/of logic and thinking subfield.

Figure 24: Comparison of children testing results in Tavush region by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 96,30 83,80 67,09 66,67 66,44 63,64 60,65 57,18 52,82 51,91 49,07 47,30 46,99 45,10 41,55 41,33 39,85 36,92 36,81 36,75 34,72 32,75 26,27 24,65

1. General math 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early reading 5. Writing and TOTAL knowledge thinking perception drawing skills AVERAGE

According to the Figure 24, there is a positive dynamics in the development level of children enrolled in the preschool, which states about efficient implementation of the program.

5.3. Lori region

Three urban communities were selected in the region,and the corresponding preschools were established on a school basis. Stepanavan, Spitak and Vanadzor are the communities selected in this region.

5.3.1. Stepanavan №1 primary school SNCO

The preschool was established on the school basis and has one group of children. According to the budget foreseen by the micro project for one group, the community preschool is classified in the region as one having “small” resources (financial criteria for community classification of the region included in the sample).

During our visits the preschool was working under the following model:

 5 days in a week,  part-time working regime - 09:00-13:00,  one tutor was working in the preschool during the visits,  the tutor were trained,  the preschool was provided with one time hot and cold meal,  the preschool was heated through the school’s central heating system,  the preschool did not have sleeping facilities.

General description of the preschool conditions is as follows:

 The preschool has been provided with a group room, play room, and water-closet.  Group room, play room and water-closet were in correspondence with the established requirements of renovation, security, children size, accessibility and cleanliness (as no tutor assistant was envisaged in the preschool within the Program framework, the tutor during the classes was not able to keep track of the hygiene of children after using the toilet) (see Pictures 35 and 36).  The preschool was provided with cold water (every other day).  The preschool was heated through the central heating system.

Picture 36. Beginning of year: Stepanavan, Picture 37. Beginning of year, Stepanavan, water-closet group room The conditions of the group room.play room, and working centers were satisfying the defined norms, while from the point of diversity of materials they were not rich (See Pictures 37 and 38). The preschool had wardrobes (located in the corridor), tables and chairs, cabinets, blackboard, TV set, etc. The group room and play room were quite light. The preschool children were provided with hot and cold meal once a day. The preschool used the school’s canteen.

Picture 38. Beginning of year, Stepanavan, Picture 39. Beginning of year, Stepanavan, wardrobes cabinet According to the head teacher, the main purpose of the program was involving those children who had been left out of the kindergarten because of the rent, distance and other reasons.

The strength of the preschool, according to the head teacher, was that the children gotready for school, and the group was formed in which the children became mentally prepared for later on entering together the first grade. The weakness was that the parents wished to extend the daily regime, however it was impossible to realize that as the preschool did not have sleeping opportunity for the children.

The preschool’s building conditions were satisfactory. During the focus group discussion the parents mentioned that they were very satisfied with the general conditions of the preschool, and it was quite warm in the room.

The working centers were separated in the group room, however there were few instruction materials, didactic supplies and toys. The mathematics, arts and construction centers were well equipped. Regarding the other centers, the didactic materials were insufficient. During the in- depth interviews, the head teacher and tutors mentioned that they needed to have more toys, and they acquired the toys in accordance with the funds available.

Head teacher and a tutor were working at the preschool. The tutor did not work previously, was trained and mastered the provisions of the pre-school curriculum. Head teacher previously worked as a biology teacher at school, and then, five years ago, became school director.

The training was very informative and interesting. The tutor mentioned that the training was well organized and new knowledge was acquired which was completely applicable in their community. The tutor would like to have a longer training.

The tutor had a summary instruction plan, but she did not count the time factor. She successfully applied teaching methods, a group work, research, and the children acquired new knowledge through cooperation. The tutor applied an individual approach towards the children, all the children were involved in the class activities. The tutor demonstrated mobility during the lesson, encouraged the children when they helped each other, was successful in teaching activities, used the child development dynamics monitoring and evaluation leaflets. No differences were made among the children regarding gender issues.

During an interview the tutor mentioned that she applied a child-centered approach during the lessons, as it allowed that the children work individually. The classes were conducted mainly by using games. The tutor mentioned that she equally dedicated her attention and time to all the areas, implemented group assessment which was time consuming and difficult.

The tutor planned the classes daily; she mentioned that it would be desirable to have a well- defined curriculum which would definitely facilitate their work.

The tutor mentioned that the strongest children immediately perceived the material and provided prompt answers. The weak children perceived the material after a number of repetitions, and the

average children were quite active and only needed concentration. According to the tutor, the children’s abilities differed depending on gender: boys were more capable..

Part of parents was very active; they came to the preschool and assisted the tutor during meals. The tutor mentioned that the biology center was created with the parents. The parents became aware of the children’s progress during the meetings and individually.

Head teacher found that the social economic situation in the community was diverse as everywhere, but there were families living in extreme conditions. The tutor mentioned that socio- economic conditions of the families in the community were bad, and they had a direct impact on the children’s development, as the children could not concentrate on learning because of other problems. A socially vulnerable parent mentioned that they lived in the German Red Cross Houses and the conditions were not very comfortable; the family's father only sometimes could get a work outside the region.

During the focus group discussions held with parents it turned out that the families of participants were composed of 3-9 members, and there were no working persons in the family. The families were mainly beneficiary families. Two of them were engaged in agriculture, they had animals, were cultivating land. One of those families was socially vulnerable. The children in this family were mostly engaged in agricultural work, in particular, they took care of the animals, tilled the land, and collected potatoes. The main purpose of children attending the preschool was getting ready for school and communicating with other children. The parents were content with the tutor, and her attitude towards the children.

The children of these families were mainly involved in simple housework:, cleaning up after themselves, buying bread in the nearby shop. In the majority of cases, the children were self- sufficient only in nutrition, dressing, and washing issues, however the mothers were obliged to help them when bathing and using the toilet.

Mainly mothers were responsible for taking care of the children, and sometimes fathers and grandmothers helped them. In the absence of mothers, the grandmothers and father were mainly taking care of the children; however the parents' absences were not of frequent nature. Mothers and fathers were in general responsible for the child’s upbringing. The child's daily life was planned by mothers, taking into account the child's wishes if possible.

Parents generally found that their decisions and requirements should have been explained to the child. A child may be punished for lying, not obeying the adults, spending long time before computer. The punishment was mainly in the form of forbidding the child’s favorite occupation and not buying the desired item. A parent of a socially vulnerable family did not punish the child; she tried to explain everything in words.

According to the parents, the child’s development was greatly affected by the other parents and children as well as learning conditions.

When teaching something to their children, the parents tried to persuade and encourage them.

Community contributions were made for launching this preschool. The parents were paying only for food, as meals were not provided for by the program.

The head teacher did not see any threat to the continuity of the micro-project

End of year visit can be described as follows:

The building’s conditions are well-appointed, with some renovations (see Picture 39), however the head teacher has mentioned that capital repairs are needed for the building. Concerning the program continuity, the head teacher found that the program would not work without state funding. During the interview the tutor mentioned about the necessity of corresponding equipment in the open playground, numerous quality supplies and toys in the work centers of the group room.

Picture 39. End of year, Stepanavan, water closet Picture 40. End of year, Stepanavan, group room

The number of certain handmade supplies increased in work centers compared to the beginning of the year (see Picture 40), the group room was decorated with pictures, colored paper butterflies, etc. The head teacher mentioned that the school teachers visit the preschool and provide the children with basic communication skills in Russian and English free of charge.

According to the tutor, children became very active at the year-end, they learned some of the letters could add and subtract numbers from 1 to 10, distinguished colors, etc. She also mentioned that when observing the differences in children’s capabilities by gender, it became clear that the boys were “stronger”. During the interview the head teacher has mentioned that the preschool provides the community children an opportunity to be prepared for entering the school. During the focus group discussion with the parents, they mentionedthat due to the preschool the children use literary language in their speech. A parent of a socially vulnerable family mentioned during the interview that she had noticed a significant progress in the child.

It can be seen from the Figure 25 that the classes are very efficient in Stepanavan. The representation of all the indicators is above 80.00%. Moreover, the representation of the Objective, Teaching activities, and Questions criteria is 100.00%. In the overall picture, the Time criterion has a relatively low representation/80.00%/.

Figure 25: Analysis of class observation results in Stepanavan preschool

100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 96,43 96,88 94,58 80,00 83,33 5. Time 2. Methods 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills environment 6. Developing TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities 7. Children participation

Figure 26:Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Stepanavan

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 100,00 90,00 90,00 90,00 90,00 85,00 85,00 85,00 80,00 80,00 80,00 80,00 80,00 75,00 70,00 70,00 70,00 70,00 70,00 70,00 70,00 67,50 60,00 60,00 57,50 55,00 55,00 52,50 50,00 50,00 50,00 40,00 40,00 40,00 30,00 27,50 25,00 20,00 20,00 15,00 10,00 10,00 10,00 7,50 5,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction 11.Recognition of similarities-differences

100

When looking at the testing and retesting results of the preschool children in Stepanavan community in Figure 26, we can see that an increase has been observed regarding all the indicators, except for (2) spatial perception indicator of the general math knowledge subfield which remained in the same range - 0.00%. Mostly increased the following indicators: (6) math knowledge /27.5%80.00%/, (3) number recognition /50.00%90.00%/, and (10) time reading /10.00%50.00%/indicators of the general math knowledge subfield, and (4) forming stereotypes indicator /20.00%70.00%/of logic and thinking subfield.

The testing and retesting results of children of the control group show that an increase was mostly recorded regarding (3) number recognition /50.00%90.00%/, and (10) time reading /10.00%50.00%/indicators of the general math knowledge subfield community are mostly exceeding the testing results regarding (3) number recognition /40.00%70.00%/ indicator of general math knowledge subfield, (4) forming stereotypes /25.00%55.00%/ and (11) recognition of similarities– differences /40.00%70.00%/indicators of logic and thinking subfield. There was no change in (2) spatial perception indicator /0.00%/of the general math knowledge subfield and (8) letter recognition indicator /10.00%/of early reading subfield.

Looking at Figure 26, we can see that part of the testing results of children attending preschool in Stepanavan community was lower than the testing results of children not attending preschool mostly regarding (6) math knowledge /25.00%/ and (10) time reading /20.00%/indicators of the general math knowledge subfield. There is no difference regarding (2) spatial perception indicator/0.00%/ of the general math knowledge subfield.

Comparing the retesting results of children from target and control groups, we see that the performance of the target group is higher than that of the control group regarding all the indicators, except for the (2) spatial perception indicator /0.00%/ of the general math knowledge subfield.

101

Figure 27:Comparison of children testing results in Stepanavan by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 90,00 80,00 77,50 70,00 68,67 68,33 62,50 56,17 54,58 52,50 45,00 44,67 44,58 44,42 42,50 42,08 40,00 38,75 36,25 35,00 32,50 30,00 27,50

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early reading 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

From the Figure 27 we can see that the testing and retesting results of children attending preschool in Stepanavan community mostly increased in (2) logic and thinking subfield /40.00%77.50%/.

When looking at testing and retesting results of children of the control group (Figure 27), we can see that there is a considerable increase in (2) logic and thinking subfield /32.50%62.50%/.

Figure 27 shows that the testing results of children attending preschool of Stepanavan community exceed the testing results of children not attending preschool in (2) logic and thinking subfield /7.50%/ and (5) writing and drawing skills /6.25%/ subfield.

 Comparing the retesting results of children enrolled and not enrolled in preschool, we can see that the enrolled children have higher results than the control group children, with almost equal differences.

102

5.3.2. Spitak N3 Primary School SNCO

The preschool is built on the base of kindergarten and has only one group of children. According to the budget foreseen by the micro-project for one group, the community preschool is classified as having “average” financial resources (financial criteria for community classification of the region included in the sample).

During the visits the preschool was operating based on the following model:

 5 days per week,  part-time working regime 09:00-14:00,  one tutor was working in the preschool during the visit,  tutor was trained,  children were eating one time a day in the preschool (hot and cold),  heating was provided via the central boiler-house of the school,  the preschool did not have sleeping facilities.

General description of preschool conditions is as follows:  The preschool was provided with a classroom, wardrobe and water-closet.  The classroom, wardrobe and water-closet were compliant with the defined renovation, safety, children size conformity, accessibility and cleanliness regulations (as no tutor assistant was planned in the scope of the micro project, the tutor could not manage to keep the hygiene of children after going to the bathroom) (see Pictures 41 and 42).  The preschool was provided with cold water (up to 12:00 o’clock).  The preschool had central heating system.

Picture 41. Beginning of the year, Spitak, water-closet Picture 42. Beginning of the year, Spitak, classroom

103

Classroom and working center conditions met the predefined norms, and from the point of view of diversity of supplies, all centers were well equipped (see Picture 44). The preschool had wardrobes (see Picture 43), tables, chairs, cabinets, board, TV, sofa, etc. The classroom and dressing room were quite light. Preschool children were eating once a day (hot and cold meals). The preschool was using school canteen (paying 1000 AMD per month).

Picture 43. Beginning of the year, Spitak, wardrobes Picture 44. Beginning of the year, Spitak, cabinet

According to the head teacher, the school was located in a district of private houses, while kindergartens of the city were quite far from there. The purpose of the micro project was to withhold children living in that district to be excluded from preschool education. The program was mutually beneficial both for the school and for parents.

According to the head teacher, the preschool did not have a weak side and only the fact that it was operating in their district was already a strength.

Building conditions of the school were good. The head teacher and the tutor had mentioned during the interview that the preschool section of the school building was in a good condition, was renovated. There was a problem only with water supply, which was available hourly and unpredictably. During the focus group discussion parents had mentioned that they were very satisfied with the general conditions of the preschool.

Working centers were separated in the classroom. Art, construction, role playing and cooking centers were well equipped in the preschool. The rest of the centers lacked didactic materials. Tutor and the

104

head teacher mentioned during the interview, that materials were enough at the moment, but later they would be replenished.

The head teacher and one tutor were working in the preschool. The tutor had previously worked as a music and art teacher, as well as school organizer. He was trained and mastered the specifics of preschool curriculum. The head teacher had previously worked as a school principal, afterwards – head teacher.

Training was very interesting. The tutor mentioned that there were a lot of necessary materials, the lecturers were very strict, she had acquired some pedagogical tricks and everything was applicable in their community.

Tutor had training/teaching plan, where only time factor was missing. She was successfully combining teaching methods, was using teamwork, research, acquisition of knowledge through collaboration and games during the classes. Tutor was showing individual approach to children and all children were involved in the class. During the class, the tutor showed mobility, encouraged and praised helping each other, successfully performed educational activities, used monitoring and evaluation leaflets for assessing child development dynamics. She did not put any difference between children based on their gender.

During the interview, the tutor mentioned that she was using integrated method of teaching during the class, as the child is able to learn better when combining the methods. She had mentioned, that she had used the integrated method even before, but she was able to accept it scientifically after the training. She was holding classes mainly through games and was paying equal time and attention to all areas of development; however, self-service and safety were the areas that she was concentrating on all the time. She was conducting a documentary assessment, but besides that, children had their notebooks in which she was posting smileys with accompanying explanation. The tutor had mentioned that she was trying to take negatives to a positive direction so that the child was not upset. Class planning was made weekly. The tutor was mainly using the schedule of methodical manual and was considering it as very effective and user-friendly.

The tutor described that the “strongest” child was quickly digesting material and was quickly giving answers. “Weak” child was thinking slowly, was not differentiating colors. Finally, children with “average” skills were able to count. According to the tutor, children abilities, based on their gender, were different - girls were more active.

105

Some parents were very active. They came to help the tutor at mealtimes. They also had helped to create the center of natural science. Parents were informed about child progress almost every day. The problem was that, according to the tutor, parents did not work with children at home.

Community residents, according to the tutor, were mainly socially vulnerable and the mayor was taking care to withhold those children to be excluded from preschool education. According to the head teacher, there were mainly socially vulnerable families leaving in the community and the social situation of the community (family) was affecting the development of children, as when a parent was busy with social issues, i.e. trying to solve the problems of food and clothing, child education was left neglected.

During the focus group discussions with parents, families of those present consisted of 3 to 10 people, and most families had a working family member. All families were social beneficiaries. Three families were engaged in agriculture (two families - in farming, one of which was socially vulnerable). Children of one socially vulnerable family participating in the focus group discussion (the family was engaged in farming) were helping to collect potatoes. The main purpose of children attending preschool institutions was socialization and preparedness to school. Parents were satisfied with the preschool and tutor’s attitude.

Children were mainly tidying up at home and the parent from socially vulnerable family did not put responsibilities on the child. In the majority of cases, children were independent in the decision of their nutrition, dressing and washing, but for such issues as taking bath or using water-closet mother was always helping.

Mothers were mainly responsible for child care, sometimes grandmothers and fathers also helped and during the absence of mothers, they were mainly taking care of children. Mothers were mainly being absent for going out to school, hospital or for shopping. Fathers and mothers were mainly responsible for child upbringing. Mothers were mainly planning daily routine of children, taking into account child preferences in case of possibilities.

Parents’ opinions did not coincide when the issue was about explaining their decisions to children. Some of them were thinking that their decisions should not be explained to children. Lying, not agreeing with the elders, quarreling with brother-sisters were punishable behaviours. The main method of punishment was depriving them of their favourite hobby/games. The parent from socially vulnerable family was not punishing the child, rather she was explaining with love and kisses.

106

The majority of preschool children had attended kindergarten and they had mainly got new knowledge. But parents had switched to preschool because kindergarten was far from their house. Parent from socially vulnerable family did not take the child to kindergarten because of the fee.

Parents considered that education conditions had an important effect on child development. For teaching something to their children they had to persuade and encourage them, as well as involve their brothers-sisters.

For the operation of this preschool both parents (financial) and community (financial) had their contribution. Parents were paying 1000 AMD monthly for food, as food was not foreseen by the micro project. Parents wanted the daily regime to be longer and food to be provided twice a day.

The head teacher did not see any threat for the continuity of the micro project, as the demand was high.

The analysis of interviews with the parents of children not attending preschool institutions showed that the reason of not taking their children to preschool was the lack of awareness or misleading information. One parent mentioned that her neighbors had told her that the preschool fee was 5000 AMD; therefore, she had not even tried to get information as she anyway could not pay the fee and buy clothes. Another parent did not take her child to preschool because of health issues; while for other two cases children were stubborn. It was notable that there were still opinions that only those parents who are busy and do not have time to upbring their children are taking them to preschool.

The year-end-visit description is presented below.

Building conditions were good. Compared to the beginning of the year, some handmade materials were added in the working centers at the end of the year, the classroom was designed with colorful origami flowers (see Picture 45 and 46). Parent from socially vulnerable family mentioned that, it would be preferable to have a stage, in which case children will have an opportunity to be on the stage during the interesting events organized by the tutor (the school also does not have a stage). The head teacher had mentioned that the school and community head were supporting through financing of materials for working centers.

Children were provided with hot and cold food at the beginning of the year; however, at the end of the year the food program was terminated and by the decision of parents children were not eating in the preschool.

107

According to the tutor, hand motor skills of children had been developed; they could not hold pencils correctly before. Moreover, their speech had also been developed. Children were mainly from socially vulnerable families (about 70%) and after making home visits the tutor was sure that children do not have that beautiful and developing environment at home. According to the head teacher, all teachers were trying to enroll in their class those children who had attended preschools as they were ready for the school and it was easier to work with them.

Parent from socially vulnerable family mentioned during her interview (other parents mentioned during focus-group discussion) that the contribution of the tutor was huge, she was very careful and children were getting abundant knowledge. They loved their tutor and she was organizing many events. All parents also expressed their satisfaction with the head teacher of the preschool. They expressed an interest of having music, art groups, etc.

Picture 45. End of the year, Spitak, classroom, Picture 46. End of the year, Spitak, classroom. cabinet. Opinions of parents of children not attending preschool institutions had not been changed at the end of the year. They mainly mentioned that those who do not have financial or other means did not take their children to preschools. But there was also another opinion, when the parent thought, that it was better to keep the child with her, than to leave him/her to the preschool’s discretion. Overall, there was a lack of awareness and misunderstanding of information at the end of the year as well.

The observation of classes in Spitak preschool, almost by all criteria, showed high effectiveness of the tutor and the education environment. All criteria have maximum performance /100.00%/, besides Tutor Skills, although the latter reported not a bad result /83.33%/.

108

Figure 28: Analysis of class observation results in Spitak preschool

100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 97,92 83,33 5. Time 2. Methods 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities 7. Children participation

6. Developing environment

109

Figure29: Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Spitak

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 95,00 92,50 92,50 90,00 90,00 85,00 85,00 80,00 80,00 80,00 80,00 75,00 70,00 70,00 70,00 65,00 60,00 55,00 52,50 50,00 50,00 50,00 50,00 50,00 50,00 45,00 40,00 40,00 40,00 37,50 35,00 30,00 30,00 30,00 20,00 20,00 17,50 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction 11.Recognition of similarities-differences

110

Looking at the testing and retesting results among children in Spitak community (Figure 29), we can see that a significant increase has been recorded by almost all indicators. The maximum increase has been observed for the following indicators: General math knowledge subfield's (9) Recognition of left- right/50.00%100.00%/ and Logic and thinking subfield's (11) Recognition of similarities- differences/50.00%100.00%/.

Looking at the testing and retesting results of children not attending preschool institution, we can see that only the (10) Time recognition indicator of General math knowledge subfield was decreased, while the following indicators remained unchanged: General math knowledge subfield's (2) Spatial perception/0.00%0.00%/, (9) Recognition of left-right/80.00%80.00%/, Early reading subfield’s (8) Letter recognition/0.00%0.00%/ and Writing and drawing subfield’s (12) Basic writing skills/0.00%0.00%/.

Looking at Figure 29, we can notice that testing results of children not attending preschool in Spitak community had better results for the following indicators than children attending preschool institution: Logic and thinking subfield’s (4) Forming stereotypes/5.00%/,General math knowledge subfield’s (6) Math knowledge /3.00%/ and (9) Recognition of left-right /30.00%/. No difference was observed for General math knowledge subfield’s (2)Spatial perceptions/0.00%0.00%/, Early reading subfield’s (8) Letter recognition/0.00%0.00%/ and Writing and drawing skills subfield’s (12) Basic writing skills /0.00%0.00%/ indicators.

Comparing the retesting results of children both attending and not attending preschool institution, we can see that children attending preschool institutions had better results by almost all indicators than children not attending preschool. The highest difference was observed in Logic and thinking subfield’s (11) Recognition of similarities-differences /60.00%/ indicator.

111

Figure 30: Comparison of children testing results in Spitak by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 90,00 85,00 80,00 77,92 75,83 70,00 60,00 58,75 51,25 50,75 49,83 47,50 46,67 46,25 46,25 45,42 42,50 42,08 40,00 32,50 32,50 27,50 25,00

1. General math 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early reading 5. Writing and TOTAL knowledge thinking perception drawing skills AVERAGE

Looking at the testing and retesting results of children attending preschool institution (Figure 30), we can see that there was an increase for all subfields, while more significant increase has been recorded for the following (2) Logic and thinking/40.00%85.00%/ and (4) Early reading/27.00%70.00%/ subfields.

Looking at the testing and retesting results of control group in Spitak community (Figure 30), we can see that there was an increase in all subfields but the maximum increase was recorded for (3) Oral speech perception subfield /60.00%80.00%/.

Looking at Figure 30, we can see that testing results of children attending preschool institutions were lower than testing results of children not-attending preschool institutions only for (1) General math knowledge /1.25%/ subfield. No difference has been observed for (5) Writing and drawing skills subfield /46.25%/.

Comparing the retesting results of children attending and not attending preschool institution, we can see that children attending preschool reported higher results than children in the control group in all subfields.

112

5.3.3. N6 Primary School after S. Shahumyan SNCO

The preschool is built on the base of kindergarten and in the scope of the project has two groups of children, one of which – senior group (5-6 year-old children). According to the budget foreseen by the micro-project for one group, the community preschool is classified as one having “sufficient” financial resources (financial criteria for community classification of the region included in the sample).

During the visits the preschool was operating based on the following model:

 5 days per week,  part-time working regime 09:00-13:00,  three tutors23 were working in the preschool during the visit,  all three tutor were trained,  children were eating twice a day in the preschool (hot and cold),  heating was provided via the central heating system,  the preschool did not have sleeping facilities.

General description of preschool conditions (intended for the group of seniors /5-6 year-old children/) is as follows:

 The preschool was provided with a classroom, wardrobe and water-closet (the toilet bowls were in separate cabinets).  The classroom, wardrobe and water-closet were compliant with the defined renovation, safety, children size conformity, accessibility and cleanliness regulations (as no tutor assistant was planned in the scope of the micro project, the tutor could not manage to keep the hygiene of children after going to the bathroom) (see Pictures 47 and 48).  The preschool was provided with permanent cold water.  The preschool had central heating system, but electric heaters were also used in case of necessity.  The preschool was also working with a long regime (till 16:00), with the consent of parents. But as the preschool did not have sleeping facilities, children were not sleeping.

23The preschool had two groups: junior and senior, but as there were about 40 people in the group of seniors, the group was divided into two subgroups. The tutor who was paid and the tutor who was working voluntarily without payment were working with those groups.

113

Picture 47. Beginning of the year, Vanadzor, water Picture 48. Beginning of the year, Vanadzor, closet classroom Classroom, playing room and working center conditions met the predefined norms, but from the point of view of diversity of supplies, centers were not well equipped (See Pictures 49 and 50). The preschool had wardrobes, carpet, tables and chairs, toy lockers, board, TV, vacuum cleaners, electric heaters, etc. The classroom and dressing room were quite light. Preschool children were eating twice a day and in case of long regime – three times a day (in the result of additional fees paid by parents).

Picture 49. Beginning of the year, Vanadzor, wardrobes Picture 50. Beginning of the year, vanadzor, cabinet According to the head teacher, the purpose of the micro project was to prepare 5-6 year-old children for school programs. Establishment of preschool filled the daily routine of children, provided them with knowledge, and also gave the school an opportunity to know how many first-graders would there be for the coming academic year.

114

According to the head teacher the weak side of the preschool was that preschool regime was short and there was a need of food provision and prolongation of the regime.

Building conditions of the preschool were good. Tutor mentioned during the interview that there was a problem with the distance and transport.

Working centers were not separated in the classroom, but there were supplies for all working centers. Art and culinary centers were well equipped compared to others, but there were deficiency of didactic materials in other centers. Nevertheless, during the interview the tutor mentioned that they had enough education materials.

The head teacher and three tutors 24 were working in the preschool. The tutor of the senior group worked in a foundation before, was a psychologist by profession, was trained and mastered the specifics of pre-school curriculum. The director had previously worked as a lecturer (Candidate of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor) and at the moment he was combining lectures with his work. Two parents were voluntarily (without payment) holding groups. The tutor was voluntarily working with some of the children in the senior group.

The training was very informative and was combined with materials. Tutor mentioned that it was well organized; she had got useful knowledge and necessary literature. She expressed a wish of having trainings again or specialists to come to the preschool to observe their classes. She also wanted the methodical books to be provided in two copies. Anyway, knowledge was successfully applied in the community.

The tutor had training/teaching agenda where only time factor was missing. Didactic materials, visual accessories were used during the classes, but there were no appropriate conditions for children to communicate with each other. Tutor was showing individual approach to children and was using monitoring and evaluation leaflets for assessing child development dynamics. She was not differentiating children based on gender.

The tutor mentioned that she preferred child-centered, but she was oftentimes using integrated method and was holding classes with game-assignments. Being a psychologist, the tutor was working equally

24The preschool had two groups: seniors and juniors. As there were about 40 children in the group of seniors, the group was divided into two subgroups. The tutor who was paid and the tutor who was working voluntarily without payment were working with those groups.

115

towards all subfields. She was carrying out individual and group assessment and was planning the classes weekly. With regards to having a ready-made curriculum, the tutor mentioned during the interview that it would not give an opportunity to be creative.

The tutor described that the “strongest” child was adding three-digit numbers, while the “weakest” child was counting, had a developed speech, but was not using adjectives. Children with “average” abilities were able to count and had a developed speech. According to the tutor, children abilities, based on their gender, were not different.

Communication and link between the family and the preschool was kept by the tutor through notebooks, where both the tutor and the parent were working. In case of request by the parents, the tutor was providing all the materials learnt during the classes and parents were working with children at home. At the beginning of the year parents filled forms about their children which were provided to the tutor during the training in order to get their children introduced to the tutor. The tutor was also working with children as a psychologist.

Community residents were not engaged in agriculture and there were no parents among the interviewed whose families were receiving social benefits. Tutor had mentioned that there were very few working parents. In addition to what the tutor had mentioned, the head teacher mentioned that preschool children were mainly from socially vulnerable families.

According to the director, the socio-economic situation of the families in the community had an impact on child development, as when a parent was busy with social issues, i.e. trying to solve the problems of food and clothing, child education was left neglected.

During the focus group discussions with parents, the families of those present consisted of 4 to 6 people, and 3 out of 6 families were receiving social benefit. Mainly fathers were working in the family, while mothers were housewives. Families were not engaged in agriculture. The main reason for children being taken to preschool was to be educated, although parents were also attracted by the building conditions and heating. Parents were satisfied with the tutor. Parent from socially vulnerable family had mentioned that tutors were kind with children. The parent-tutor who was working voluntarily without payment (volunteer, not-trained tutor) was the only tutor whom children were kissing when meeting. She would also like tutors to be kind with parents as well.

116

Children from such families were mainly engaged in such simple activities at home as tiding up after them. In the majority of cases, children were independent in the decision of their nutrition, dressing and washing. For one family the child was also taking bath independently.

Mothers were mainly responsible for child care, sometimes grandmothers and fathers also helped and during the absence of mothers, they were mainly taking care of children. In one case father was working abroad for already one and a half year. Parent from socially vulnerable family was a single mother. She had mentioned during the in-depth interview that she was taking the child to the workplace of grandmother (her mother was also working), as they were not able to pay for the long regime of the preschool (they were hardly paying 4000 AMD for food for the short regime). Mothers were mainly planning daily routine of children, taking into account child preferences in case of possibilities.

Parents were mainly thinking that their decisions and requirements relating to children should be explained to the latter. Lying, not agreeing with the elders, quarreling with brother-sisters, etc, were punishable behaviors. The main method of punishment was depriving them of their favourite hobby/games, but they were oftentimes explaining their child about the mistake.

Most of the children whose parents participated in the discussion attended kindergarten, but they were taken to the pre-school because kindergarten was far from their house.

Parents considered that other children, parents and education conditions had an important effect on child development.

The head teacher had mentioned during the interview that they had a mechanism developed for socially vulnerable families - they were not taking money for food from them and stationary was provided free of charge (the parent from socially vulnerable family had mentioned that in case of necessity they were also taking stationary to the preschool).

Overall, parents were very satisfied with the preschool conditions, head teacher’s attention and tutor’s attention towards children.

It was clear from the focus group discussion that parents were engaging brothers-sisters for teaching something to their younger children; sometimes they were even separating the child from others in order that he/she could concentrate.

117

For the operation of this preschool parents had made non-monetary contribution, while monetary contribution was received from donors. Interviews revealed that the monetary contribution by parents during the operation of the preschool was different. The parent from socially vulnerable family mentioned during the discussion that they were paying 4000 AMD for the short preschool regime, while the tutor mentioned during the in-depth interview that parents were paying voluntarily 3500 AMD and finally, the head teacher mentioned that the amount comprises 2000-3000 AMD. During the focus group discussion parents mentioned that they do not pay for anything (they were not paying for food). Parent from a socially vulnerable family mentioned that a cookie was given to children for the breakfast, but parents complained and required bread and cheese and as her child was not eating cheese, she was left hungry till 14:00 o’clock if she did not like whatever was provided during lunch. Parent was asking to reduce or remove the fee of 4000 AMD, in that case her child would take food from home and would not be left hungry.

The head teacher mentioned during the in-depth interview - “The salaries are being financed from France, but it is hard to communicate with them, they send the money monthly. So we are looking for donors. In case of any problems, the community head and the head of Education Department have promised to help”.

The analysis of interviews with the parents of children not attending preschool institutions showed that the reason of not taking their children to preschool was that the preschool was far from their home, or that the child is crying a lot, and that parents are always at home. To the question of who takes their child to preschool, parents answered that those lacking financial resources do not take their children to preschool. We can see that there is a lack of awareness in this community.

The year-end-visit description is presented below.

Building conditions were good. Tutor had mentioned that it would be better to have a canteen separate from school. Parents mentioned during focus group discussion that there were slight inconveniences when going to the canteen as children should go upstairs to the second floor and pass through a cold room. The location of classroom was also somehow inconvenient.

Compared to the beginning of the year some handmade accessories were added (See Pictures 51 and 52), the classroom was decorated with colorful posters.

118

Picture 51. End of the year, Vanadzor, Picture 52. End of the year, Vanadzor, classroom, handmade accessories classroom, posters

At the beginning of the year it was mentioned that the tutor of the senior group is working without payment. However, at the end of the year, the head teacher gave controversial answers to a few crossing questions of the interviewer.

 The tutor is working without payment,  She is not a registered employee, but is being paid,  She is combining it with other job and is going to that kindergarten in the second half of the day, therefore no position was foreseen for her,  She is working part time, but is paying paid equal to other full time tutors - 67.000 AMD,  Has a contract, which though was not presented to the interviewer.

According to the tutor, socially vulnerable families request them and are being excluded from payment. There was a case when a parent paid for her socially vulnerable neighbor.

The school is also engaged in the education process, and according to the head teacher there are often cases when preschool children go to hear a Russian class, participate in events, watch cartoons in the computer lab. Preschool children participated in the graduation ceremony of school pupils and the latter gave them books as presents.

The head teacher had a few suggestions which are presented below:

 It is preferable to make prolong the regime of the preschool and create sleeping facilities because there are many parents who work.

119

 There is a need for continuous trainings so as tutors were able to get the latest updates directly from trainers and not from the tutors of other kindergartens:  There is a need for a methodical person in the preschool who will make class observations, will coordinate the process as the head teacher is not able to manage that.  Parents pay monthly fee of 500 AMD for specialized tutors to hold 20-minute foreign language and music classes for children two-three times a week. It would be preferable to have such classes as a part of mandatory education plan.

According to the parent working voluntarily, children had become more literate, were adding and subtracting numbers, the development was huge. She was oftentimes organizing open classes for parents to see what their children have learnt. There was a child who was very shy and frightened and according to the tutor, when she was going close to the child, he was holding his head with hands as if the tutor was going to hit him. It took a lot of energy from the tutor to take fear towards the preschool out of this child (child’s father was a soldier ad was very strict). Tutor was doing psychological tests with children and was giving advice. Also, she had noticed that parents were not reading fairy tales for their children.

He other tutor mentioned that children in this group know the letters, numbers, construct sentences, there is a development in speech. From the middle of the year children work with scissors, know how to work with glue.

Parents mentioned during the focus group discussion that there were very satisfies with their tutors. Their children got knowledge. One parent also mentioned that her child had an oral speech problem and the tutor was always practicing with the child, made exercises with the child and the problem was almost solved.

The analysis of interviews made with parents of children not attending preschool, it is clear that there was still a lack of information at the end of the year. All parents mentioned that those who do not have financial resources do not take their children to preschool. Only one of those parents mentioned one more reason for not taking her child to the preschool – her child did not need a preschool education.

The results of class observation presented in Figure 31, reveal that above average performance was recorded in Vanadzor preschool for all four criteria. The highest performance was recorded for Teaching activities and Questions criteria. All the other criteria had a performance of higher than 80%.

120

Figure 31:Analysis of class observation results in Vanadzor preschool

96,43 100,00 100,00 91,67 90,63 90,52 80,00 82,14 83,33 5. Time 2. Methods 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities 7. Children participation 6. Developing environment

121

Figure 32:Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Vanadzor

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 100,00 100,00 100,00 92,86 92,86 85,71 85,71 85,71 85,71 85,71 85,71 85,71 78,57 78,57 71,43 71,43 71,43 64,29 57,14 57,14 57,14 57,14 57,14 53,57 50,00 50,00 50,00 42,86 42,86 42,86 42,86 32,14 28,57 28,57 28,57 28,57 28,57 25,00 21,43 14,29 14,29 14,29 3,57 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction

11.Recognition of similarities-differences

122

According to the testing and retesting results of children attending preschool in Vanadzor presented in the Graph 32, the most significant increase has been recorded in the following indicators: (3) number recognition /28.57%100.00%/ of general math knowledge subfield, (7) response to multistep instructions /42.86%100.00%/ of oral speech perception subfield and (4) forming stereotypes /21.43%78.57%/ of logic and thinking subfield.

The retesting results of children not attending preschool in Vanadzor region either exceed testing results or remained unchanged. A significant increase has been recorded in the (7) response to multistep instruction/14.29%71.43%/ indicator of oral speech perception subfield and (8) letter recognition/0.00%28.57%/ indicator of early reading subfield.

Based on the Graph 32, testing results of children attending preschool in Vanadzor region exceed testing results of children not attending preschool by indicators, except for (3) number recognition/28.57%/ indicator of general math knowledge subfield and (4) forming stereotypes /7.14%/ indicator of logic and thinking subfield. There is a significant positive difference in the following indicators: (7) response to multistep instruction/28.57%/of oral speech perception subfield and (9) recognition of left-right/28.57%/ of general math knowledge subfield.

Based on the comparison of retesting results of children attending and not attending preschool, children attending preschool have higher results than children not attending preschool. There is a significant difference in the following indicators: (4) forming stereotypes/28.57%/ of logic and thinking subfield, (7) response to multistep instruction/28.57%/ of oral speech perception subfield and (10) time reading/42.85%/ indicator of general math knowledge subfield.

123

Figure 33: Comparison of children testing results in Vanadzor by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 82,14 72,26 71,43 66,67 60,71 58,93 54,29 53,57 51,79 47,62 46,43 44,64 42,86 42,86 41,07 39,52 39,29 35,71 28,93 28,57 25,00 21,43 14,29

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early reading 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

Based on the testing and retesting results of children attending preschool in Vanadzor (Figure 33), there is a significant increase in the (2) logic and thinking/35.71%82.14%/ and (3) oral speech perception /42.86%100.00%/ subfields.

According to the testing and retesting results of children not attending preschool in Vanadzor (Figure 33), a significant increase has been recorded in (2) logic and thinking/28.57%60.71%/ and (3) oral speech perception/14.29%71.43%/ subfields.

According to the Figure 33, testing results of children attending preschool exceed testing results of children not attending preschool by all the subfields, especially by (3) oral speech perception subfield.

Based on the comparison of retesting results of children attending and not attending preschool, again children attending preschool have higher results than children not attending preschool.

5.3.4. Generalized analysis

In general, the program was quite successfully implemented in all three preschools of Lori region. The analysis of class observations in the preschools reveals that all criteria are highly performed /above 83.33%/. The highest performance level have Teaching activities and Questions criteria /100%/.

124

Figure 34: Generalized analysis of class observation results in preschools of Lori region

97,22 97,62 100,00 100,00 95,83 94,05 94,34 86,67 83,33 5. Time 2. Methods 1. Objective 4. Questions 8.Tutor skills TOTAL AVERAGE 3. Teaching activities 7. Children participation 6. Developing environment

125

Figure 35: Analysis of children testing and retesting results in Lori region

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 100,00 94,29 93,33 91,90 90,24 90,12 90,00 83,57 83,57 80,48 80,24 79,52 78,10 77,14 75,24 72,86 71,90 70,71 69,05 67,62 60,71 60,48 59,05 54,52 53,33 53,33 51,43 50,00 49,05 47,62 42,86 41,55 35,95 34,29 32,86 29,52 29,52 24,76 24,76 23,81 19,17 12,86 6,67 3,69 3,33 1,67 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction 11.Recognition of similarities-differences

126

According to the testing and retesting results of children attending preschools in Lori region (Figure 35), there is an increase in all the indicators. The most significant increase has been recorded in the (3) number recognition /42.86%93.33%/ indicator of general math knowledge subfield, (4) forming stereotypes /23.81%72.86%/ and (11) recognition of similarities- differences /53.33%90.24%/ indicators of logic and thinking subfield.

The retesting results of children not attending preschool in Lori region also exceed the testing results. A significant increase has been recorded in the (3) number recognition /49.05%75.24%/ indicator of general math knowledge subfield, (7) response to multistep instruction/34.58%/ of oral speech perception subfield and (11) recognition of similarities- differences/32.86%60.48%/ indicators of logic and thinking subfield. There was no change in (2) spatial perception /0.00%/ and (10) time reading indicators of general math knowledge subfield.

According to the Figure 35, testing results of children attending preschool exceed the testing results of children not attending preschool by most of the indicators, except for (3) number recognition/6.2%/ and (6) math knowledge /5.6%/ indicators of general math knowledge subfield, (4) forming stereotypes /5.71%/ indicator of logic and thinking subfield and (12) basic writing skills /1.67%/ indicator of writing and drawing skills subfield.

Based on the comparison of retesting results of children attending and not attending preschool in Lori region, children attending preschool have higher results by all the indicators than children not attending preschool. There is a significant difference in the following indicators: (10) time reading /34.29%/ of general math knowledge subfield and (11) recognition of similarities- differences /29.76%/ of logic and thinking subfield.

127

Figure 36:Comparison of children testing results in Lori region by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 81,55 80,48 72,95 70,28 67,62 56,73 56,19 55,24 53,73 52,54 51,43 45,06 45,04 44,59 44,11 43,63 40,60 38,57 38,56 36,79 31,19 26,67 25,48

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception reading drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

According to the Figure 36, preschool program has been efficiently implemented in Lori region. Moreover, there is a positive dynamics in the development level of children involved in the program.

6. ANALYSIS BY INDICATORS

This subsection will introduce more detailed analysis of quantitative observations presented by main criteria of children testing and class observation.

6.1. Analysis of class observation by criteria

The analysis of class observation cards was implemented by eight criteria included in the card. Firstly, we present the averaged factors of criteria formation for all the preschools.

Based on the Figure 37, all criteria are highly performed in the preschools and are in the range above 82%. Questions criterion /100.00%/ has the highest level of performance.

Figure37: General analysis of all the criteria

128

Total average indicators of criteria for all the preschools

8.Tutor skills 82,87

7. Children participation 91,67

6. Developing environment 84,38

5. Time 82,22

4. Questions 100,00

3. Teaching activities 93,75

2. Methods 90,48

1. Objective 84,26

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

The first criterion is Objective. During the analysis of class observations, the following was taken into consideration: clarity of the objective, its formulation, simplicity, structural compliance of a class with the objective set, compliance with criteria and peculiarities of children age, as well as exact planning of a class/lesson and availability of teaching agenda.

The Figure below introduces the analysis of Objective criterion for nine preschools.

Figure 38: Analysis of Objective criterion by all preschools

TOTAL AVERAGE 84,26 Stepanavan 100,00 Vanadzor 91,67 Spitak 100,00 Metsamor 91,67 Voskehat 50,00 Armavir 75,00 Voskepar 50,00 Nerkin Tsaghkavan 100,00 Dovegh 100,00

0 20 40 60 80 100

129

According to Figure 38, Objective criterion has the highest level of performance /100.00%/ in Stepanavan, Spitak, Nerkin Tsaghkavan and Dovegh. The lowest level of performance has been recorded in Voskehat and Voskepar /50.00%/.

The next Figure presents Objective criterion by regional analysis.

Figure 39: Analysis of Objective criterion by regions

Lori 97,22

Armavir 72,22

Tavush 83,33

0 20 40 60 80 100

Based on the Figure, this criterion is highly performed in all three regions. The highest level of performance is recorded in Lori /97.22%/, while comparatively lower level of performance is in Armavir /72.22%/.

The second criterion observed during the classes was Methods. During the analysis of class observations, the following was taken into consideration: compliance of methods with an objective of a class, content, peculiarities of children age, their level of preparedness, combination of different approaches during classes, provision of didactic materials, game elements, etc.

The following Figure introduces analysis of Methods criterion for all nine preschools.

130

Figure 40. Analysis of Methods criterion by preschools

TOTAL AVERAGE 90,48

Stepanavan 96,43

Vanadzor 96,43

Spitak 100,00

Metsamor 96,43

Voskehat 92,86

Armavir 100,00

Voskepar 57,14

Nerkin Tsaghkavan 78,57

Dovegh 96,43

0 20 40 60 80 100

Based on the analysis of this criterion, it is highly performed in preschool of Armavir region /100.00%/, while the lowest level of performance is recorded in preschool of Voskepar /57.14%/.

The next Figure presents Methods criterion by regional analysis.

Figure 41: Analysis of Methods criterion by regions

Lori 97,62

Armavir 96,43

Tavush 77,38

0 20 40 60 80 100

According to this Figure, none of the regions has the maximum level of performance for Methods criterion. The highest level of performance has been recorded in Lori /97.62%/, while comparatively the lowest one has been in Tavush region /77.38%/.

131

The next criterion is Teaching activities, during the analysis of which, the following was taken into consideration: planned variety and shifts of actions intended for in-depth perception of studying materials, implementation of various exercises and assignments, activation of different senses for the most complete understanding.

The following Figure introduces analysis of Teaching activities criterion for all nine preschools.

Figure 42: Analysis of Teaching activities criterion by preschools

TOTAL AVERAGE 93,75

Stepanavan 100,00

Vanadzor 100,00

Spitak 100,00

Metsamor 100,00

Voskehat 87,50

Armavir 100,00

Voskepar 75,00

Nerkin Tsaghkavan 100,00

Dovegh 81,25

0 20 40 60 80 100

According to the Figure 42, the maximum level of performance for Teaching activities criterion has been recorded in Stepanavan, Vanadzor, Spitak and Metsamor /100.00%/. Comparatively lower level of performance has been recorded in the preschool of Voskepar /75.00%/ and Dovegh /81.25%/.

The next Figure presents Teaching activities criterion by regional analysis.

132

Figure 43: Analysis of Teaching activities criterion by regions

Lori 100,00

Armavir 95,83

Tavush 85,42

0 20 40 60 80 100

Based on the Figure above, Teaching activities criterion has quite high level of performance in all three regions /above 85.42%/. The maximum level of performance has been recorded in Lori region /100.00%/.

The next criterion of class observation card is Questions. During the assessment of this criterion, the following was taken into consideration: peculiarities of formulating questions /clarity, simplicity, material correspondence, etc./, correspondence to children age, logical structure, direction towards promoting analyzing, expressing and thinking abilities, etc.

The following Figure introduces analysis of Questions criterion for all nine preschools.

Figure 44: Analysis of Questions criterion by preschool

TOTAL AVERAGE 100,00

Stepanavan 100,00

Vanadzor 100,00

Spitak 100,00

Metsamor 100,00

Voskehat 100,00

Armavir 100,00

Voskepar 100,00

Nerkin Tsaghkavan 100,00

Dovegh 100,00

0 20 40 60 80 100

133

According to the Figure, Questions criterion has the maximum level of performance. This criterion is highly performed in all preschools /100.00%/.

The next Figure presents Questions criterion by regional analysis.

Figure 45: Analysis of Questions criterion by regions

Lori 100,00

Armavir 100,00

Tavush 100,00

0 20 40 60 80 100

Based on the analysis of Questions criterion by regions, the same picture is revealed, it has high level of performance in all regions /100.00%/.

The next criterion observed during the class observations was Time.During the analysis of this criterion, the following was taken into consideration: meeting the time limits of a class, planning and following exact time limits for each assignment and exercise, efficient use of time for each phase of a class, etc.

The following Figure introduces analysis of Time criterion for all nine preschools.

Figure 46: Analysis of Time criterion by preschools

TOTAL AVERAGE 82,22 Stepanavan 80,00 Vanadzor 80,00 Spitak 100,00 Metsamor 80,00 Voskehat 80,00 Armavir 80,00 Voskepar 80,00 Nerkin Tsaghkavan 80,00 Dovegh 80,00

0 20 40 60 80 100

134

According to the Figure 46, this criterion has stable level of performance in almost all preschools /80.00%/, while the highest level of performance has been recorded in preschool of Spitak /100.00%/. This means, that Time criterion is almost equally important in all preschools.

The next Figure presents Time criterion by regional analysis.

Figure 47: Analysis of Time criterionby regions

Lori 86,67

Armavir 80,00

Tavush 80,00

76 78 80 82 84 86 88

Based on the Figure 47, this criterion is highly performed in Lori region /86.67%/, followed by Armavir and Tavush regions having equal level of performance /80.00%/.

The next criterion is Developing environment. The latter ensures comprehensive and harmonious development of a child evokes a child to some actions, contributes to a child’s independent and creative development, as well as to development of a child’s subjective position. During the analysis of this criterion the following was taken into consideration: availability of didactic, illustrative, natural accessories and materials, their correspondence to the content of a class, peculiarities of children’s age, opportunities of independently analyze and observe, etc.

The mentioned criterion is the most extensive one by its characteristics and it is a prerequisite for a child’s development and teaching.

The following Figure introduces analysis of Developing environment criterion for all nine preschools.

135

Figure 48: Analysis of Developing environment criterion by preschools

TOTAL AVERAGE 84,38

Stepanavan 96,88

Vanadzor 90,63

Spitak 100,00

Metsamor 78,13

Voskehat 68,75

Armavir 90,63

Voskepar 68,75

Nerkin Tsaghkavan 78,13

Dovegh 87,50

0 20 40 60 80 100

According to the Figure 48, this criterion has mixed level of performance, though the lowest indicator is not so troublesome and has been recorded in Voskehat and Voskepar /68.75%/. The highest level of performance has been observed in Spitak /100.00%/. The level of performance recorded in preschools of Stepanavan /96.88%/, Vanadzor and Armavir /90.63%/ can be considered as good one for this criterion.

The next Figure presents Developing environment criterion by regional analysis.

Figure 49: Analysis of Developing environment criterion by regions

Lori 95,83

Armavir 79,17

Tavush 78,13

0 20 40 60 80 100

136

Based on the given Figure, this criterion is highly performed in all regions /above 78.13%/. The highest level of performance has been recorded in Lori /95.83%/.

The next criterion of class observation card is Children class participation, which assumes analysis of children class participation, establishment of conditions for cooperation, analysis of a child’s participation in a game room.

The following Figure introduces analysis of Children class participation for all nine preschools.

Figure 50: Analysis of Children class participation criterion by preschools

TOTAL AVERAGE 91,67

Stepanavan 100,00

Vanadzor 82,14

Spitak 100,00

Metsamor 100,00

Voskehat 89,29

Armavir 92,86

Voskepar 89,29

Nerkin Tsaghkavan 82,14

Dovegh 89,29

0 20 40 60 80 100

Children class participation criterion is one of the essential child-centered teaching criteria, which allows organizing teaching in a way to develop a child’s person comprehensively during studyng process. Based on the analysis of this criterion, the maximum level of performance has been recorded in preschools of Stepanavan, Spitak and Metsamor /100.00%/. The performance level of this criterion is above 82.14% in the remaining preschools.

The next Figure presents Children class participation criterion by regional analysis.

137

Figure 51.Analysis of Children class participation by regions

Lori 94,05

Armavir 94,05

Tavush 86,90

0 20 40 60 80 100

According to the Figure 51, this criterion is highly performed in all three regions /above 86.90%/.

The last criterion which is included in the observation card is Tutor skills. During the observation of this criterion the following was taken into consideration: tutor’s communication abilities, speech literacy, respectful, acceptable and comprehensible approaches towards a child’s personality, cooperation with an assistant, sensitivity towards gender aspects, etc.

The following Figure introduces analysis of Tutor skills criterion.

Figure 52: Analysis of Tutor skills criterion by preschools

TOTAL AVERAGE 82,87

Stepanavan 83,33

Vanadzor 83,33

Spitak 83,33

Metsamor 83,33

Voskehat 83,33

Armavir 83,33

Voskepar 79,17

Nerkin Tsaghkavan 83,33

Dovegh 83,33

0 20 40 60 80 100

138

This criterion is considered as one of the key criteria, as it expresses the development level of tutor’s both personal and professional skills, which directly impacts the development level of a child’s personal, cognitive, emotional and other fields. Based on the analysis of this criterion, it is equally and highly performed in almost all preschools /83.33%/.

The next Figure presents Tutor skills criterion by regional analysis.

Figure 53: Analysis of Tutor skills criterion by regions

Lori 83,33

Armavir 83,33

Tavush 81,94

0 20 40 60 80 100

Based on the Figure above, this criterion is highly performed in all three regions: Lori, Armavir and Tavush /83.33% և 81.94% correspondingly/.

The Figure bellow introduces average data of class observation cards implemented in all preschools and reveals efficiency of classes carried out by the observed criteria.

Figure 54: Analysis of class observation results by preschools

97,92 94,58 89,72 87,77 90,23 91,19 90,52 81,47 74,92 Spitak Dovegh Armavir Voskehat Voskepar Vanadzor Metsamor Stepanavan Nerkin Tsaghkavan Nerkin

139

The average data of all criteria present that classes are implemented efficiently in all preschools /above 80.00%/. The results in Voskepar region are comparatively low /74.92%/, though it is not troublesome.

Concerning regional results (Figure 55), it can be stated, that based on the average data of all criteria, the level of efficiency of classes implemented in preschools of Lori region is the highest and composes 94.34%.

Figure 55: General description of class observations by regions

94,34 87,63 100 84,14 80 60 40 20 0 Tavush Armavir Lori

6.2 The testing analysis of children by factors and subfields

Looking at the testing and retesting results of children among all preschools (figure 56) we see that the most increase been recorded in the following factors - General math knowledge subfield's (3) Number recognition/48.69%83.78%/, (6) Math knowledge /39.01%73.12%/, andlogic and thinking subfield's (4) Forming stereotypes /35.32%70.52%/.

Looking at the testing and retesting results of children not attending to a preschool, we see that there's been an increase in every factor. The most increase been recorded in the following factors General math knowledge subfield's (3) Number recognition/48.69%83.78%/ and Logic and thinking subfield's (11) Recognition of similarities-differences /41.62%58.56%/

Looking at figure 56 one can see that the testing results of children attending to preschool exceed the testing results of those not attending to preschool. The most increase been recorded in General math knowledge subfield's (5)Basic math knowledge /17.79%/, Oral speech perception subfield's (7) Response to multistep instructions/16.06%/ and Logic and thinking subfield's (11) Recognition of similarities-differences /23.31%/ factors.

140

Comparing the retesting results of children both attending and not attending to a preschool we see that those who attend to preschool have better results at the end of the year. General math knowledge subfield's (3) Number recognition /31.4%/ indicator and Logic and thinking subfield's (11) Recognition of similarities-differences /33.97%/ indicator differ the most.

141

Figure 56: Generalized testing and retesting results by indicators

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 98,69 96,29 95,63 94,75 93,31 91,05 86,01 83,78 82,86 82,67 82,06 80,44 80,40 77,98 75,52 73,12 73,00 70,79 70,52 68,86 61,38 57,96 57,76 56,94 52,38 52,04 51,90 48,69 48,54 45,04 40,71 39,01 38,05 36,07 35,32 34,65 30,15 28,37 27,00 26,12 16,58 16,31 16,07 7,54 4,14 4,11 3,05 2,78 2,16 1,11 1,01 0,81 1. Printed 1. text 10. Time reading 6. Math knowledge 8. Letter recognition 2. Spatial perception 12. Basic writing skills 3. Number recognition 4. Forming stereotypes 5. Basic math knowledge 9. Recognition of left-right 13. Sensual-motional skills 7. Response to multistep instruction

11.Recognition of similarities-differences

142

Figure 57 presents the testing average data by subfields of all the children. We can note that the maximum increase in the testing and retesting data was Logic and thinking subfield /46.64%78.27%/.

The testing results of the control group have also exceeded the retesting results (Figure 57). Maximum increase been recorded in (2) Logic and thinking subfield /32.40%46.38%/ and (3) Oral speech perception subfield /56.94%68.86%/.

As for testing, Figure 57 shows that the results of the target group children, by all subfields, exceed the results of control group children. Again, the largest difference was in (2) Logic and thinking subfield /14.24%/ and (3) Oral speech perception subfield /16.06%/.

Comparing the retesting results of children attending to preschool and those not attending; we see that those who attend to preschool showed better results than control group children.

Figure 57: Generalized testing results by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 95,63 78,27 73,00 70,92 69,98 68,86 56,94 55,53 55,21 49,44 48,87 48,43 47,80 47,05 46,64 46,38 42,26 39,67 39,39 38,65 32,65 32,40 32,08 24,83

1. General 2. Logic and 3. Oral speech 4. Early 5. Writing and TOTAL math thinking perception reading drawing skills AVERAGE knowledge

Now, we'll present children development dynamics and differences per subfields for each region.

The analysis shows (Figure 58) that the most developed subfield, among children attending to preschool and those not attending, is (3) Oral speech perception.

143

As for (1) General math knowledge subfield, the retesting results of target group children exceed testing results in Lori region/45.04%70.28%/. The control group children retesting results largely exceed testing results in Armavir region /38.09%48.96%/.

In Armavir region, for (1) General math knowledge subfield, target groups' both testing and retesting results largely exceed the same results of the control group /14.87% and 27.05% respectively/.

Figure 58 shows that (2) Logic and thinking subfield's target group children retesting results largely exceed testing results in Lori region /38.57%81.55%/. The control group children retesting result largely exceeds the testing result in Lori region /31.19%55.24%/. Target group testing result largely exceeds control group's both testing and retesting results in Armavir region /19.01% and 37.65% respectively/.

Figure 58 shows that (3) Oral speech perception subfield's target group children retesting results largely exceed testing results in Lori region /67.62%100.00%/. Control group children retesting result largely exceeds the testing result /51.43%80.48%/, again in Lori region, however yields to the testing result in Tavush region for 6.02%.

For the same subfield, target group testing and retesting result largely exceed the same result of the control group in Tavush region /17.13% and 35.65% respectively/.

As for (4) Early reading subfield (Figure 58), the retesting result both for control group and target group exceeds the testing result in Lori region /32.65%52.27%/. Control group retesting result largely exceeds the testing result, again in Armavir region /22.73%36.52%/ but yields at Tavush region /26.27%24.65%/. For the same subfield, the target group both testing and retesting result largely exceeds the same result of the control group, in Tavush region /10.65% and 32.53% respectively/.

144

Figure 58: Regional analysis by subfields

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 100,00 96,30 100 95,63 90,61 86,82

90 83,80 81,55 80,48 78,27 76,01

80 73,00 70,28 69,98 68,86 67,62 67,58 66,67 66,44 65,45

70 63,64 60,65 57,95 57,18 56,94 56,73 56,19 55,53 55,24 55,21 52,96

60 52,73 52,54 52,27 52,27 51,91 51,43 49,17 49,09 49,07 48,96 48,87 48,43 47,30 47,05 46,99 46,64 46,38 45,10 45,06 45,04 44,11 50 43,63 42,26 41,59 41,55 40,83 40,60 39,67 39,39 38,57 38,09 36,92 36,81 36,79 36,75 36,52 34,72 33,26 32,75 32,65 40 32,65 32,40 32,08 31,19 26,67 26,27 25,48 24,83 24,65

30 22,73 20 10 0 Lori Lori Lori Lori Lori Tavush Tavush Tavush Tavush Tavush Armavir Armavir Armavir Armavir Armavir TOTAL AVERAGE TOTAL AVERAGE TOTAL AVERAGE TOTAL AVERAGE TOTAL AVERAGE 1. General math knowledge 2. Logic and thinking 3. Oral speech perception 4. Early reading 5. Writing and drawing skills

145

Figure 58 shows that (5) Writing and drawing skills subfield's target group children retesting result largely exceeds the testing result in Lori region /45.06%56.73%/. Control group retesting result exceeds the testing result only in Tavush region /36.75%41.55%/.

(5) Writing and drawing skills subfield's target group testing result largely exceeds the same result of the control group in Tavush region /10.24%/. For the same subfield's retesting result - the target group testing result largely exceeds the result of the control group in Armavir region /16.36%/.

Figure 59 shows that during the testing period the results of Tavush region exceed the other two regions, but retesting results show that Lori region exceeds the other two regions.

Figure 59: Percentage indicators of beneficiary children’s dynamics

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group 72,95 80 72,73 67,09 53,73 52,82 60 50,91 48,34 44,59 41,33 39,85 38,56 37,53 40

0 Armavir Tavush Lori By all the subfields' factors, Figure 60 shows the average difference of the results among children included in the program's first and second testing, and results of children included and not included in the program. We see that target group and control group retesting results largely exceed the testing results in Lori region /28.4% and 15.2% respectively/. Target group testing result largely exceeds the control group testing result in Armavir region /13.4%/ and for retesting - Tavush region /25.76%/.

146

Figure 60: Percentage indicators of beneficiary children’s dynamics

RTest-Test RTest control-Test control Test-Test control RTest-RTest control

30,0

25,0

20,0

15,0

10,0

5,0

0,0 Armavir Tavush Lori TOTAL AVERAGE

147

6.3. Generalised gender results by factors and subfields

Figure 61 shows gender characteristics of children attending to preschool and those not attending in all regions per testing factors.

Looking at the gender testing and retesting results of all the children at the preschools, both beginning of the year and at the end, the boys showed better results compared to girls, except for spatial perception factor where in the beginning of the year the girls' result exceeded by 0.3%. At the beginning of the year the boys' advantage were in these factors General math knowledge subfield's (5) Basic math knowledge /9.01%/, (9) Recognition of left-right /14.16%/ and Oral speech perception subfield's (7) Response to multistep instructions /11.56%/.

Looking at testing and retesting results of children not attending to preschool we can see that at the beginning of the year, by various factors, the results between boys and girls were different, however the boys results did prevail. At the beginning of the year a main advantage of boys been noted by the following factors: General math knowledge subfield's (5) Basic math knowledge /4.19%/, (3) Number recognition /4.75%/, Oral speech perception subfield's (7) Response to multistep instructions /4.79%/, and Writing and drawing skills subfield's (13) Sensual- motional skills /10.27%/. At the end of the year following factors were advantageous Logic and thinking subfield's (11) Recognition of similarities-differences /8.09%/ and (4) Forming stereotypes /11.65%/.

Although, per the averaged data of all the preschools, mostly the boys were more developed than girls (also some tutors mentioned this) especially among children attending preschools, however, no conclusion on correlation between gender specificities and children’s development can be made, as the picture is slightly different in the next subsection (4.1), where development by gender of the children attending and not attending preschools per regions and communities has been presented. For the two regions, mostly the girls' results exceed the boys' results.

148

Figure 61: Testing generalized results by indicators and gender

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group

60,00 54,62 54,32 52,93 52,51 51,16 49,84

50,00 47,30 46,62 44,74 44,37 44,12 43,36 43,24 43,19 43,12 42,35 42,28 42,24 42,15 41,42 41,21 41,01 39,86 39,83 39,73 39,39 38,82 38,64 38,01 37,92

40,00 37,21 35,99 35,66 34,80 33,89 33,85 33,29 33,14 31,88 31,03 30,87 30,85 30,72 30,19 30,06 29,58 28,76 28,38 27,60 30,00 27,49 26,74 26,18 26,12 26,07 24,76 23,78 23,62 23,28 21,98 21,71 21,09 20,41 19,89 18,93 18,93 18,75 18,16 20,00 17,91 16,65 16,39 15,91 15,73 15,66 14,56 14,53 14,26 13,50 12,44 11,86 11,81 10,46 9,64 8,23 10,00 8,09 6,94 4,72 4,26 3,13 2,82 2,63 1,59 1,48 1,46 1,39 1,39 1,23 1,11 1,01 1,01 0,93 0,56 0,25 0,00 0,00 0,00 Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female 1. Printed text 2. Spatial 3. Number 4. Forming 5. Basic math 6. Math 7. Response to 8. Letter 9. Recognition 10. Time 11. 12. Basic 13. Sensual- perception recognition stereotypes knowledge knowledge multistep recognition of left-right reading Recognition of writing skills motional skills instruction similarities- differences

149

According to testing subfields, Figure 62 shows the gender characteristics for children attending and not attending to preschools for all regions.

Looking at the testing and retesting results of children attending and not attending to preschools, according to their gender, we see that both at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year the boys' results were higher than the girls' results, except for a few retesting subfields. For the target group both for the beginning of the year and for the end of the year, boys had an advantage especially in the following subfield: (3) Oral speech perception /11.56% and 13.61% respectively/. At the beginning of the year, for the control group, the boys' results overtook in the following subfields: (3) Oral speech perception /4.79%/ and (5) Writing and drawing skills/4.98%/, and for the year-end - (2) Logic and thinking subfield.

Figure 62:Testing generalized resultsby subfields and gender

Testing Testing of control group Retesting Retesting of control group

60,00 54,62

50,00 42,63 42,28 41,01 39,34 38,57 38,01

40,00 35,63 31,58 31,40 30,87 30,85 30,72 30,57 30,30 28,12 27,47 27,46 26,46 26,33 26,07 25,65 25,23 24,64

30,00 24,25 22,91 22,53 22,39 22,19 21,98 21,40 21,34 21,13 20,96 20,15 19,35 18,54 18,49 18,25 17,70 17,64 17,20 16,92 15,73 14,70

20,00 14,44 12,94 11,89 10,00

0,00 Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female 1. General math 2. Logic and thinking 3. Oral speech 4. Early reading 5. Writing and TOTAL AVERAGE knowledge perception drawing skills

150

6.4. Socio-demographic description of families whose children both attend and do not attend to a preschool and description of children development dynamics according to gender

Figure 63 shows that in three communities of Armavir region, both at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, during the survey of children attending and those not attending to preschool, families that have good or average socio-economic conditions their children were better developed in Voskehat (according to the number of correct answers received per child) and families with bad socio-economic conditions: their children were better developed in Armavir. However, this does not mean that only socio-economic condition defines the level of child development, because, other than this factor, not less impact has the preschool factor, the family members' occupation on the angle of having free time to spend with a child, and many other possible factors. However, per qualitative data results (according to preschools' head teachers and tutors) the socio-economic conditions affect the children mood, concentration during the class, and socialising. Children from families with bad socio-economic conditions, who attend to preschool in Metsamor and Voskehat, at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year did not give a single correct answer (per child). Children from families with better socio-economic conditions who do not attend to preschool did not give a single correct answer in Metsamor.

Figure 64 shows gender characteristics of children's progress attending and not attending to preschool. Both at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, boys' development level (according to the average correct answers given per one child) were higher than girls' - again attending to preschool. For those not attending to preschool the image was the other way around except for Armavir - at the beginning of the year, and Voskehat - at the end of the year. Thus, we can conclude that, children attending to preschool, the boys are better developed than girls in all regions. For those not attending to preschool the image varies.

151

Figure 63:Description of social demographic conditions of families of children attending and not attending preschool in Armavir region, by children progress

Target group (beginning of year) Target group (end of year) Control group (beginning of year) Control group (end of year)

25 20,80 20,00 19,00 18,33 18,33 17,20 17,00

20 16,00 15,60 14,40 13,67 13,50 13,33 13,25 13,00 12,67 12,2 12,14 12,00 15 11,50 10,50 10,43 10,00 10,00 9,00 8,50

10 7,00 7,00 2,50 5 2,50 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0 Good Average Bad Good Average Bad Good Average Bad Armavir Metsamor Voskehat

Figure 64:Gender description of children attending and not attending preschool in Armavir region by children progress

Target group (beginnig of year) Target group (end of year) Control group (beginning of year) Control group (end of year)

25 21,60 19,83 19,33 19,00 17,00 20 16,80 16,20 14,50 14,33 14,00 13,60 13,20 13,00 13,00 12,60 12,40 11,80 15 11,75 10,20 10,00 9,86 9,60 9,20 10 8,57

0 Male Female Male Female Male Female Armavir Metsamor Voskehat

152

Figure 65 shows that children included in Tavush region preschools and those not included, both at the beginning of the year and at the year end, per child development level the leading position has Tsaghkavan - despite the family's socio-economic conditions except for families with average socio-economic conditions whose children do not attend preschool. Remarkably, children from average socio-economic families who do not attend to preschool at Dovegh and Voskepar, did not give a single correct answer both at the beginning and end of the year - per child. In general, there is no visible correlation between child development and different socio- economic conditions of families, according to the average number of correct answers given per child for the three communities.

Figure 65:Description of social demographic conditions of families of children attending and not attending preschool in Tavush region, by children progress

Target group (beginning of year) Target group (end of year) Control group (beginning of year) Control group (end of year)

25 22,00 22,00 21,00 20,00

20 18,00 18,00 16,67 16,33 16,00 15,75 14,75 14,00 14,00 13,60 15 13,50 12,75 12,17 12,00 11,33 11,33 11,25 10,40 10,25 9,88 9,25 9,17 9,00 9,00 9,00 8,50

10 8,00

5 4,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0 Good Average Bad Good Average Bad Good Average Bad Dovegh Voskepar Nerkin Tsaghkavan

153

Figure 66 shows the gender characteristics of children both attending and not attending to preschool in Tavush region. Here, unlike Armavir region, both at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year the girls' average level of development were higher except for Tsaghkavan's control group year-end results.

Figure 66:Gender description of children attending and not attending preschool in Tavush region by children progress

Target group (beginnig of year) Target group (end of year) Control group (beginning of year) Control group (end of year) 19,50 20 17,75

18 16,50 16,40 16,00 16 15,25 14,00 13,67 13,33 13,25 12,75 14 12,60 11,50 11,33 10,83 10,83

12 10,50 10,25 10,00 9,75 9,00

10 8,67 8,00 8 7,33

0 Male Female Male Female Male Female Dovegh Voskepar Nerkin Tsaghkavan

154

Figure 67 shows that there is no clear advantage of any community in Lori region. The family's socio-economic condition and the correct answers given per child were completely different. This means that for Lori region also, there is no clear image of the family's socio-economic conditions that affluence on child development - therefore we cannot possibly make a comment on this. The only worrying fact is that children who do not attend to preschool from good socio-economic families, at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, no single correct answer was given per child in Spitak.

Figure 67:Description of social demographic conditions of families of children attending and not attending preschool in Lori region, by children progress

Target group (beginning of year) Target group (end of year) Control group (beginning of year) Control group (end of year)

25 24,00 22,00 21,00 21,00 19,00 18,75

20 18,33 17,75 17,00 17,00 16,50 15,00 15,00 15,00 14,00

15 13,25 13,00 13,00 12,89 12,50 12,33 12,00 12,00 11,63 11,44 11,00 11,00 10,88 10,00 10,00 10,00 9,75 10 8,00 7,50

5 0,00 0,00 0 Good Average Bad Good Average Bad Good Average Bad Stepanavan Vanadzor Spitak

155

Figure 67 shows the progress of children depending on their families' socio-economic conditions - those who attend to preschool and those who don't in Lori region. As in Tavush region, here also the girls' development factors are higher at the beginning and at the end of the year - both among children attending to preschool and those who do not - except for Spitak's control group both beginning and end of the year.

Figure 68:Gender description of children attending and not attending preschool in Lori region by children progress

Target group (beginnig of year) Target group (end of year) Control group (beginning of year) Control group (end of year)

25 21,33 20,00 19,00

20 18,43 17,00 16,29 16,25 15,33 14,25 13,57

15 13,33 13,00 12,67 12,33 12,14 12,00 11,71 11,57 11,00 10,50 10,43 10,00 9,29 10 9,25

0 Male Female Male Female Male Female Stepanavan Vanadzor Spitak

156

7. GENERAL OVERVIEW/SUMMARY

This paragraph represents:

 overview of qualitative survey results  overview of quantitative survey results

o assessment overview of a child o overview of class observations  conclusions  ways of solving current problems

In general, executives of the micro program, tutors and parents state that this micro program has its positive influence on children development dynamics.

7.1. Overview of qualitative results

Thus, the obtained and generalizedresults of field visits made at the beginning and at the end of the year are presented below:

 The general conditions of a preschool

 A community's being urban or rural can have little influence on a preschool: both in terms of organizing the physical environment, limitation of staff member selection and expectations from a preschool.

 The conditions of premises of the preschools were good - newly renovated. However, in two preschools that had 2 groups, 1 of the rooms was transit and the parents and tutors see this as a problem. With regard to heating, there was a problem only in Dovegh, Voskepar, and in Nerqin Tsaghkavan community preschools, where during the field visits, it had been very cold. In few cases, it's been mentioned that the preschool/school is located at the very edge of the community and it takes 40 minutes to get there, which during the cold weather is becoming nearly impossible. There was a problem with water supply in Nerqin Tsaghkavan where the water is supplied every other day.

157

 Generally speaking, it can be said that there's been a desire to extend the daily regime because for example there's been a preschool that worked until 16:00 o'clock but at the same time it did not have sleeping facilities.

 There were preschools that benefited from UN's food program. In all preschools, the means for buying food were provided by the parents. The amount paid by the parents varied - for hot and cold meal the monthly investment was AMD 500-4000, for hot or cold meal the monthly investment was AMD 1000-2000

 A very few preschools had separated working centers, others only had accessories from the working centers. Remarkably, many preschools were not well equipped with educational materials, didactic and visual accessories.

 Urban community preschools had many children aged 5-6, whereas the rural communities had a lot less (Dovegh, Voskepar, Nerqin Tsaghkavan)

 Often, the head teachers have problems with efficient planning of the budget which affects the upgrade of necessary equipment. Although, the program did not foresee creation of dining and sleeping facilities (hot meal, beds). Besides, the quality of the services provided suffers a lot because of the tutors low income - lack of drive to work.

 Preschool staff

 Because all the preschools were newly opened the teaching program also was new for everybody: mainly the tutors did not fully imagine the principles of child-centered and integrated learning methods, applied situational methods, which can be referred to as a lack of experience. In the whole image, the tutor from Spitak preschool can be separated whose approach to classes was very creative - trying to fetch the topics in a new form and way.

 In all the preschools the tutors work alone. The tutors responsible for child hygiene failed to provide proper attention.

 All the tutors had trainings. Every tutor was satisfied with the training provided saying that it was full of new material and they received a lot of knowledge.

158

 In some preschools tutors did not use the working centers as they were not formed yet. Tutors mainly concentrate on all the fields for the child development.

 During the classes the tutors used integrated methods.

 One of the tutors wished that sometimes they had class hearings by the teachers who provided those trainings, so that they know what they are doing right and wrong.

 Socio-economic conditions of communities, family's lifestyle

 Socio-economic conditions in the communities (according to the respondents) affect children indirectly. For example, sometimes children bring their family problems to preschool, or children are well informed about the family problems, parents are not able to take their children to theatre or cinema. Except getting to know cultural values, in socially vulnerable communities, parents focus their efforts on caring for everyday concerns, earning everyday bread, and not educating children. In this case, in order to improve this socially unequal condition, preschools try to provide equal conditions to every child. Particularly the problem was sharp in bordering zones (there has been a case when a child couldn't use the toilet because they did not have it at home). Stepanavan preschool children had greater involvement in agricultural jobs, particularly, they move the animals, stay with animals so that they won't escape, or gathering potato.

 In the families the upbringing of children lays under both parents responsibility, however, the mother was responsible for the child care. The parents mainly explain their decisions to children.

 Children were independent in their dining and dressing matters, with the rest, mothers were helping them. The children helped in simple household tasks, and tidy up after themselves. In some cases children were doing some simple shopping (e.g. buying bread). Children were punished for the lies, and arguing with elder brother or sister. Parents often punished depriving their children from their favorite things, putting child in a corner (in some cases beating or "I'll tell to father"). In one case, with socially vulnerable parent, there were moments when his/her mental-emotional state did not allow explaining everything to the child.

159

 There were many children in preschools who went to kindergarten before, and moved to preschool because the fee was less, the location was closer (in one case there was no speech therapist in the kindergarten and the child was moved to preschool so that a school's speech therapist can assist)

 Parents expectations from preschool

 The main objective taking a child to preschool is to make him/her ready for the school. They expect that children in preschool can have a chance to socialize with other children and will learn school's 'how to'.

 Gender differences in children's abilities

 The majority of tutors mentioned that children abilities are not dependent on gender. The opinion of the rest is equally distributed.

 Program financing

 Mainly the head tutors did not see any danger for the continuation of the program

 Parents opinion whose children do not attend to preschool

 These parents denied taking their children to preschool for few reasons: the absence of finance, the preschool being away, someone looks after the child at home. However we must note that these parents imagination about the preschools takes to the financial side of it. They think that whoever has financial abilities, s/he takes his/her child to preschool.

 The registered changes at the end of the year

 Changes in the physical environment one can note that at the end of the year handmade accessories and colorful wallpapers have been added. In some preschools, parents and tutors noted that there was a lack of toys that caused a deficiency of accessories or a lack of children's negligence.

o The tutors have absorbed the new teaching methods; they become more experienced and have more confidence. They have implemented various activities.

160

o In all the preschools the parents were satisfied the building conditions, tutors' attitude and the knowledge gained by the children. The elementary school has been a great investment since children have been taught the ‘how to’, speech literacy, learned the numbers, count, and has elementary communication skills. Some progress has been reported in children with language problems.

 The children with some linguistic problems have a positive shift due to the work of a tutor or speech therapist. Children adopted the tutor’s speech and in some cases they did correct family member’s speech.

 In-depth interviews with parents of children who did not attend preschools showed that there was a lack of information about the existing pre-school education: they didn't take the children to preschool either because of the absence of transport means, misinformation (parents are not aware of the preschool being free of charge which resulted to not even getting to know the conditions) or there is someone at home who looks after the children.

 The head tutors about the preschools weaknesses (suggestions)

 More money should be allocated from budget to purchase didactic materials

 Observations were made for nutritional and sleeping regimes (the head tutor from Vanadzor wished that the preschools regime become longer day so that the children can sleep in the preschool. There are many mothers who are employed. Remarkably, the preschool also works long-day, however the children do not get to sleep. And compared to short-day regime, the parents pay more - AMD 6000)

 Children to be provided with free food.

 Shifting to state budget financing, there might be financial problems

 Some problems arose with the building renovation and the suggestion was to have a professional construction company for implementing that tasks taking responsibility under PIU.

161

 It is essential that continuous trainings be provided to tutors to get acquainted with the news from the trainers so that tutors do not receive the necessary information from other kindergarten tutors.

 There is a need for a methodologist at the preschool, that will perform classrooms hearings and coordinate the process, as the director does not manage to deliver hearings personally.

 Per parents investment (AMD500 monthly) external tutors come to preschool and 2-3 times per week they deliver foreign language, singing classes for 20 minutes. There is a will that these classes to be predefined.

7.2. Quantitative analysis summary

7.2.1. Summary of Child Testing:

Thus, analyzing the development dynamics of children attending to preschools, micro projects implementation institutions, during one academic year, as well as comparing the results of the children included and not included in the program at the beginning and the end of the academic year, we can state the following conclusions:

 As a result of the project implementation, the results of testing and retesting of children included in preschools, significant increase was recorded in General math knowledge subfield's (3) Number recognition, (6) Math knowledge factors and Logic and thinking subfield's (4) Forming stereotypes factor.

 Control group children testing and retesting results show that mostly an increase was in General math knowledge subfield's (3) Number recognition factor and Logic and thinking subfield's (11) Recognition of similarities-differences factor.

 In general, children who attend to preschool have better results compared to those not attending to preschool.

 For all the children, between the testing and retesting results, the most increase been in Logic and thinking subfield.

 Data analysis per each region

162

 The testing and retesting results in Armavir region preschool, show that mostly an increase was in Logic and thinking subfield's (4) Forming stereotypes factor and General math knowledge subfield's (6) Math knowledge factor. In general, the testing and retesting results of children who attend to preschool exceed the testing and retesting results of children who do not attend to preschool. With regard to children who do not attend to preschool, the testing results surpass the retesting results.

 The testing and retesting results in Tavush region preschool, show that mostly an increase was in General math knowledge subfield's (6) Math knowledge factor, (3) Number recognition factor and Logic and thinking subfield's (11) Recognition of similarities-differences factor. As it was in Armavir, here at Tavush region the testing and retesting results of children who attend to preschool exceed the testing and retesting results of children who do not attend to preschool.

 All three preschools in Lori region, in general, were performing the program quite well. An increase been recorded in General math knowledge subfield's (3) Number recognition factor and Logic and thinking subfield's (11) Recognition of similarities-differences, (4) Forming stereotypes factors. As well as in Lori region, the testing and retesting results of children who attend to preschool exceed the testing and retesting results of children who do not attend to preschool.

7.2.2. Summary of classes observed

Thus, analyzing the observation cards at the beginning and end of the year in the institutions implementing preschool micro projects, one can conclude the following:

 All the eight factors included in the observation card have quite higher representation - 82% and more, but the maximum is Questions factor.

 Questions factor analysis for all 9 preschools show that it recorded the maximum result of 100%.

163

 In general, class efficiency in all preschools was high. The regional leader is Lori with Spitak community.

 All three preschools in Armavir region have successfully implemented the program. All factors had high representation but the maximum was Questions factor with 100%

 From three preschools in Tavush region, class observation average score was recorded only in Voskepar. In Dovegh and Nerqin Tsaghkavan, the program was implemented quite well and the factors range 80% or more.

 Preschool classes analysis in Lori region show that all the factors have higher representation /83.33% and more/ but maximum is Teaching activities and Question factors - 100%.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

All the minimum conditions were provided in the preschools to organise daily preschool activities. However, there are problems, solution of such will increase the efficiency. For this reason, below, are few points.

 General conditions of preschools

 It can be said that in some ways the type of community influenced organizing the physical environment, the limited choice of staff selection, and the expectations from the preschool (especially in bordering zones). Urban community preschools have many children aged 5-6 years old, unlike the rural communities (Dovegh, Voskepar, Nerqin Tsaghkavan)

 The building conditions were good, recently renovated.

 The following problems were faced at preschools: predefined water supply, inappropriate temperature, uncomfortable location (preschools were at the border of community). There was a need for long-day regime at some preschools.

 In the case of a mixed age group, it was difficult to combine topics by age, and there was an age problem.

164

 The program does not provide the supply of food and in some preschools needed organizing food supply. In some preschools where the food problem was solved by UN's Food Program, the children were receiving full supply of food in a school's cafeteria (some problems arose because the location of a cafeteria was far from preschool). The rest of the preschools did depend on parents who themselves provide food and in this case children were receiving cold food only. The parents' investment, in this respect, was hugely different from preschool to preschool and optimization had to be performed.

 It is noteworthy that mainly, the preschools did not have so much educational material, didactic and visual accessories, toys. A small part of the budget has been allocated to purchase educational materials and supplies. Only few preschools had separated working centers, other preschools only had some accessories from these working centers. And at the end of the year handmade accessories and posters were added.

 Preschool staff

 If at the beginning of the year the tutors did lack some experience and confidence, at the end of the year the condition have improved slightly.

 Only tutors worked in all the preschools. The hygiene tutors, singlehandedly, could not cope with their task - to provide appropriate attention.

 All the tutors had trainings. All the trainings were absolutely satisfying and tutors mentioned that it was full of useful material and they got a lot of knowledge. However, when tutors started to use it in practice, they were unsure whether they were doing everything right.

 There was a desire for class hearings by the training teachers so that the tutors can practically understand what they are doing right and wrong.

 There was a desire to have a methodologist in the preschool who will perform class hearings and will coordinate the whole learning process.

 Parents wished the preschool to have groups for various activities.

165

 Socio-economic conditions of communities and family lifestyles

 The socio-economic condition of communities, mainly indirectly, affects child development. The conditions created at preschools are to improve this socially unequal condition by trying to provide similar conditions to every child.

 Fathers and mothers were equally engaged in upbringing the child. Parents mainly described their decisions to their children. Children were mostly unaided in their dining and dressing activities, but for other activities the mothers were coming handy. Children were helping at the household activities - tidying up after themselves.

 Parents expectation from preschools

 Parents took their children to preschool so that they become ready for school. At the end of the academic year, parents were satisfied with preschool, tutors, the knowledge the children receive. Children with linguistic problems had some progress.

 Program financing

 Mainly the head tutors did not see any danger for continuation of the program.

 The opinion of parents whose children do not attend to preschool

 These parents did not take their children to preschool for few reasons: the lack of finance, preschool location (being far), or having someone who looks after the child at home. However, it's worth mentioning that these parents' perceptions takes them to the financial side of it. They think that whoever is financially secure, he/she take their child to preschool.

 Class provision

 Some preschools do not use working centers as the latter are not formed yet.

 Tutors did concentrate on every aspect of child development.

166

 During the classes the tutors apply integrated principle.

 In general, class provision efficiency is high in all preschools.

 All tutors are able to guide the classes on the right course and can ensure children to be active in the classroom and apply the right teaching methods.

 Children development

 The retesting results of children were higher than testing results in the preschools. Compared to retesting results of children who do not attend to preschool, the retesting results of those attending to preschool were higher. This allows to state that preschool played important role on children development.

 The analysis showed that in the above mentioned three regions there is no clear link between the socio-economic conditions of families and children knowledge - the image is irregular. The impact of the family's socio-economic bad state can be summed up only in the qualitative research: the socio-economic state of a family makes the child self-contained and constrained, and parents have less time to engage with the child.

 Depending on a child gender, their development levels were different so significant conclusion cannot be drawn. In some communities the girls' knowledge exceeded boys' and vice versa.

Recommendations  Keep on maintaining the micro project's state budget financing model.  The approach for the food supply to level for all the preschools so that every child gets same conditions.  If possible, support the preschool by:  creating open air playgrounds  adding more financial means to create a chance to add classes in those preschools where the number of children and / or demand was increased.  periodically increasing the necessary accessories: literature, equipment, toys, didactic accessories and sports equipment - all at the expense of the budget.

167

 organizing children's sleep and day regime in the preschools where the need was obvious and there were possibilities to organize them  adding more personnel especially an assistant for tutor because the tutors with their busy regime are not able to look after child hygiene appropriately  To establish standards for the evaluation of the tutors' work. Make monitoring and based on the outcomes, encourage tutors with leading and high indicators in all existing preschools, which will promote healthy competition.  Experience has shown that just training for tutors is not enough and there is a need for trainers to provide class hearings as well while tutor is not confident and is not ready to work.  In case of possibility, organise extra classes at preschools  As it was last year, this year also the need to ensuring the availability of sufficient educational materials is present. for this reason, more importance should be given to educational and training materials line, while forming the budget: providing sufficient quantity of educational and training materials as it has large impact in providing better environment for child development. It is necessary to extract the above said line provided in the budget, to include all the necessary items for the effective organization of the classes and the effective use of the means.  To spend the budget in the most optimum way, each region can organise wholesale purchase of furniture and teaching and training materials. As a result all the preschools will have similar furniture with the same price, will match the child's development standards (quality, colour, etc.). Other than that, while purchasing wholesale, the price is obviously cheaper.  Separation of working centers (as states the training), because clear arrangement of accessories will enhance the sense of neatness and order among children.  Regularly carry out works in giving coverage to preschool activities via media.  Give a chance to parents, whose children do not attend to preschool, to participate in thematic events to get to know the preschool operations and to assist in decision making process whether they want their child to be part of preschool or not.

168