One of the key priorities of modern education is fostering critical and creative thinking, and Armenia’s public education system is not an exception. It is certainly good that the state recognizes the value of a thinking, creative individual and citizen. Yet it is bad, even painful, that the thinking, creative teacher is so often overlooked, and their role left unappreciated.

Perhaps it is emphasized in official standards, yet in reality, the opposite is true: the system pushes for standardization and rigid frameworks, because it is easier to control, manage, and assess a single uniform content. In contrast, free and creative approaches demand deep knowledge of pedagogy and the mature ability to distinguish the essential from the secondary.

This tendency to standardize everything—even the structure of a single lesson—does nothing to promote the critical or creative nature of teaching and learning. Any deviation from the many, sometimes illogical, requirements of the standard lesson observation form (regardless of the purpose) is considered a shortcoming. What choice does a teacher have but to set aside and ignore their own insights and free approaches aimed at solving real problems, and instead conform to the imposed templates—because that is a non-negotiable demand?

All of these point to just one thing: there is no trust or belief that the teacher is an individual, one who possesses a high level of responsibility, self-awareness, and a creative approach characteristic of a free person. Therefore, they are seen as incapable of deciding for themselves how to reach their goals and must instead be guided and forced into ready-made templates.

And everyone loses: the free-thinking, creative teacher becomes discouraged by the imposed templates, and naturally, teaching effectiveness suffers. The teacher who already thinks within rigid frames becomes even more constrained, because that is exactly what is expected of them. This raises a question: how can an unfree teacher cultivate critical thinking in their students?

Nelli Hayrapetyan