ITS Workshop: Trust in Education in the South Caucasus: Examining the Institutional Trust-Policy Attitudes Nexus

Presenters: Abbas Abbasov and Dr. Oren Pizmony-Levy, Teachers College, Columbia University
In-person: 279 GDH
Zoom: https://teacherscollege.zoom.us/s/7386176073

 

Scholars and policymakers agree that enacting change across the educational system hinges upon the amount of trust placed in the government and in public institutions. Research on public confidence in education, however, is lacking. This is especially true with respect to research in contexts outside of North America and Western Europe. In this presentation, we examine dynamics of public trust in education in three Southern Caucasus countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. We use data from the Caucasus Barometer, an annual household survey about social economic issues and political attitudes, for the years 2008 to 2013. We ask three questions: (1) What sociodemographic variables predict trust in education? (2) How does trust in education relate to policy-related attitudes? (3) Do the patterns vary systematically between the three countries? Our analysis provides evidence for the link between trust in education and policy-related attitudes in the South Caucasus. We discuss the implications of this research for policy research in international and comparative education.