The role of education research in relation to policy and practice is contested (Aldridge et al., 2018). Its potential aims range from that of informing practice through joint research by practitioners and researchers (Wyse et al., 2020), to that of developing evidence to measure impact and inform policy (Wiseman, 2010). Regardless of purpose, research quality is valued while the indicators of quality are defined differently across the board. As part of the Academic City project, along with other objectives, the Armenian Government aims to improve the quality of education research to inform policy changes and evaluation and for practitioner improvement. The (Teacher) Education Work theme of that project’s Education Cluster aims to accomplish that aim through the approaches presented by Brooks and Turvey and Kyureghyan. To enable that work, we explored the state of academic publications in Armenia about education. This resulted in a unique review of educational research of one country. The aim of this review was to describe the current research trends about education in Armenia, and to explore links between research done and ongoing policy changes, if any. The review included any research published that corresponded to the following criteria:  published between 2005-2025  published in Armenian journals included in the list of the Republic of Armenia State Scientific Committee: note that these overwhelmingly comprised of in-house university publications,  published either by an Armenian author(s) or by non-Armenian author(s) exploring an Armenia-specific topic  research on K-12 or higher education in Armenia, or context-independent research on education  published in Armenian, English or Russian. The search led to over 2,100 papers that were then analysed based on research type, topic, research methodology, data collection tools, sample size, and funder, where available. Methodologically, the analysis shows that many papers omitted an outline of their chosen methods and how they secured the rigour of their research. This could be seen through an absence of stated and used methodology except for a few examples of empirical research based on simple surveys. The analysis also shows a disconnect from contemporary international literature and with ongoing policy changes in the country. This paper will present the research undertaken, its methodology and the main findings in the context of ongoing policy changes and the Academic City project.

Aldridge, D., Biesta, G., Filippakou, O. and Wainwright, E. (2018) ‘Why the nature of educational research should remain contested: A statement from the new editors of the British Educational Research Journal.’ In British Educational Research Journal 44(1), pp. 1-4 Wiseman, A. (2010) ‘The uses of evidence for educational policymaking: global contexts and international trends.’ In Review of Research in Education 34(1), pp 1-24 Wyse, D., Brown, C., Oliver, S. and Poblete, X. (2021) ‘Education research and educational practice: The qualities of a close relationship.’ In British Educational Research Journal 47(6), pp. 1466-1489