Teaching in Georgia suffers from a severe image problem. There is a perception of the profession having low salaries and teachers themselves having low prestige. This perception plays a role in stopping brighter and more motivated young people from becoming teachers.

In spite of this image though, real remuneration for teachers has gone up considerably over the years. A full-time teacher salary compares well with other careers, especially in rural areas, where the average teacher salary is higher than the average household income.

National Teacher Prize has been improving the prestige of the teaching profession, awarding the most inspiring teachers in Georgia since 2017. However, improving the image of the profession requires a lot more in order to attract competitive candidates.

An ongoing structural issue concerning the teaching profession in Georgia is that, even though it attracts people who are motivated by the ‘right reasons’ – because teaching allows them to aid the development of children and young people (97%) and to provide a contribution to society (96%), it fails to attract the brightest school leavers into teacher training programmes – at least according to achievement scores in the standardized national exams. For example, each year between 2014 and 2020 students admitted to study education had the lowest average admission scores, compared to 10 other fields.

Reference: Data provided by EMIS upon request (September 2021)

Applicants compete for state grants for higher education (bachelor’s degree) based on the scores of three compulsory (Georgian language and literature, foreign language, and history or math , depending on the program) and, if required by university, fourth elective subject. While the candidate’s competing score is the absolute scaled score of all these subjects, each candidate competes for the grant with others who also passed the same (fourth) elective subject. For instance, students who chose maths as the fourth subject, compete for a scholarship with others who also passed math, regardless of the education field. If an applicant takes exams in two or more elective subjects required for different educational programs they are applying to, and exceeds the minimum competency threshold, they compete for the grant with the points obtained in the elective exam with which they are eligible to receive more funding, regardless where they will be enrolled. The state grants 50%, 70% and 100% of the standard annual tuition fee of GEL 2250, for four bachelor years. In 2021 the applicants for the integrated bachelor-master program for teachers were supposed to pass only the three mandatory subjects: Georgian language and literature, foreign language and history or math, depending on the university/specific program.

When applying for bachelor programs, an applicant who passes four or more subjects has higher chance of gaining a grant, as they compete with the pool of applicants who passed three compulsory exams as well as with the pool of applicants who passed the same elective subject exam(s). On the other hand, when preparing for the exams, those who pass only the three compulsory exams and no elective, have more time to improve their knowledge and skills in the three fields, instead of having to split preparation time with the fourth exam. In addition, other factors also come in play, as the applicant’s ranking of the educational programs they applied for – this ranking also contributes to determining where the applicant is enrolled out of the chosen multiple programs. Therefore, the competitiveness is not really determined by the number of subjects to pass, so we can not conclude that those applying for teacher’s programs are better or worse off in terms of competitiveness. According to a private tutor from Tbilisi, most universities prefer not to add a fourth subject to the compulsory exams “as they prefer to accept applicants more easily.”
The number of bachelor programs in the field of education are a lot less than in other fields. In 2021 there were 14 universities offering integrated bachelor-master programs for primary and subject teachers (five instead of six years of studies to obtain bachelor AND master’s degree), therefore the number of grants in this field are also low. Based on the aggregated data, in total 101 tuition scholarships were issued in the education field in 2014-2020 years.

Reference: Data provided by EMIS upon request (September 2021)

However, if we compare the size of the issued grants across the fields of study, majority of students who enrolled to study education in 2020 received 50% grants – 15 persons in total, 2 persons received a 70% grant and none received a 100% scholarship. In five years between 2014 and 2020 only one student of such program had a 100% grant.

Reference: Data provided by EMIS upon request (September 2021)

In conclusion, entrance requirements for bachelor’s and master’s education courses (as well as a year-long/60-credit teacher training courses available for subject specialists desiring to become teachers) are relative, meaning that while there is a minimum threshold that all applicants need to pass, students’ scores are assessed only in relation each other rather than objective grade criteria. The one-year teacher training course also requires passing an exam set by universities, however, they are generally able to accept a high number of applicants and are more demand-flexible.

In order to ensure that new Georgian teachers have competitive skillsets and high qualifications, the government should exercise significant quality control on recruitment to teacher training courses. TEDS-M shows that Georgian government has exerted “weak control” on such programs. For comparison, Germany has a combined control mechanism for teacher training programs, which means that even though all high school graduates are eligible to apply for university, the state establishes high requirements for admission to teacher training courses. In Germany, candidates’ school graduation exam results need to be in the top 30% of their cohort.