Liana Mamulashvili, a teacher of the village Samtatskaro public school in Dedoplistskaro municipality as well as a participant of the TPDC program "Teach for Georgia" became a mentor teacher. Giorgi Machabeli, Director of the National Center for Teacher Professional Development congratulated the teacher on the promotion and awarded her with the certificate verifying the above status.

For the first time in Georgia, nine teachers have obtained the mentor’s status after the initiation of the Teacher Pre-Service, Professional Development and Career Advancement Scheme. For obtaining the mentor’s status the teachers have collected 25 credits through various professional activities within the scope of the scheme.

For obtaining the mentor status a leading teacher shall:

· conduct at least 4 model lessons (each 1 credit point);

· carry out a research on the needs of general education institutions and based on the research results hold workshops to share experience with colleagues (3 credit points);

· create a learning resource or peer-reviewed professional literature (2 credit points); and

· carry out additional activities / work (16 credit points). A leading teacher in order to obtain the status of the mentor shall collect the credit points based on the needs.

The Teacher Evaluation Group assesses the performance of the leading teacher and based on the evaluation of the documents in the teacher’s professional folder makes a decision whether to grant the leading teacher the status of the mentor or not, and whether to submit the proposal to the National Center for Teacher Professional Development.

The mentor’s duties and responsibilities are focused on the improvement of the educational process and the development of the Faculties and the school. The mentor’s status is a lifelong achievement.

During 2016-2017 academic years, within the scope of the scheme 1359 teachers have been promoted to the Senior Teacher position, 2- Leading Teacher, and 9- Mentor.