The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, with the view of civil integration of ethnic minorities, is carrying out the integrated policy. Although a number of steps have been taken in the direction of the Georgian language teaching, still, ignorance of the state language remains one of the problems among ethnic minorities living in Georgia, which may substantially hinder their full participation in political, cultural, economic and social life of the country.

Within the framework of Integration of National Minorities Strategy, the National Center for Teacher Professional Development has been implementing various activities since 2009 for promoting the state language teaching and civil integration of ethnic minorities living in Georgia. The comprehensive measures are being conducted which promote equal access to education for ethnic minorities, promote the state language and preserve national minority languages and cultural identity.

Since 2016, the Center has been carrying out the Professional Development Program for Ethnic Minority Teachers, which unites the programs implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia in the previous years - "Teach Georgian as a Second Language" (2009-2015) and "Georgian Language for Future Success" (2011-2015) aimed at promotion of the state language teaching and civil integration of ethnic minorities living in Georgia.

Aim of the Program

The program is designed for promotion of non-Georgian school / sector teachers’ professional development and improvement of teaching / learning in order to enhance the quality of the state language teaching. In addition, the program is focused on (2016-2019) the preparation of local non-Georgian school teachers for subject examination and teaching them the state language.

Georgian language courses

The Georgian language trainings are conducted by program assistant-teachers. At this stage, Georgian language courses proposed under the program involve 738 teachers of non-Georgian school / sector, including 290 A1 level and 448 A2 level teachers.

Informational Resources

Under the program and for provision of information resources (2016-2019), Teacher Induction, Professional Development and Career Advancement Scheme Guide, self-assessment questionnaire and the other scheme supporting documents and training materials have been translated (in Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani languages), printed and distributed to non-Georgian general education institution / sector teachers.

For partial solution of the issues related to non-Georgian school human resources, within the program, 3 groups of teachers were dispatched to non-Georgian schools in the regions settled mainly with ethnic minorities (Samtskhe-Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti):

• Georgian as a second language teacher- consultants (105);
• Georgian as a second language and social science subjects (history and geography) assistant teachers (135);
• Bilingual assistant teachers who are graduates of the 1 + 4 program and unlike the monolingual assistant teachers work with local teachers at any school subject provided in the national curriculum (14).