The article was published on Etaloni.ge on January 22, 2020.

Why have thousands of teachers failed to prove their competence? Should exam tests be changed? How realistic are the vacancies announced by the schools? - This is an incomplete list of questions that Etaloni.ge receives from teachers, and naturally, we tried to find the answers in the organization that they apply to most often. So, the questions of Etaloni.ge are answered by Maia Kobakhidze, the president of the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia, who shares her own experience and gives us some exclusive information:

- More than 40% of general education teachers are affiliated with the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia and we work in two directions:Trade union's main aim- protection of labor, socio-economic, legal rights of teachers and employees; 2. Care for their professional development.

Accordingly, we have established the NGO “Professional Development Center for Employees in Georgian Educational Institution", which employs authoritative, qualified experts, best trainers and extensively conducts training sessions tailored to the needs of teachers to enhance their qualifications.

- How often and mostly with what problems do teachers apply to you?

- The issues are various ... there are technical problems, computer-related errors when you have to upload and publish activities to an electronic database, eschool, and in fact they have either not been uploaded or have not been published... There were various types of errors when uploading surveys of senior teachers. On such technical errors and other issues, it would be fair to emphasize the work and support of the National Center for Teacher Professional Development. Our organization works extensively with the Teacher's House and every teacher receives an immediate and objective reaction to their individual problem;

There are problems with the current legislation, the requirements of the bylaws. We are approached by practicing teachers who have not been able to carry out the required activities, in particular, have not been able to confirm the subject competencies or have been able to carry out the mandatory activities but have not been able to accumulate the required 19 credits; senior teachers, whose researches had defects... since last summer, the Teachers’ House has worked on all individual issues and, in line with the principle of objectivity, has resolved the issue in favor of teachers, given many teachers the opportunity to correct technical deficiencies and developed draft normative acts that will solve teachers' problems.

- In addition, the employment contracts of the practicing teachers were not terminated, which caused a feeling of injustice among the senior and leading teachers ...

Every person is an individual and we cannot forbid anyone to have their own opinion. However, we, the trade union stand for solidarity, collegiality, mutual support ... Otherwise, public union will not be formed or developed. I do not think it is fair to raise the issue in this way, but it should be said that the last stage of the reform ended in disastrous results, as thousands of teachers failed to prove their competence.

- In your opinion, what is the reason for this?

- I believe, this is caused not by the low professionalism of teachers, the opinion which, unfortunately, is spreading in the society, but also by the criteria of teacher evaluation, which has not been thought through, and in some cases, has lost its touch with the reality.

During the reform period of the general education system, numerous shortcomings were revealed, all the ministers made various changes, which caused a kind of confusion among the teachers; teachers have been discredited for years. Psychological stress and the violation of professional dignity have caused many older teachers to lose motivation and confidence in exams.

We should consider exam tests separately, which, in our analysis, are inconsistent with textbooks, school curricula, and the national curriculum. It would be good for experts from scientific circles, education specialists to study these tests and to make their own conclusions or opinions known to the public.

Naturally, arises question - why have the practicing teachers, who have had the best results in terms of student development over the years and enjoyed high authority in schools, in the wider circle of teachers, failed to overcome the barrier of examination? Unfortunately, no one discusses this and no one has studied it in depth, the question remains unanswered. The Teachers' House has started working in this direction, and we hope that the Teacher Professional Development Center will answer all the questions.

How did the other teachers pass the exams? We have to consider the human factors. We appreciate and welcome the efforts of the senior, leading and mentor teachers who have found the strength in themselves to respond to all of these challenges, although most point out in personal conversations that they do not use the knowledge gained on the exam in daily activities and this further reinforces our view on the tests.

We are far from thinking that all teachers working today meet modern requirements. Our goal was to ensure that the reform did not turn into a persecution of teachers, a punitive measure, and that the real possibilities of each teacher were assessed as objectively as possible.

As for practicing teachers who have failed to confirm their competence, a decision has been made to extend the employment contract until the end of the school year and we welcome the timely, objective decision of the Minister of Education.

-But this is a temporary measure, Ms. Maia.

-Taking radical measures in the middle of the school year would primarily hurt students and also endanger schools in the regions because of the shortage of teachers.

Now the main thing is to find a way out of the situation, to objectively assess the qualifications of practicing teachers and to make a decision on their transition to the upper level. The Ministry of Education and the Teachers' House are actively working to solve this problem.

-We also have seeking teachers; why do we constantly talk about shortages?

- There were also statusless current teachers in the system and at the beginning of the complex reform, they were automatically granted the status of a seeker... there are seekers who have not worked in a school. Special regulations are set for seeker teachers. One of the goals of the reform was to change generations, but I believe that this process should be carried out consistently, step by step and not so that the existing 20,000 teachers are replaced by new staff who we do not know how will lead the teaching process. We have many examples of a young seeker entering school through a competition and leaving school at his/her own will in two weeks to a month.

-Do you know about such facts personally?

-Yes, we have such facts and many of them... Therefore, it is necessary to prepare young professionals in the training system, but at the same time, to strengthen and intensively support professional staff for their development. These are two intertwined directions.

-Ms. Maia, teachers often appeal to us that the announced vacancies do not actually exist and that those who wish to enter the profession do not have a chance to get a job at the school.

-Some seekers may have had such experience, but it is not systematic. Under current law, the school is required to announce an internal competition first in order for current teachers to have full-time employment; then an open competition is announced and in such a case, it is impossible for the applicant to not be admitted to the school unless the other contestant is a teacher with the status of senior, leading or mentor. There are cases when a high school teacher from a neighboring school participates in a competition - at such times, the school prioritizes the current and experienced teacher.

Most seeker teachers want to be employed in big cities, not wanting to work in the countryside. The reality is that, before the start of the new school year, many schools announced vacancies and hired seekers. If there are no real vacancies for seekers, then why did the National Center for Teacher Professional Development create a National School for Teacher Training, which is a clear confirmation of one of the mechanisms for the shortage of schools and their elimination.

I would like to thank all the ministers who have made decisions on the development of the teacher, the student and the education system as a whole, and refined the professional development scheme, but at the same time I have to explain, to terminate the employment contracts of the practicing teachers and the results of their practical activities not being analyzed in depth, such an approach will hurt the system, and first of all - the students; we have the best practical results among practicing teachers in terms of students' academic performance, and I can't share the opinion that this is the merit of private tutors. In the highland villages, in small contingent schools, the student continues his/her successful education at the higher education institution only on the basis of the school. We have cases when the students of the regions continue their studies in the prestigious universities of the world. Based on all this, I think it is necessary to evaluate the qualifications and results of the practicing teachers and then make a decision about them staying in the profession.

-Who should study all this and when?

Our demand is that there is a complex, additional criteria for teacher evaluation – in other words, that their results are evaluated as well. It is good that the teacher's practical assessment component has been introduced in 2015, but we have found many problems in that as well. Due to the fact that the head of the group of internal assessors is the school principal, we have specific violations during the evaluation of the teacher's lesson, due to the subjective approaches. We have our opinions and demands. For example, in the process of testing a teacher’s practical activities, it is best to involve teachers from neighboring schools to more objectively evaluate the teacher’s activities.

-Is the Ministry of Education going to take your recommendations into account?

We are cooperating intensively with the Ministry of Education; we have signed the main document regulating cooperation - sectoral agreement. Accordingly, we are involved in the process of drafting and reviewing draft normative acts in the commissions, where we present our proposals, the absolute majority of which is decided as a result of reasoning and consensus, in favor of the general education system, teacher, student, so as not to damage the quality of teaching.