Abstract:

Vocational education is gradually gaining the reputation among the Georgian society and recovering after a long period of being undervalued. The support for vocational education system from international donors as well as the country’s strategic approach to the skills development made it possible to start the reforms in the sector, link the VET (Vocational Education and Training) providers to world of work as well as support vocational education with corresponding competences and trainings for teachers and infrastructure for the colleges and other VET providers. Quality assurance system of VET was successfully introduced as good practice sharing with European partners took place. Standards for external quality assurance mechanisms as well as internal measures have been introduced.

Despite the attempts of all the stakeholders there is still a lot to be done to make vocational education valued. The article deals with the research, which is based on focus groups consisted of the top management and teachers of VET providers in Georgia, to find out what are the internal challenges inside the teaching institutions, what kind of external support they seek and what are the gaps between them and other stakeholders that hinders the sectoral development.

The research team consisting of Georgian and German scholars aims at discussing the major challenges of the vocational education system in Georgia and make relations with European developed systems to share their best practices to adapt them and implement in Georgian reality, for purpose of which this article is the first significant step.

Keywords:

Vocational Education, Vocational Education in Georgia, Vocational Education Providers, Vocational Education Challenges.