Purpose and legal basis of the law
The field of special professional education in Georgia is governed by a dedicated law whose purpose is to regulate the process of delivering special professional education, to establish the procedure for receiving it and to define the status of the special professional educational institution. Under the law’s definition, special professional education is education aimed at preparing a person for future professional activity in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and/or the State Security Service of Georgia.
The legal basis of the field consists of the Constitution of Georgia, the international treaties of Georgia, the special law itself and other normative acts of Georgia. The law treats this education as a distinct branch of professional preparation directly linked to service in two state agencies, and for that reason it determines not only the educational process but also the circle of institutions entitled to implement its programmes.
Principal forms of study and the participants
Within the framework of the educational process the law distinguishes several forms of study, each serving a different situation:
- special professional training — a teaching process aimed at the acquisition of fundamental special professional knowledge and the development of the skills required in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and/or the State Security Service;
- retraining — a teaching process aimed at acquiring special professional knowledge different from that received earlier, caused by the need to change the specifics of the special professional activity;
- qualification advancement — a teaching process aimed at the acquisition of additional special professional knowledge and the refinement of skills by a person who already holds a special professional qualification.
Among the participants, a listener is a person who studies under a special professional educational programme, and an instructor is a person who teaches the listener in order to develop theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Knowing these definitions precisely matters for anyone planning their continuing education in the agencies: mastering a new specialisation is achieved through retraining, while deepening an existing qualification through qualification advancement.
Goals and the right to receive education
The goals of special professional education in Georgia are to provide the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Service with qualified personnel, to ensure the retraining and qualification advancement of the employees of these agencies, and to develop the learning system in the field of special professional education. The law thereby serves both the preparation of new personnel and the professional growth of those already serving.
The right to receive special professional education belongs to everyone, except persons who, in accordance with Georgian legislation, are not accepted into the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the State Security Service. The specific grounds for such non-admission are determined by the relevant legislation — the special education law does not restate them separately.