---
title: "Teacher Certification"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/education-law-en/teacher-certification-360-en"
field: "Education Law"
description: "Teacher certification in Georgia: Article 21-3 — qualification routes, Article 21-7 — the career scheme, Article 61-2 — transitional rules. Legal.ge."
reviewed: "2026-06-23"
updated: "2026-11-08"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Teacher Certification

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/education-law-en/teacher-certification-360-en

Teacher certification in Georgia is often perceived as a separate, one-off examination system. That no longer reflects reality: under the Law on General Education the separate certification system was replaced by the teachers' professional development and career advancement scheme, while the qualification requirements are set out in Article 21-3. This page explains through which routes a teacher's qualification may be obtained, how the transitional norms operate and what the law counts as a certificate.

## The seven routes to qualification — Article 21-3

Paragraph 1 of Article 21-3 provides that teachers holding the respective positions must satisfy the requirements established by the teacher's professional standard and one of the following requirements: a master's degree from the integrated bachelor-master teacher-preparation programme; a master's degree in education together with confirmed subject competence; a subject-appropriate degree and completion of the teacher-preparation programme or its distance course within 2 years of starting work as a teacher; a bachelor's degree together with the preparation programme completed within the bachelor's studies and subject competence; the right to teach on the basis of a higher-education document together with subject competence; a doctor's degree in the subject or in education; or the right to teach on the basis of a certificate obtained upon completion of the teacher-preparation programme.

The certificate works as follows: in that last-mentioned route it is a fully-fledged path — a certificate of the teacher-preparation educational programme grants the right to teach. The other routes (a master's degree, doctoral studies, subject competence) establish the qualification without a certificate — what matters is that the professional standard and one requirement from the list are satisfied.

## Special teachers and other categories

For special teachers, paragraph 3 of Article 21-3 sets separate requirements: a master's degree together with the special teacher's examination or a preparation certificate; a special module within the integrated programme; a doctor's degree in special education or in education sciences (with a thesis on inclusive education); a bachelor's degree together with a special-education master's programme or a certificate; a bachelor's degree in psychology or the academic degree of an occupational therapist together with the examination or a certificate; or the examination together with one requirement of paragraph 1. A special teacher working with pupils with sensory, intellectual, behavioural or emotional special educational needs must additionally have completed a specialised certificate programme for teaching such pupils.

A teacher of aesthetic education, sport or technologies needs complete general education and higher or vocational education in the relevant field, the teacher-preparation programme and the examination in the subject taught; a teacher of the military subject needs complete general education, military education and the preparation programme, and the Ministry of Defence is authorised to establish additional qualification requirements for them. Teachers of certain positions must know two languages, one of which must necessarily be Georgian.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/education-law-en/teacher-certification-360-en

### Does a separate certification system exist?

No — it was replaced by the professional development and career advancement scheme; qualification requirements are set by Article 21-3 of the Law on General Education.

### What is the role of the certificate?

A certificate of the teacher-preparation educational programme grants the right to teach and is one of the seven qualification routes.

### How are old certificates recognised?

Examination results from before the end of 2014 are counted in the new scheme, and teachers active or certified before 1 January 2015 are deemed to satisfy the requirements.

### What is the deadline for the preparation programme?

A teacher with a subject-appropriate degree must complete the preparation programme or its distance course within 2 years of starting work.