Georgia Hiring 1000 ESL Instructors

Georgia, an emerging democracy in the South Caucasus, has embarked on an ambitious program to staff public schools with 1,000 native English speaking teachers by the end of 2010. As the first state sponsored ESL program in Eastern Europe, this is a top priority for President Mikheil Saakashvili’s government to prepare Georgian youth to take part in the global economy.

The first group of 50 teachers arrived in Georgia on July 30th. The President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, met with the second group of 102 native English on August 15th. “The main requirement is to make Georgian children of 5-16 ages the English language speakers. We will achieve this goal in following 4 years; this will give Georgia opportunity to make next steps for the development in the Post-Soviet area in the future decades,” announced the President at the meeting with the foreign teachers in Batumi, a resort city on the shores of the Black Sea. This program builds upon Georgia’s internationally recognized success in education - in January 2010 Georgia was awarded Vice-Presidency of UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education.

The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, in conjunction with the Government of Georgia commenced work on this initiative in early 2010 and in May 2010 Footprints Recruiting, a Vancouver, Canada based recruiting company, was contracted to supply teachers for this program. Footprints CEO Ben Glickman traveled to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, and signed a contract with Director Gia Mamulashvili of the Teacher Professional Development Center on May 17th.

“This is a great opportunity for recent graduates to gain valuable teaching experience while waiting for the domestic job market to improve,” Mr. Glickman stated. With the recession, ESL job opportunities have become more competitive in traditional markets such as Korea and Japan. Unlike the EPIK program in Korea, ESL teachers in Georgia are not required to have any teaching experience, or even a university degree or a passport from an English speaking country. Although the monthly stipend – 500 Georgian Lari – is modest by western standards, the benefits of free airfare, free housing, teaching experience, a cross cultural experience and a job far outweigh the small stipend for many applicants. “Georgia rocks. This experience so far has been amazing.” Stated Joanne O’Malley, a teacher from Ireland who arrived in Georgia on August 15th.

Footprints Recruiting Incorporated is the largest independent recruiter of ESL teachers in the world. Footprints works with Ministries of Education in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Georgia as well as private sector companies in countries around the world to staff them with ESL Instructors.