PH International

Applied Civic Education and Teacher Training Program Shares its Results to Stakeholders

Georgia | Momavlis Taoba - Civic Education Program | 2 Jul 2014



Applied Civic Education and Teacher Training Program (ACETT) summarized the results of its 4-year work at the event held in Krtsanisi on June 26, 2014. Funded by USAID and supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, ACETT worked with 740 schools nationwide to improve the quality and scope of school-based civic education and encourage participation of youth in Georgia’s civic and democratic processes.

ACETT trained 813 civics teachers through accredited civics course, provided workshops for school administration officials, and created a variety of professional development opportunities for teachers, such as master-classes by international experts, video resources, open lessons and roundtable discussions. Civics supplemental curriculum was developed and is used by students and teachers at ACETT’s partner schools of the program in all regions, Armenian and Azeri versions of the curriculum are used by ethnic minority students and teachers in Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli; The program helped to establish 500 school-based civics clubs through which students connect with local decision-makers and work voluntarily to resolve the critical issues for their schools and communities.

Since 2010, a total of 550 mini-grant projects were implemented by students, teachers, school administration officials and parents that center on youth involvement in democratic life of the country; Students have also been involved in using social media for civic engagement, youth forums and civics integration camps for national minority students. ACETT helped to create the Civics Teachers’ Forum, an independent professional organization which now brings together 504 civics teachers from all regions of Georgia. External evaluation revealed that compared with baseline study results, the number of students in program target group, who think civics is taught efficiently has increased by 23.9 percentage points, number of students, who confirm applying knowledge gained at civics classes to practice has increased by 27.5 percentage points, the number of students, who have participated in civic initiatives organized by NGOs and community groups has increased by 42.4 percentage points and the number of students in target group who had planned and/or implemented civic initiatives independently has increased by 32 percentage points.

Over 90,000 students, teachers, school administration officials, parents and community members took part in ACETT activities nationwide. Close-out event of ACETT featured presentations of students about their initiatives carried out for community benefit, such as clean up action in the Victory Park in Tbilisi, helping to improve infrastructure of the hospital yard for young patients with leukemia and efforts undertaken by Georgian and ethnic Azeri students to make traffic safer in Rustavi. Students also spoke about their blogs and how they have used social media for civic engagement.

ACETT awarded Ministry of Education and Science, the microfinance company “Crystal” and TV “Etrsulovneba” was their support to the program. Event was completed with impressive pantomime performance by students about the importance of civic education. Audience of the event included teachers, students, representatives of USAID and Ministry of Education and Science, local NGO partners, representatives from state and private sector and members of the Civics Teacher Forum.