M. Nutsa Kobakhidze
Magda Nutsa Kobakhidze is an Assistant Professor in Comparative and International Education in the Faculty of Education of the University of Hong Kong. Currently, she is M.Ed. (Comparative and Global Studies in Education and Development) program coordinator at HKU.
Her PhD dissertation won prestigious Gail P. Kelly Award 2016/2017 for outstanding doctoral dissertation from the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), USA. Nutsa is also an award-winning early career teacher in the Faculty of Education, HKU.
Nutsa's research interests include privatization of education (focus on private tutoring), comparative and international education, teacher professionalism and identity, and methodologies of large-scale international assessments - PISA, PIRLS, TIMSS. Geographical focus of her research comprises Georgia and former Soviet republics, Hong Kong and South East Asia (Cambodia and Myanmar/Burma). Nutsa’s works has been published in well-regarded international journals such as Comparative Education Review, Globalisation, Societies and Education, Journal of Curriculum Studies, Asia Pacific Journal of Education and Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education. She is an author and co-author of books published in English, Georgian and Burmese.
Nutsa has extensive leadership, management and consulting experiences with the Ministry of Education of Georgia, international organizations (such as UNESCO, OECD, Global Partnership for Education) and educational institutions in multicultural contexts. She has been leading multinational teams in Myanmar and Hong Kong and has obtained competitive research grants from universities, governments and foundations.
Nutsa is a frequent contributor and commentator in international and Georgian national media, such as the South China Morning Post, The Diplomat, Times Educational Supplement, Euronews, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Georgian service), Transitions Online, Mtavari TV, TV Pirveli, Publika, RTHK and The Teacher.
Nutsa holds a Master’s degree in International Education Policy from International Educational Development Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA and PhD in Comparative Education from the University of Hong Kong.
https://web.edu.hku.hk/staff/academic/nutsak
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Magda-Nutsa-Kobakhidze
Supervisors: Mark Bray, Ora Kwo, Gita Steiner-Khamsi
Her PhD dissertation won prestigious Gail P. Kelly Award 2016/2017 for outstanding doctoral dissertation from the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), USA. Nutsa is also an award-winning early career teacher in the Faculty of Education, HKU.
Nutsa's research interests include privatization of education (focus on private tutoring), comparative and international education, teacher professionalism and identity, and methodologies of large-scale international assessments - PISA, PIRLS, TIMSS. Geographical focus of her research comprises Georgia and former Soviet republics, Hong Kong and South East Asia (Cambodia and Myanmar/Burma). Nutsa’s works has been published in well-regarded international journals such as Comparative Education Review, Globalisation, Societies and Education, Journal of Curriculum Studies, Asia Pacific Journal of Education and Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education. She is an author and co-author of books published in English, Georgian and Burmese.
Nutsa has extensive leadership, management and consulting experiences with the Ministry of Education of Georgia, international organizations (such as UNESCO, OECD, Global Partnership for Education) and educational institutions in multicultural contexts. She has been leading multinational teams in Myanmar and Hong Kong and has obtained competitive research grants from universities, governments and foundations.
Nutsa is a frequent contributor and commentator in international and Georgian national media, such as the South China Morning Post, The Diplomat, Times Educational Supplement, Euronews, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Georgian service), Transitions Online, Mtavari TV, TV Pirveli, Publika, RTHK and The Teacher.
Nutsa holds a Master’s degree in International Education Policy from International Educational Development Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA and PhD in Comparative Education from the University of Hong Kong.
https://web.edu.hku.hk/staff/academic/nutsak
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Magda-Nutsa-Kobakhidze
Supervisors: Mark Bray, Ora Kwo, Gita Steiner-Khamsi
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Books by M. Nutsa Kobakhidze
Myanmar is in a new political and economic era, and the Comprehensive Education Sector Review (CESR) which examined educational needs for this new era observed a “need to address private tuition as a critical policy issue”. The CESR contributed to the National Education Strategic Plan (NESP) for the government that took office in 2016, and in turn the NESP recognised that in many schools “parents have to pay additional private tuition fees, which are the largest component of household expenditure on education”. The present research, commissioned by UNESCO in liaison with the Union Government of Myanmar, was conducted by a team from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) with support from a team at the Yangon University of Education (YUOE). It addresses the policy implications of private tuition by presenting empirical findings and analysing them within a comparative framework that draws on international experience.
The book is based on Kobakhidze’s PhD dissertation, which won the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Gail P. Kelly Outstanding Dissertation Award.
“[A] theoretically innovative and substantively enlightening account of shadow schooling in Georgia… A landmark achievement.” - Roger Dale, University of Bristol
“… an important and timely topic … addressed with exceptional thoroughness. It constitutes a solid piece of academic work and clearly makes a significant contribution to the field of shadow education.”
- Heidi Biseth, University College of Southeast Norway, Chair of Gail P. Kelly Award Committee in 2017
“…through robust critical analysis, Kobakhidze invites a humanistic re-visioning of economy and society.“ - Ora Kwo, The University of Hong Kong
Papers by M. Nutsa Kobakhidze
The paper draws on qualitative data obtained from sixteen academics representing diverse institutions and disciplines, as well as the secondary data including educational legislation, government regulations, and ministers’ decrees, various reports from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), think tanks and media archives. The findings of this paper reflect how academic freedom is understood in Georgia and two major threats to its exercise in universities, namely, interference from external politics and internal managerialism. We argue that academic freedom as a concept does not yet have its own place in Georgia’s higher education system, protected de jure but with different de facto realities. The paper sheds light on how Soviet legacies of self-censorship, hidden mechanisms of control and a culture of conformity continue to create tensions inside universities and an environment in which academic freedom cannot flourish.
Based on qualitative empirical evidence from a larger three-year study conducted in eight Yangon schools, combined with textbook and document analysis, the study highlights the patterns of exceptional respect and reverence traditionally afforded to Myanmar teachers. This is then contrasted with the consequences of the growing marketisation of educational values through private tutoring. The study identifies private tutoring as a force polluting into what society perceives to be a sacred profession. Although bringing much-needed economic benefits to teachers, in the eyes of society, it has corrupted the idea of teachers as sacred individuals.
In this study, teaching and tutoring are perceived as two distinct domains that operate according to different moral principles. This analysis enables critical reflection on the privatisation of education and its consequences for the lives of teachers, which are still under-researched.
Myanmar is in a new political and economic era, and the Comprehensive Education Sector Review (CESR) which examined educational needs for this new era observed a “need to address private tuition as a critical policy issue”. The CESR contributed to the National Education Strategic Plan (NESP) for the government that took office in 2016, and in turn the NESP recognised that in many schools “parents have to pay additional private tuition fees, which are the largest component of household expenditure on education”. The present research, commissioned by UNESCO in liaison with the Union Government of Myanmar, was conducted by a team from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) with support from a team at the Yangon University of Education (YUOE). It addresses the policy implications of private tuition by presenting empirical findings and analysing them within a comparative framework that draws on international experience.
The book is based on Kobakhidze’s PhD dissertation, which won the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Gail P. Kelly Outstanding Dissertation Award.
“[A] theoretically innovative and substantively enlightening account of shadow schooling in Georgia… A landmark achievement.” - Roger Dale, University of Bristol
“… an important and timely topic … addressed with exceptional thoroughness. It constitutes a solid piece of academic work and clearly makes a significant contribution to the field of shadow education.”
- Heidi Biseth, University College of Southeast Norway, Chair of Gail P. Kelly Award Committee in 2017
“…through robust critical analysis, Kobakhidze invites a humanistic re-visioning of economy and society.“ - Ora Kwo, The University of Hong Kong
The paper draws on qualitative data obtained from sixteen academics representing diverse institutions and disciplines, as well as the secondary data including educational legislation, government regulations, and ministers’ decrees, various reports from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), think tanks and media archives. The findings of this paper reflect how academic freedom is understood in Georgia and two major threats to its exercise in universities, namely, interference from external politics and internal managerialism. We argue that academic freedom as a concept does not yet have its own place in Georgia’s higher education system, protected de jure but with different de facto realities. The paper sheds light on how Soviet legacies of self-censorship, hidden mechanisms of control and a culture of conformity continue to create tensions inside universities and an environment in which academic freedom cannot flourish.
Based on qualitative empirical evidence from a larger three-year study conducted in eight Yangon schools, combined with textbook and document analysis, the study highlights the patterns of exceptional respect and reverence traditionally afforded to Myanmar teachers. This is then contrasted with the consequences of the growing marketisation of educational values through private tutoring. The study identifies private tutoring as a force polluting into what society perceives to be a sacred profession. Although bringing much-needed economic benefits to teachers, in the eyes of society, it has corrupted the idea of teachers as sacred individuals.
In this study, teaching and tutoring are perceived as two distinct domains that operate according to different moral principles. This analysis enables critical reflection on the privatisation of education and its consequences for the lives of teachers, which are still under-researched.
The paper draws on data from in-depth interviews of 18 public and private school teachers in different parts of Georgia in 2013. The findings of the qualitative study indicate challenges that teachers face as a result of their dual lives between schools and private tutoring. The challenges include moral dilemmas related to tutoring their own students for whom they are already responsible in mainstream schools. The benefits of tutoring are mainly associated with financial gains, which, in the context of low salaries from schools, become crucial for everyday survival. The paper discusses as how private tutoring becomes a “survival strategy” in the education system with low teacher pay, weak accountability system, and lack of monitoring efficacy. The findings also demonstrate the ways in which shadow aspects of tutoring affect human relationships as well as teacher collaboration in schools. Further, the findings provide insights into the social reality structure in Georgia, particularly showcasing strong social networks of obligation leading to favouritism.
The paper highlights that the widely accepted and normalized practice in the Georgian society, teachers’ tutoring their own students, is not necessarily a form of corruption. However, it includes a high risk of corruption because of a thin line existing between teacher professional ethics and a professional misconduct. Data from teacher interviews demonstrate how teacher-student negotiation for education in the unregulated tutoring market increases the risks of corruption, which can lead to eroding professional credibility of teachers and, in a broader sense, undermine public trust in the education system. No matter the degree of teacher corruption, the quality of public education suffers from the lack of teacher investment in and commitment to public education.
Understanding how teachers themselves rationalize tutoring own students, what private tutoring means to them in the course of their professional lives, contributes to the international research agenda by exploring teachers’ perspectives on private tutoring i.e., the supply side of the phenomenon that contrasts with much of the existing research, which focuses on the demand side. Further, the findings offer insights into what constitutes teacher corruption in post-Soviet Georgia, which makes an important contribution to the international scholarship on the educational corruption. The study is among the first to investigate the issue of teacher corruption from the perspectives of teachers themselves in Georgia.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented shift towards educational technology around the world. Teachers began exploring digital tools, which contributed to their professional development. This ethnographic research studied a teacher online Facebook community in Georgia from a participant-observer perspective to understand its social interactions and discussions, using both qualitative insights collected through observation, and quantitative data using various digital tools. The chapter attempts to find a silver lining in the middle of the pandemic: it argues that the adaptation to educational technology during the pandemic gave teachers new opportunities to explore teaching online. Peer-led teaching and learning, sharing experiences, and best practices appeared to be productive. This chapter contributes to understanding the Georgian context during the early waves of the pandemic, and can serve as a unit of comparison with similar online communities elsewhere.
To set the stage, the chapter sketches the scale and nature of shadow education in selected countries. It then considers some of the driving forces for demand. In general, families invest in supplementary tutoring because they do not consider regular schooling adequate to meet their needs and aspirations. The question then is whether the schooling is of poor quality, or whether schooling could be described as strong but insufficient to meet all aspirations of families in the increasingly competitive environments in which they find themselves.
Methodology – This case study was carried out in the spring of 2012 in 17 Georgian schools. School teachers and school principals from public and private schools were interviewed. A convenience sampling technique was used to recruit all participants. In addition to data obtained from research participants, various policy documents, laws on general education, minister's decrees, and statistical databases are analyzed and incorporated into the study.
Findings – The data analyses showed that while the certification policy, in some way, increased teachers’ social status and prestige in the society, it failed to meet teachers’ expectations regarding remuneration policy and professional development opportunities. The TCE, without an adequate compensation policy as well as other types of incentives to increase teacher motivation, creates only a technical threshold for teachers to obtain a teacher certificate to secure jobs, rather than being a catalyst for a genuine professional development opportunity.
Value – The study is the first attempt to empirically examine the teacher certification process in Georgia, thus it fills a knowledge gap that exists in the field. The Georgian TCE is the first TCE in south Caucasus; thus, the study of the implementation and outcomes of the Georgian reform provides a unique opportunity for the region and for the rest of the developing world to learn from the successes and failures of the reform process. "
სახელმძღვანელო დაეხმარება სკოლის დირექტორებს სკოლის ეფექტურად მართვასა თუ სერტიფიცირებისთვის მზადებაში. თითოეული თავის ბოლოს წარმოდგენილი სიტუაციური მაგალითები ხელს შეუწყობს წიგნში განხილული საკითხების პრაქტიკაში დანერგვასა და განხორციელებას."