Stakeholders Discussed the Merit-based Salary Policy Model and Research Findings for the ECE Institutions Educational Personnel

With the support of the World Bank, within the framework of the I2Q project, experts from the San Diego State University Research Foundation are carrying out complex activities in the direction of early childhood and preschool Education capacity building. One of the main directions of the experts’ scope is developing an increasing salary policy model , which will be linked to retention of qualified ECE and SRP educational personnel and promoting their continuous professional development. Dr. James Marshall – SDSURF’s evaluation systems expert, is carrying out this task.

On February 13, 2024, a meeting was held with stakeholders to discuss the salary policy model and research findings for the for the ECE Institutions educational personnel. The experts from San Diego State University, representatives of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, the Preschool Education Advisory Council under the Education, Science and Youth Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, and the relevant department of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth participated in the meeting.

Dr. James Marshall spoke about the country-wide salary survey for the early and preschool education sector. The survey was conducted by the consultancy company ACT Global. During the meeting, the representative of ACT Global presented a model of the increasing salary policy and spoke about the minimum wage calculated based on countrywide research findings. SDSURF experts briefed the attendees on the detailed plans for piloting the salary scale model across project’s target six local municipalities. In conclusion, parties agreed that, upon pilot, the findings will be shared and analyzed with the same composition of stakeholders.