Education Crossroads: Alignments and Divergences in Latvian and Georgian Education Systems

Abstract

The article describes, analyzes, and compares the education systems of two post-Soviet countries - Georgia and Latvia. The main focus is on studying the alignments and divergences in the aims and objectives of general, vocational, and higher education, mandatory qualifications of teachers and professors, curricula, and students’ academic performances. Within the frames of the research, two types of desk research techniques are applied: internal desk research and external desk research, including online desk research, government published data, and customer desk research. Georgia and Latvia, both post-Soviet socialist countries, shared a unified education system before the Soviet Union’s collapse. After gaining independence in 1991, both countries developed their own systems, but Latvia started rebuilding its education system earlier. This early development led to differences in curricula, teacher qualifications, and academic performance. As a result, Latvian students show better academic achievements compared to Georgian students, as evidenced by international assessments like PISA and NCIEA.