Direction:Education
Position:Associate Professor
Sophia is an experienced education specialist with over 16 years of experience as a teacher, lecturer, education consultant and education projects manager. At Ilia University Sophia has taught different education courses to future school administrators and teachers at BA, MA and PHD level. Also, at various times coordinated Education Administration Program and led the Tempus Higher Education Management program that envisaged MA program set-up in Georgia and Armenia. Sophia has worked as an education consultant for different national and international organizations including: The World Bank, Civic Education Institute, GOPA consulting, Consultation and Training Center (CTC), etc. Currently she serves as Professional Development Expert for the IREX consulting team in Georgia that supports the National Teacher Professional Development Center in implementing a country-wide professional development program for STEM teachers and school principals.
Sophia worked for the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia at various positions. Most importantly, she held the position of a Director at National Center for Teacher Professional Development in 2007-2010.
Ms. Gorgodze holds MA degree in International Education Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education and MA degree in American Studies from Tbilisi State University. She earned her Doctoral degree in Education from Ilia State University.
Scientific interests / research interests
Policy making in education. Decentralizatoin of Education System; Teacher Policies; internationalisation of Higher Education
- Gorgodze, Sophia. 2024. “Teacher Education Policies in Georgia.” In Menter, I. (Ed.). The Reform of Teacher Education in the Post-Soviet Space: A Comparative Analysis of Fifteen Independent Countries (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003348047
- Sophia Gorgodze & Lela Chakhaia. 2021. The uses and misuses of centralized high stakes examinations-Assessment Policy and Practice in Georgia, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 28:3, 322-342, DOI: 10.1080/0969594X.2021.1900775
- Maia Chankseliani, Sophia Gorgodze, Simon Janashia & Kairat Kurakbayev. 2020. Rural disadvantage in the context of centralized university admissions: a multiple case study of Georgia and Kazakhstan, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 50:7, 995-1013, DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2020.1761294
- Gorgodze, S., Macharashvili, L., & Kamladze, A. 2020. Learning for Earning: Student Expectations and Perceptions of University. International Education Studies. DOI: 10.5539/ies.v13n1p42
Gorgodze, Sophia. 2016. Rise and Fall of Decentralized School Governance: Decision-making Practices in Georgia. International Education Studies 9 (11) - Campbell, Anne and Gorgodze Sophia. 2015. Internationalization of Georgian higher education. HERJ Hungarian Education Research Journal. 6 (1)
- Sales, Gregory, Sonja Sentocnik, Jayson Richardson and Sophia Gorgodze. 2018. Reforming Georgia Education. Recommendations for Using Classroom Assessment to Improve Student Outcomes. Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. DOI: 10.5782/2223-2621.2018.21.2.5
- Chanturia Rusudan, Sophia Gorgodze and Tamar Chkhaidze. 2016. Inclusive Education Practices in Georgia. Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Individuals with Disabilities in Georgia – Alternative Report. Civic Development Institute. (In Egnlish)
- “Conflicted Teacher”. Published in Flip the System: Changing Education from the Ground Up. Edited by Jelmer Evers and Rene Kneyber. Routlege, 2016.
- Policy Note on Decentralization. Published in Decentralization of General Education System. Mtsignobari Publishing, Civic Development Institute. 2013 (in Georgian).
- “Teach and Learn Critical Thinking.” Published in Teach and Learn Critical and Creative Thinking. Mtsignobari Publishing, 2013 (in Georgian).
- “How to Make Teacher Professional Development More Effective.” 2012. ttp://cdi.org.ge/?page_id=374#tabs-374-0-4
- “Ensuring Safe School Environment: International Experience” published in Safe School without Community Involvement, USTARI, 2011 (in Georgian).
- “Knowledge Economy,” Teacher Magazine, Tbilisi, 2008 (in Georgian)
- “Montesorri Method,” “Dewey’s Laboratory School,” and “David Perkins: Teaching with Pandora’s Questions and Theory One” in Learning and Development Theories, TPDC, 2008 (in Georgian)
Articles on Education 2010, editor, TPDC, 2010 (in Georgian) - Professional Ethics Code for Teachers: Cases from Georgian Schools, Editor, TPDC, 2009, (in Georgian)
- What hampers equalizing force of Unified National Examinations in Georgia, 2007. (paper presented in Paris at UNESCO conference on private tutoring, cited in the publication of M. Bray on private tutoring) (In English)
Current Courses |
Course Catalog |
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History and Sociology of Higher Education-MA; International Education Policy-MA; Teaching and Learning Strategies-PHD. Research Methods in Education-MA; |
Sophia has had extensive professional development courses and study visitis in different countries including US, Finland, Estonia, Spain, Germany, Austria, Israel, Singapore. She used to be the delegate of Georgia on General Education in the Council of Europe. Sophia has been an invited scholar at UCLA, CA in 2013; She is the winner of ESU International Public Speaking Competition held in London in 2002.