Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:10:32.823Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Reforming a Whole School System

The Case of Kazakhstan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

Colleen McLaughlin
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Alan Ruby
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Get access

Summary

In 2011, Kazakhstan began the wholesale reform of the educational system, that is, the curriculum, assessment, teacher development, language policy, funding mechanisms, leadership, teacher appraisal and teacher working conditions. Innovative methods of implementation were used including the use of new networks of schools. The authors were partners to the establishment of the schools of innovation (NIS), which were the experimental sites that served as models for the later translation to the whole school system that completed in 2020. Since 2016, the authors, with a team from Nazarbayev University, have systematically researched the attitudes and perceptions towards the implementation of the new curriculum so as to gain insight into the challenges on the ground and to learn about implementing such a radical transformation in mainstream schools. The case study explores the model of change, its implementation and the different perspectives of the teachers and school leaders, parents, local leaders of education, school students and the national stakeholders and policymakers.

Type
Chapter
Information
Implementing Educational Reform
Cases and Challenges
, pp. 67 - 90
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bohr, A., Bruaer, B., Gould-Davies, N., Kassenova, N., Lillis, J., Mallinson, K., Nixey, J. and Satpayev, D. (2019). Kazakhstan: Tested by Transition. Chatham House Report. London: Chatham House.Google Scholar
Bridges, D. (ed.) (2014). Education Reform and Internationalisation: The Case of School Reform in Kazakhstan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cordingley, P., Higgins, S., Greany, T., Crisp, B., Araviaki, E., Coe, R. and Johns, P. (2020). Developing Great Leadership of CPDL. CUREE, University of Durham and University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
Cornell, S. E. and Engvall, J. (2017). Kazakhstan in Europe: Why Not? A Silk Road Paper published by the Central Asia–Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, Stockholm. ISBN: 978-91-88551-02-3. Retrieved 6 February 2020 from https://isdp.eu/content/uploads/2017/10/2017-cornell-engvall-kazakhstan-in-europe-why-not.pdfGoogle Scholar
Heyneman, S. P. (1998). The transition from party/state to open democracy: The role of education. Journal of Educational Development, 10:1, 2040.Google Scholar
HRW (Human Right Watch) (2019). ‘On the Margins’: Education for Children with Disabilities in Kazakhstan. Nur-Sultan: HRW.Google Scholar
Madeev, S. (2019). Presentation on the work of AEO Nazarbayev Intellectual schools and its monitoring of student attainment delivered at the NIS XI Annual International Research-to-Practice Conference Researchers Changing the World of Schooling, Nur-Sultan, 24–25 October 2019.Google Scholar
Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. (2010). State program of education development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011–2020 based on Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated February 1, 2010 No 922 ‘On Strategic Plan of Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan till 2020’ and Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 19, 2010 No 957 ‘On approval of the List of Governmental Programs’. Retrieved 10 March 2021 from https://www.akorda.kz/en/official_documents/strategies_and_programs.Google Scholar
MoES and NAE (2015). (Rus Instruktivno-metodicheskoe pis’mo) About approbation of the educational programmes for primary schools in pilot organisations of secondary education for 2015–2016, Guidance letter, Astana.Google Scholar
MoES and NAE (2017). On the features of organization of educational process in general secondary schools in the Republic of Kazakhstan in academic year 2017–2018 [In Ru. Ob osobennostiakh organizatsii obrazovatelnogo protsessa v obscheobrazovatelnyh shkolakh Respubliki Kazakhstan v 2017–2018 uchebnom godu], Astana.Google Scholar
NUGSE (Nazarbayev University Graduate Schools of Education) (2014). The Development of Strategic Directions for Education Reforms in Kazakhstan for 2015–2020, Diagnostic Report. Astana, Kazakhstan: Indigo Print.Google Scholar
OECD (2014). Review of National Policies for Education: Secondary Education in Kazakhstan. Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Ruby, A. and McLaughlin, C. (2014). Transferability and the Nazarbayev intellectual schools: Exploring models of practice transfer. In Bridges, D. (ed.) Educational Reform and Internationalisation: The Case of School Reform in KazakhstanCambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 287300.Google Scholar
Silova, I. and Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2008). How NGOs React: Globalization and Education Reform in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia. West Hertford, CT: Kumarian Press, Inc.Google Scholar
Steiner-Khamsi, G., Silova, I. and Johnson, E. (2006). Neoliberalism liberally applied: Educational policy borrowing in Central Asia. In Coulby, D., Ozga, J., Seddon, T. and Popkewitz, T. S. (eds.) World Yearbook in Education. London: Routledge, pp. 217–45.Google Scholar
Tampayeva, G. Y. (2015). Importing education: Europeanisation and the Bologna process in Europe’s backyard – The case of Kazakhstan. European Educational Research Journal, 14:1, 7485. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904114565154CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timperley, A., Wilson, H., Barrar, H. and Fung, I. (2007). Teacher Professional Learning and Development: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education. http://educationcounts.edcentre.govt.nz/goto/BESGoogle Scholar
Tremblay, K. (2019). Supporting the teaching profession in a changing world: First results and key messages for Kazakhstan in an international perspective. Key note presentation delivered at the NIS XI Annual International Research-to-Practice Conference Researchers Changing the World of Schooling, Nur-Sultan, 24–25 October 2019. https://conferences.nis.edu.kz/wpcontent/uploads/2019/11/%D0%A2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B9_2019–10-24-Oct-Kazakhstan-conference-Keynote-KT.pdfGoogle Scholar
Wilson, E. (2017). Bringing about Change in Schools: The Case of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools, Centre of Excellence Teacher and Leadership Programmes. Cambridge: Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge and Centre of Excellence.Google Scholar
Winter, L., Yakavets, N. and Kurakbayev, K. (2018). Changes in purpose: Examining the radical transition from a longstanding norm-based model of classroom assessment to a new criteria-based system, European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Bolzano, Italy, 3–7 September 2018. Available at: https://eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/23/contribution/43034/Google Scholar
Yakavets, N. (2014). Educational reform in Kazakhstan: The first decade of independence. In Bridges, D. (ed.) Educational Reform and Internationalisation: The Case of School Reform in KazakhstanCambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 127.Google Scholar
Yakavets, N. and Dzhadrina, M. (2014). Educational reform in Kazakhstan: Entering the world arena. In Bridges, D. (ed.) Educational Reform and Internationalisation: The Case of School Reform in KazakhstanCambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 2752.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×