Students with exceptionalities in Kazakhstan

The support of talented, creative young people has been regarded as a priority by the Ministry of Education and Science in the Republic of Kazakhstan since gaining independence. Talented children are seen as the intellectual potential of the country, and the practical implementation of quality education provision for them has been undertaken under the auspices of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center "Daryn", created by order of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev "On state support and development of schools for gifted children "(1996). The main goal of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center "Daryn" is a purposeful formation of intellectual elite in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Giftedness in Kazakhstan is defined as a wide range of intellectual abilities and special talents in different subjects (disciplines). Accordingly, the nature of the school determines the admission procedure, which is often highly competitive. Performance-based assessment, prior performance and interviews in the process of identifying giftedness are used traditionally. Nevertheless, the Daryn Centre is identifying ‘motivated and able pupils, who want to know more’ among primary school children. This can be done through online games like a national game called Ak Bota, where a child can demonstrate willingness to study mathematics, Kazakh/Russian language and literature or via their participation in tournaments, Olympiads, various intellectual games, competitions etc. The approach to the definition (what) and identification (who) for gifted education in Kazakhstan are more likely to be under the talent development paradigm (Yakavets, 2013).

On the other hand how gifted education is ensured in our country is related to both the gifted child and the talent development paradigm. The segregation of gifted children confirms the former and the latter is supported by the diverse opportunities for the development of the abilities and talents of students (Dai & Chen, 2013). Education is provided to them through Daryn schools, NIS, Kazakh-Turkish lyceums and other specialized institutions for gifted. Some of the Daryn schools can implement a different curriculum from the one required by the Ministry of Education and Science. This gives schools the flexibility to spend more hours on subjects belonging to their specialization (e.g. physics, maths, languages, music, etc.). However, there is currently a new trajectory in the development of gifted education in Kazakhstan – Nazarbayev intellectual schools (Yakavets, 2013). These schools have internationally recognized, independent curriculum, which supports trilingual policy.

The contribution to the development of intellectual potential of the country is the goal of NIS by offering a curriculum based on internationally recognised standards. Its target school graduate is a patriot of the country with moral values, fluent in Kazakh, Russian and English. He or she is an individual with high intellectual capacity able to think critically and creatively, strong in spirit, able to apply his/her knowledge for the benefit of social progress.

To conclude, Kazakhstani model of gifted education is represented better by the talent development paradigm, however it has a tone of a gifted child paradigm in education and justification. It is quite possible that this is due to the relative youth of the state.

References:

Dai, D. Y., & Chen, F. (2013). Three paradigms of gifted education: In search of conceptual clarity in research and practice. Gifted Child Quarterly, 57(3), 151-168.

Nazarbayev, N. (1996). Order of the President of Kazakhstan “On state support and development of schools for gifted children” (№ 3002). Astana.

Yakavets, N. (2013). Reforming society through education for gifted children: The case of Kazakhstan. Research Papers in Education, 29(5), 513-533.

Inclusive Education in Kazakhstan - how soon is now?

Due to the fact that we are living in the time of globalization, it is presumed that all the people should strive to the one heterogeneous and diverse society, free from the stereotypes and any type of segregation, thus, any democratic society should eschew the “standardization”, and instead start promoting the pluralism concept in order to evolve as a better society. Therefore, embracing the concept of inclusion is the best policy to thrive as a sound democratic society. In Kazakhstan inclusive education has been evolving not for a very long time, thus, it is yet young and promising field. However, having analyzed the OECD reports (2009; 2014) the author tried to draw the conclusion on how inclusion and inclusive education are functioning in Kazakhstan and whether these attempts are successful.

image source: www.friendshipcircle.org

As Rouse et al. (2014) point out, the concept of inclusion in Kazakhstan has been discredited for long period of time and referred mainly to people with disabilities, and now the concept of inclusion is gradually changing, owing to the governmental reforms and policies, which throw campaigns against stereotypes. Therefore, it is important to look at the successful incentives which help our society to think out of the box and understand inclusion concept.

What can be considered the major breakthrough of our inclusive education system is that our legislation system (Law on Education, 2007; 2011) has espoused the inviable principle that children with special needs and disabilities should be able to go to mainstream school if their parents choose so, which attests to the fact that our society tries to minimize boundaries and tries to embrace the diversity within the educational settings. Moreover, the schools are gradually becoming fitted with the necessary facilities for children with special needs, as OECD (2014) reports, from 2010, when only 10% of schools were provided with the necessary facilities, in 2013 this figure rose “rapidly to 23% in 2013 and the government hopes to raise this to 30% by 2015 and 70% by 2020” (p. 24).

Another appealing factor is the involvement of NGOs in the support of inclusive education. For now we have numerous NGOs operating for the sake of provision educational and other services in Kazakhstan to children with disabilities, such as “Kenes, Ardi, Akbota, Umit, Alpamys in Taldykorgon, Nadezhda in Kostanai and elsewhere” (OECD, 2009, p. 62).

Moreover, it important to note that our government allocates enough funding for the building of appropriate schools for children with learning disabilities. For example, in Astana, it is planned to build a new school for children with behaviour problems (known as psychosocial disorders and disruptive behavior) at a cost of KZT 250 million (USD 2.12 million). In addition, plans have been made for a new “superschool” (OECD, 2009, p. 65), and sponsors are being sought to support the education of children with visual impairments.

All things considered, it can be safely assumed that Kazakhstan is successfully combating the issues with the equal access to education, however there are still rooms for the improvement. The major challenge we cannot yet get rid of comes from our Soviet Union perception of the “inclusion” definition, which, to be more precise, did not even exist. As Rouse et al. (2014) put it, before the XXI century there was no such a term, instead, it was called “defectology”, which was utterly segregationist, and the main solution was seen only in the professional treatment. Moreover, despite the governmental willingness to make the concept of inclusion well-known, still lots of people seem to be ignorant of such a concept, which tells about the lack of awareness within the society. Therefore, the government should promote the concept of inclusion more robustly since ignorance is the worst enemy, thwarting the wellbeing of the democratic country.

All in all, our country has really optimistic prognosis in the development of inclusive education for the future; however, we should understand that it takes time to make the society more aware and cautious about this issue, and it is too early now to draw the clear conclusion. Yet, there are possibilities that by 2020 the inclusive education will prosper and we will fully embrace the “rights-based” model of inclusion. And what is your personal opinion on the inclusion matter?

References

Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan. (2007). No. 319-III: On Education, 27 July 2007 (with changes and additions on 24 October 2011).


OECD. (2009). Students with special needs and those with disabilities. In Reviews of National Policies for Education in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, OECD Publishing.


OECD. (2014). Equity and effectiveness of schooling in Kazakhstan. In Reviews of National Policies for Education: Secondary Education in Kazakhstan, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264205208-5-en


Rouse, M., Yakavets, N., & Kulakhmetova, A. (2014). Towards Inclusive Education: Swimming Against the Tide of Educational Reform. In Bridges, D. (Eds.), Towards the Next Stages of Reform in Kazakhstan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Inclusive education. Where we are?

The government of Kazakhstan has launched a state program for education development and set the indicators to make 70% of schools inclusive by 2020.  In this regard, inclusion and inclusive education have become an essential component for future provision of equal education and to enable children with special education needs to become an active part of society. For all children, but especially for children with emerging needs early identification is crucial in order to expertise, support, include and empower those children to be an active part of society (UNESCO, 2005).

Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/tajikistan/media_24579.html  

Kazakhstan being relatively young country has made its first steps towards inclusion and inclusive education. To be precisely, local government has made fundamental steps by ensuring legislative framework starting from first years of independence. Namely, Convention on the Rights of Child, and later committed to the Education for All, UNICEF convention guaranteeing equal access to education for all children and Article 24 of UN Convention on the rights of Persons with Disabilities, which states the right to education in inclusive settings. Furthermore, Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Law on education adapted those conventions’ rights and guaranteed education for each citizen. As for the real numbers and facts, suggested statistics reveals that currently 151 000 children are estimated as having special educational needs. All those children are assessed and served by 56 psychological- medical- pedagogical commissions, 20 special rehabilitation centers, 1155 special groups on the premises of special boarding schools, 129 special psychological and special educational offices (Bridges, 2014, p.202). Over 8 000 children are receiving education at home via personal tutors and information computer technologies.  In addition to this, establishment of Inclusive Gymnasium School #65, Inclusive preschool “Asyl Bobek”,  and new specialty “Leadership in education. Inclusive education” at Nazarbayev University at Astana is remarkable achievement. However, the implementation of inclusive education is not succeeding and majority of children with special education needs are still segregated at all level of education.

Retrieved from: http://www.mfa.kz/index.php/en/about-kazakhstan/annual-state-of-the-nation-address/kazakhstan-s-way-2050-common-aim-common-interests-common-future-address-of-the-president-of-the-republic-of-kazakhstan-nursultan-a-nazarbayev-to-the-nation-january-2014

 In recent study, conducted by OECD, that outlines a number of barriers to the development of inclusive education in the Republic of Kazakhstan, including: class sizes in regular schools, different curricula in special and regular education, psychological – medical- pedagogical commission, the method of delivery of medical and other services, the “defectology” model (which at base is medical in its approach, and highly seg- regationist) and a lack of adaptable pedagogy. Attitudes held by professionals to inclusion are for the most part negative (OECD, 2009).  

To consider all over above it should be noted that Kazakhstan is doing just first steps towards inclusive society and inclusive human development. In this respect, personally I would admit that for the short period of time Kazakhstani achievement in inclusive education overall is positive and progressive.

References: 

Bridges, D. (2014). Toward inclusive education. Swimming against the tide of educational reform.  Rouse, M. Yakavets, N. & Kulakhmetova, A. (Eds.), Educational reform and internationalization: the case of school reform in Kazakhstan. (pp.196-213). UK: Cambridge University Press.   

OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) (2009) Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan; Students with Special Needs and Those with Disabilities. Paris: OECD

UNESCO (United National Educational Scientific Cultural Organization) (2005). Guidelines for Inclusion: Enshuring Access to Education for All. Paris: UNESCO.

Blogging. Challenging. Fun. Inspirational.

Retrieved from: http://worldwidegenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/want-to-be-geneablogger.html 

Globalization and fast developing era of Internet has played an important role in the process of learning and teaching.  Taking advantages of digital media educators and students are integrating various technologies and techniques into education. One of the tools to assist process of education, particularly, writing skills is blogs. For one semester blog posting has become a new form of academic writing and at the same time way of self-expression to the Master Students of Graduate School of Education at Nazarbayev University. Before describing personal experience of blog posting, it noteworthy to share with the growing number of literature on the topic of blogging in the context of education.

On the one hand, authors nicely admit positive sides, such as usefulness of blogs during the language learning, social communication, exchange of ideas, attraction of social audience, development own sense of voice, and progress in natural self-expression (Warschauer, 1997; Warschauer, 2010; Montgomery, 2015).

On the other hand, Montgomery (2015) claims that blog posting generated more personal issues, such as students’ responsibilities and self-confidence. A new learning environment had negative impact, since given freedom and autonomy in choosing topics confused students. As a result it took sufficient time to get used to the online and public learning environment. However, in general authors assert that blogging helped people to transform from consumers to the producers of information (Warschauer, 1997; Warschauer, 2010; Montgomery, 2015).

As for my personal experience related to the blogging, it can be described by few key words: challenging, fun and inspirational.  In the beginning of the semester as a novice public academician I struggled a lot.  Firstly, I had inner feeling that my blog post is worse than others’, I think it is directly related to the personal issues mentioned by Montgomery (2015) before.  The thoughts that your writing will be public and every single person can read, comment and judge bring to uncertainty in own confidence and self esteem. Second challenging moment was the structure of writing, when author needs to balance between keeping academic style of writing at the same time should sound natural without being artificial and boring. Lastly, the given autonomy was struggling too, personally, I could notice that it is much more easier to write on particular topic with given guideline and even better if literature is provided as well. Choosing interesting topic, searching for related literature, planning and expressing in own voice were the most difficult task to manage and control. However, as it is well know that everything comes through practice and there is no other magic way to become better writer and academician. Second part of spring semester became easier, motivational and fun, owing to the fact that panning process simplified the task; moreover it has turned to be inspirational to share own ideas and comment to others.   

In summary, I would like to admit that the experience of blogging was incredible. Such experience enables people, especially students who got used to be guided, to be more independent, confident, free and diverse.  This online educational platform is obviously place of ideas and social academic networking. 

References:

Montgomery, D. P. (2015, April). Did you read my new post?; Improving autonomy, English and engagement through class blogs. Paper presented at The International Conference for Building Cultural Bridges, Suleyman Demirel University. Kaskelen, Kazakhstan: ICBCB.

Warschauer, M. (1997). Computer-Mediated Collaborative Learning: Theory and Practice. The Modern Language Journal, 81(4), 470-481.

Warschauer, M. (2010). Invited commentary: New tools for teaching writing. Language Learning & Technology, 14(1), 3-8.