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.

BIG problems of SMALL schools

Today, rural schools are responsible for the upbringing and education of 47% of all students in Kazakhstan (MEos, 2010). According to the statistics from Ministry of Education and Science in 2010, number of small schools over the past 15 years sharply increased for 2-fold (MEoS, 2010). To be precise, number of ungraded schools made up 56.5% of the total number of schools in the country (in 2005 that indicator was 52%). So statistics and number speaks for itself. Every fourth teacher is working and one of six Kazakhstani students are learning in ungraded schools.

Retrieved from: http://www.nur.kz/kk/287637.html 

Drain of rural population to the cities, migration processes in the country as a whole, poor infrastructure, absence of normal condition to the comfortable education has led to this sad situation (Kuznetcova, 2012). Issues related to ungraded schools are relevant not only for Kazakhstan, but also for a number of countries, such as Western Europe, Australia, USA, Canada, China, Japan, Russia, Uzbekistan and others with a large territory and low population density. Each country tackle this problem in different ways, by investing enormous budget,  providing comfortable school bus, internet access, distance learning or by the optimization of educational process (Kuznetcova, 2012). 

The concept of development of ungraded schools in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011 - 2020 identify main shortcoming as followings:

1.     The organization of the educational process:

-       predominance of traditional teaching methods in classes with low occupancy;

-        hypercontrol and low motivation  of students;

-       poor use of information and communication technologies;

-       lack of organization of additional education and cultural centers.

2.     Staffing:

-       untrained teachers to the peculiarities of the organization of educational process in the conditions of ungraded schools;

-       lack of special educational programs for training, retraining and advanced training;

-       inadequate payment systems, lack of motivation and social support for  rural teachers;

3.     Methodological support and software

-       lack of manuals and guidelines for teachers on the organization of educational process in the context of ungraded schools based on modern pedagogical and information and communication technologies;

4.     Material and technical conditions:

-       isolated location;

-       90 schools is in urgent condition;

-       786 school buildings need major repair works;

-       lack of special educational laboratories, modern furniture, hardware, sports equipment, electronic library with a reading room;

-       poor telecommunications infrastructure;

            Additionally, it was mentioned that 948 schools doesn’t have canteens and 822 schools have never seen sport centers and medical offices, moreover Internet connection provided only in 11.5% of upgrades schools, and  more than 2 500  schools doesn’t have physics,  chemistry, biology and informatics classrooms (MEoS, 2010, Kuznetcova, 2012).

To sum up, we can see dramatic realities of small rural communities, which influences to whole socio- economic development of the country. Personally, I would additionally add that rural communities are the symbols of our history, culture, traditions, customs and spiritual life. It is crucial to preserve those schools and make equal access to quality education throughout whole country. If our country can afford EXPO- 2017, why it is not possible to provide each citizen with equal quality education?

References:

Ministry  of  Education and Science (2010). “The concept of development of ungraded schools in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011 – 2020”, Approved by Presidential order 922 on February 2010. Astana: MoES.

Kuznetcova, A.V. (2012). Doklad “Situaciya malokomplektnykh  shkol” (Situation of ungraded schools). Retrieved from < http://wap.gazeta.kz/article/110751/ > on 16^th of April, 2015