Kazakhstan programme open seminar series

Action Research Sep 20, 2012

Presentation by Dr Colleen McLaughlin for the Faculty of Education Centre of Excellence project

The HertsCam Network - David Frost Nov 28, 2012

An introductory video about The HertsCam Network project here in the United Kingdom.

Policy Why(s): Policy rationalities and the changing logic of educational reform in post-communist Ukraine' – Wednesday, 24 October 2012 Dec 04, 2012

(A short description of the current audio) At this seminar Olena Fimyar discusses her work published in I. Silova (ed.) (2010) Post-Socialism is not Dead: (Re)reading the global in comparative education, Bingley: Emerald Publishing, 61-91. Link to the chapter: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/books.htm?issn=14793679&volume=14&chapterid=1905476&show=abstract

Higher Education Reform in Lithuania: Marketisation and administration versus democratisation?' – Monday, 19 November 2012 Dec 05, 2012

This is a recording of the seminar on 'Higher Education Reform in Lithuania: Marketisation and administration versus democratisation?' delivered by two invited Professors from Kaunas University of Technology, Palmira Jucevičienė and Robertas Jucevičius. The seminar took place on Monday, 19 November 2012. The seminar was chaired by Olena Fimyar. Professor David Bridges acted as discussant.

Two seminars by Iveta Silova on Thursday 13th December 2012 - Seminar 1: Literacies of (post)socialist childhood: Alternative readings of socialist upbringing and neoliberal regimes Jan 28, 2013

Kazakhstan Programme Research Team and the Faculty of Education were delighted to welcome Iveta Silova to Cambridge with a short research visit, during which she delivered two seminars and had individual meetings with PhD students and staff. Iveta Silova is an Associate Professor and Director of Comparative and International Education program at the College of Education, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, USA. Her research and publications cover a range of issues critical to understanding post-socialist education transformation processes in the context of globalization, including gender equity trends in Eastern/Central Europe and Central Asia, minority/multicultural education policies in the former Soviet Union, as well as the scope, nature, and implications of private tutoring in a cross-national perspective. Iveta is the co-editor (with Noah W. Sobe) of a quarterly peer-reviewed journal *"European Education: Issues and Studies.". * Iveta’s recent books include: *- Globalization on the Margins* *(2011)* *- Post-Socialism is not Dead: (Re)reading the global in comparative education (2010)* *- How NGOs React: Globalization and Education Reform in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia* *(2008 *coedited with Gita Steiner-Khamsi), *- From Sites of Occupation to Symbols of Multiculturalism: Re-conceptualizing Minority Education in Post-Soviet Latvia* *(2006)*

Two seminars by Iveta Silova on Thursday 13th December 2012 - Seminar 2: Globalization on the Margins: Education and Post-Socialist transformations in Central Asia Jan 28, 2013

Kazakhstan Programme Research Team and the Faculty of Education were delighted to welcome Iveta Silova to Cambridge with a short research visit, during which she delivered two seminars and had individual meetings with PhD students and staff. Iveta Silova is an Associate Professor and Director of Comparative and International Education program at the College of Education, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, USA. Her research and publications cover a range of issues critical to understanding post-socialist education transformation processes in the context of globalization, including gender equity trends in Eastern/Central Europe and Central Asia, minority/multicultural education policies in the former Soviet Union, as well as the scope, nature, and implications of private tutoring in a cross-national perspective. Iveta is the co-editor (with Noah W. Sobe) of a quarterly peer-reviewed journal *"European Education: Issues and Studies.". * Iveta’s recent books include: *- Globalization on the Margins* *(2011)* *- Post-Socialism is not Dead: (Re)reading the global in comparative education (2010)* *- How NGOs React: Globalization and Education Reform in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia* *(2008 *coedited with Gita Steiner-Khamsi), *- From Sites of Occupation to Symbols of Multiculturalism: Re-conceptualizing Minority Education in Post-Soviet Latvia* *(2006)*

'Lost in Translation'? Interpreting the language of international and intra-national education policy transfer Feb 11, 2013

Seminar presenter: Professor David Bridges

'Soviet' in the memories and teachers' professional beliefs in Kazakhstan: Points for reflection for reformers, international consultants and practitioners Feb 11, 2013

Seminar presenter: Dr Olena Fimyar

Measuring Skills in Europe Mar 01, 2013

Dr Žilvinas Martinaitis talks about measuring skills in Europe.

National Qualifications, Frameworks and Learning Mar 01, 2013

Dr Liz Winter talks about a case study of the Unified National Test (UNT) in Kazakhstan.

Gifted Education and the Process of Educational Change: post-Soviet Kazakhstan Apr 12, 2013

Seminar on gifted education in Kazakhstan by Dr Natallia Yakavets. The discussion that followed this seminar can be listened to at http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1459800 at 27 minutes 55 seconds.

Teachers as Researchers: Rhetoric or Reality in Kazakhstan Apr 12, 2013

Seminar and discussion on action research in Kazakhstan by Dr Kairat Kurakbayev and Darkhan Bilyalov..

Cultural and Institutional Dimensions of Transformation: Tensions and complementarities Jun 07, 2013

Seminar on cultural and institutional dimensions of transformation by Prof. Dr. Giedrius Jucevicius, Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania)

Evolving child welfare policies in Central Asia after the independence: The case of Kazakhstan Jun 07, 2013

Seminar on evolving child welfare policies in Central Asia by Anel Kulakhmetova, PhD Candidate at the University of Cambridge

The ethics and politics of the international transfer of educational policy and practice Jun 13, 2013

Seminar on ethics and politics of the international transfer of educational policy and practice by Prof. David Bridges, Director of Research (Kazakhstan and Mongolia Programmes), University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education

Reform at Scale: The Centre of Excellence Programme of Teacher Development in Kazakhstan Oct 28, 2013

Recording of the seminar 'Reform at Scale: The Centre of Excellence Programme of Teacher Development in Kazakhstan' delivered by Dr Elaine Wilson and Dr Fay Turner from the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. The seminar took place at the Faculty of Education on Thursday 10th October 2013. The seminar was organised and presented by Dr Olena Fimyar.

'Action Research as a Strategy for Teacher Development' & ‘The development of school-based Learning Study and Stenhouse’s idea of the Teacher as Researcher’ May 30, 2014

Action Research - Presenters: Professor Colleen McLaughlin (University of Sussex and University of Cambridge), Dr Ros Mclellan, Michael Fordham and Nazipa Ayubayeva (University of Cambridge) School-based Learning - Presenter: Professor John Elliott, Chief Editor of the International Journal of Lesson and Learning Studies (IJLLS) and the Journal of the World Association of Lesson Studies (WALS).

1) Globalizing Minds: Rhetoric and Realities in International Schools. 2) New Educational Governance in Post-Socialist Education Space: Examining the (Side)Effects of International Comparisons, Benchmarking, and Best Practices. Jan 30, 2015

1) Abstract: Globalization has a profound effect on the mission and goals of education worldwide. One of its most visible manifestations is the worldwide endorsement of the idea of “education for global citizenship,” which has been enthusiastically supported by national governments, politicians, and policy-makers across different nations. What is the role of international schools in implementing the idea of “education for global citizenship”? How do these schools attempt to create a culturally unbiased global curriculum when the adopted models have been developed by Western societies and at the very least are replete with (Western) cultural values, traditions, and biases? 2) The International comparisons and benchmarking have become a major influence on education policy- making in Central Asia and other post-Soviet states. Joining the international student achievement studies such as PISA, TIMSS, and TALIS have brought significant benefits to participating countries, while also enabling the new political technologies of governing the post-Soviet education space by numbers. International benchmarking, and the “best practices” that come along with it, have contributed to the production of educational knowledge that not only attempts to explain education phenomena but also constructs “norms” embedded in education policies and practices.

1) Russian Higher Education and the Post-Soviet Transition. 2) Between ‘modernisation’ and ‘transition’: the discourse of the Serbian 2001 civic education policy. Jan 07, 2015

1) The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 required the system of education, as with all other Soviet institutions, to adjust if it were to survive in the new Russian conditions. It was faced, above all, with the need to identify a new social and economic role as the education system of a radically different society and economy. This raised fundamental questions that required urgent answer. What was its purpose? Who should it serve? How was it to be organized and financed? 2) This project explored the development of the Serbian 2001 civic education policy, a policy which marked the start of an all-encompassing education reform that was hailed as one of the tools in assisting the country’s transition from various forms of authoritarianism to a modern democracy. It was also a strong political signal that the then governing elite was dedicated to joining Serbia with other post-communist countries on their way ‘back to Europe’.

1) ‘Reflecting on Reflection’: An exploration of trainers’ perceptions of reflective practice in Kazakhstan. 2) Teachers’ beliefs on assessment for learning and how this relates to national assessment practices Jan 12, 2015

1) The call for reflective practitioners remains ever present with the persistent demand for quality provision in education (UNESCO, 2014). 2) This presentation is based upon an empirical paper that sets one particular form of national assessment against the wider picture of what teachers say they set out to achieve for their pupils during school. This starts with the collection of teachers’ attitudes towards assessment that return the range of where teachers see themselves in terms of meeting their own definitions of students’ needs. Next, these attitudes inform on whether satisfactory achievement of any overall teaching mission (Korthagen, 2004) is seen as possible or not.

1) “Leave me Alone – Simply Let Me Teach”: An exploration of teacher professionalism in Kyrgyzstan. 2) Collaborative teacher learning in Kazakhstan: Is it something new or well-forgotten past? Jan 09, 2015

1) This article examines how, in the context of the increasing deprofessionalization of the teaching professional both nationally and internationally, teachers have attempted to reshape the notion of “professionalism” in a post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, where teachers function within a top-down, bureaucratic education system. 2) This presentation looks at existing collaborative practices in Kazakhstani schools, such as the pedagogical council, methodological council and methodological subject units which were inherited from the Soviet education system. Their role in the past as well as their potential to become collaborative teacher learning platform in the future is examined.

Exploratory Study of Teacher Identity in Changing Times: In search of frameworks and definitions Apr 25, 2014

This presentation has two purposes: to attempt to chart the teacher identity of school teachers Kazakhstan Programme within Kazakhstan; and, to inform upon methods of educational research appropriate to a Kazakhstani context.

Language-in-education policy: Towards a research agenda in Kazakhstan by Professor Timothy Reagan, Dean of the Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan Dec 05, 2013

Seminar presentation by Professor Timothy Reagan, Dean of the Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan on language policy and education in Kazakhstan

Taking the Babble out of Babel & Trilingual Policy into Action Mar 13, 2014

Dr Peeter Mehisto talks about the forces, mechanisms and counterweights for building bilingual education systems and Lynne Stevenson & Helen Imam talk about the implementation of the NIS trilingual policy into the curriculum.

Teacher Identity and School Autonomy in Secondary Education in Kazakhstan Sep 18, 2014

The goal of this seminar is two-fold: to address the professional teacher identity concerns from the perspective of gender and mass communication studies and explore the concepts of autonomy and accountability in secondary education.

The Role of School Principals in Education Reform in Kazakhstan by Dr David Frost, Kazakhstan Programme, Faculty of Education. School Autonomy Policies in Three Former Soviet Countries of Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Antonia Santalova, DPhil Candidate at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford Dec 05, 2013

Seminar presentation by Dr David Frost, Kazakhstan Programme, Faculty of Education on the role of school principals in education reform in Kazakhstan. Seminar presentation by Antonia Santalova, DPhil Candidate at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford on school autonomy policies in three former Soviet countries of Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Towards Inclusive Education: Swimming against the tide of educational reform? Apr 25, 2014

Special needs education and inclusion is an important but not dominant aspect of current education reform in Kazakhstan. This presentation will explore why some children continue to be marginalised from schooling and it will locate the current struggle for inclusion in the context of international attempts to create Education for All (EFA).

The role of using professional software programmes in higher education for future finance professionals in Kazakhstan Apr 06, 2016

The higher education system in Kazakhstan has changed dramatically over the last years. However, transformation of higher education with implementation of international practices is a difficult process.

1) Adventures in Transparency: The Kazakhstan Data Warehouse Project. 2) Narratives of Schooling During the 1992-97 Civil War in Tajikistan. Apr 10, 2015

1) One of the persistent laments of analysts focusing on the Kazakhstan postsecondary education system is the absence of consistent, and, in some cases, reliable data for comparing institutions, on the one hand, and, on the other, for generating a reliable summary of the postsecondary education system as a whole. 2) This seminar explores the narratives of Pamiri men and women who were in primary and secondary school during the brutal conflict that divided the country in the wake of its independence.

A relationship between science, innovation and technology and their role in the development of the USSR as a superpower Apr 07, 2016

The status of the superpower of the USSR after WWII became a reality due to its scientific and technological achievements.

Aiming for the school of the future: consensus and contradictions Apr 06, 2016

Like many countries, Kazakhstan aspires to advance its school education through the adoption of innovative ideas.

Coaching as a process to develop Creative leaders Apr 06, 2016

Creativity is now essential in today's rapidly changing world and global economy. To enable youth to thrive in an uncertain future, in education, it is necessary to acknowledge creativity as an essential life skill.

Competition for energy resources of the Caspian region: the New Great Game or the New Silk Road? Apr 07, 2016

The paper reviews the experiences of the three Newly Independent Caspian (NIC) states, namely Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in developing their energy sectors during the two decades after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Education, Research and International Collaboration in Central Asia Dec 02, 2015

Gender-segregated or co-educational: students' and alumni's experiences and perceptions Apr 06, 2016

Research findings from a range of countries provide conflicting evidence as to the social and educational consequences of single-sex schooling.

Nation Building and State Building in Post Soviet Azerbaijan: History, Concepts and Tensions Apr 07, 2016

Nation Building and State Building in Post Soviet Azerbaijan: History, Concepts, and Tensions.

Networking for teacher learning and professional development in Kazakhstani secondary schools Apr 06, 2016

Networking for teacher learning and professional development in Kazakhstani secondary schools. Networking in Kazakhstani schools is not a new phenomenon, however it had been limited to the disciplinary differentiation or the school localisation basis.

Pedagogies and Methodologies of Organisational Learning in Kazakhstan: The Case of NIS Partner Schools Apr 22, 2015

Drawing on the critical strand of literature on organisational learning (e.g. Driver 2002; McKinlay and Starkey 1998; Messer and Jordan 2008; Niesche 2011 and Thomson 2014) and taking the case of the 35 NIS partner schools, we seek to understand the role of an emerging model of organisational learning in the process of adoption of reform and innovation in Kazakhstan.

Reconstruction of Language Value in Socioeconomic Transformation Apr 07, 2016

In this presentation, I attempt to stretch the discourse surrounding the evolution of the Kazakh language from a political to a socioeconomic perspective.

Researching Multilingually: Possibilities and Complexities May 21, 2015

Presenting author: Dr Mariam Attia, Research Associate at Durham University, UK on behalf of the AHRC project team. With increased researcher mobility and wider access to information, academic institutions within the UK are experiencing internationalisation processes reflected – among other things – in the surging numbers of researchers conducing research in more than one language (Robinson-Pant, 2009). This presentation draws on two AHRC projects: Researching Multilingually (November 2011 – December 2012) and Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law, and the State (April 2014 – March 2017). It focuses on 44 reflective pieces by researchers involved with the AHRC-funded network, and attempts to look into a) the development of researcher awareness about the possibilities and complexities of doing research in more than one language, b) the nature of such possibilities and complexities, and c) implications for researcher development. Researchers are also encouraged to engage with the website which we continue to develop as a knowledge resource flowing from the AHRC-funded project: http://www.researching-multilingually-at-borders.com/ Reference: Robinson-Pant, A. (2009) ‘Changing Academies: exploring international PhD students’ perspectives on ‘host’ and ‘home’ universities’, Higher Education Research and Development, 28(4), 417-429.

Soviet' in teachers' memories and professional beliefs in Kazakhstan: points for reflection for reformers, international consultants and practitioners Apr 06, 2016

This paper is a part of a three-year study, 'Internationalisation and reform of secondary schooling in Kazakhstan', jointly conducted by an international team of UK- and Kazakhstan-based researchers in 2012-2014.

Teacher Competence Beliefs on Classroom Assessment Practices in Secondary Schools in Kazakhstan. The Development of External Assessments in Multiple Languages. A Test of Learning, Certification or Accountability? Perceptions of Standardized Testing in Kazakhstan. Nov 27, 2015

Kazakhstan is a country undergoing massive educational reform including the introduction of a trilingual policy in all schools. Since 2012, Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) has been working together with departments of the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) group to produce external assessments which test the knowledge and skills present in the curriculum introduced under the Integrated Programme of Development (IPD). This paper sets out to examine the application of a Western construct of the three primary purposes of national summative assessment to post-Soviet context undergoing educational reform. These purposes are defined as assessment for: learning; certification and school accountability (Black, 1998).

Teacher Development in the use of Technology: Insights from Fieldwork in Egypt Dec 01, 2015

This presentation sheds light on findings from a doctoral study on the relationship between teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and their individual technology use within an Arabic language teaching context in Egypt.

The 1st Bolashak Educational Forum: Contemporary changes in Kazakhstan’s education system - Afternoon session Mar 06, 2015

The purpose of the Forum is to discuss questions pertinent to educational development in Kazakhstan. The main participants of the Forum are 25 Kazakhstani scholars, who are currently doing their Master’s, PhD and post-doctoral research in the UK through the support of Kazakhstani government programme Bolashak (‘Future’). The forum will be structured around three sessions and one roundtable discussion, which will focus on the questions of education policy, reform and innovation, adaptation of international practices, policy implementation and future educational priorities. This is an intention of the organising committee to make this Forum a traditional annual event hosted in Cambridge. Organising committee: Kazbek Kashkabayev, Bolashak scholar, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge; Klara Murdildina, Bolashak intern, Central Asian Forum, University of Cambridge; Seyfu lmalik Sultanov, Bolashak intern, Central Asian Forum, University of Cambridge.

The 1st Bolashak Educational Forum: Contemporary changes in Kazakhstan’s education system - Morning session Mar 06, 2015

Morning Session The purpose of the Forum is to discuss questions pertinent to educational development in Kazakhstan. The main participants of the Forum are 25 Kazakhstani scholars, who are currently doing their Master’s, PhD and post-doctoral research in the UK through the support of Kazakhstani government programme Bolashak (‘Future’). The forum will be structured around three sessions and one roundtable discussion, which will focus on the questions of education policy, reform and innovation, adaptation of international practices, policy implementation and future educational priorities. This is an intention of the organising committee to make this Forum a traditional annual event hosted in Cambridge. Organising committee: Kazbek Kashkabayev, Bolashak scholar, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge; Klara Murdildina, Bolashak intern, Central Asian Forum, University of Cambridge; Seyfu lmalik Sultanov, Bolashak intern, Central Asian Forum, University of Cambridge.

The Impact of Local Content Policy on Firms' Performance in Kazakhstan: Firm-level Evidence from the BEEPS Survey Apr 07, 2016

The president of Kazakhstan in his annual address to the nation in 2009 raised objective to increase local content (LC) in Kazakhstan. LC policy is defined as "an industrial policy to incentivise or mandate a greater degree of local procurement, employment and capital accumulation" (Kalyuzhnova et al. 2014).

The Impact of Neoliberalism on Income Distribution Inequality. Countries Case. Overview Apr 07, 2016

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the growing income distribution inequality as an acute and chronic disease widespread not only in middle-income and developing countries but also in industrialized ones. The main purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of why unequal income distribution is possible.

The Kazkhstani 2011 'e-learning' policy: help or hinderance? Apr 07, 2016

Over the past one decade, the significance given to ICT and Internet's use within the context of the developing countries' educational system through various national initiatives has been only increasing. However, some available data have revealed that the extent to which such initiatives have been able to be successful differed among the countries, therefore necessitating more academic attention and investigation of this emerging field.

The Sino-Indian relations: unresolved border issue and its impact on the bilateral cooperation Apr 07, 2016

The territorial dispute between China and India plays а significant role not only because of the large land in dispute but also because of the current rise of China and India in regional and global level.

The Social Aspects of Transition from School to Higher Education: The Focus on Rural Multi-Ethnic Communities in Kazakhstan Nov 26, 2015

This paper is a part of a larger study looking at the social aspects of transition from school to higher education in Kazakhstan.

Working Without Shame in International Educational Development? From Consequentialism to Casuistry. Apr 09, 2015

The paper sets out to consider the opinion which, at its bluntest, suggests that one should not work (in educational development) in a country which does not respect the principles of a liberal democracy, which has a poor reputation in terms of human rights and or has an autocratic government. The paper argues that such an opinion must rest on some sort of consequentialist balance sheet of the actual and anticipated consequences of committing to such work or declining to do so – and this takes it into some of the problems of applying such an equation. The paper also invites caution in the assessments that westerners make of countries portrayed as a ‘undemocratic’ and the importance of taking into account, for example, history, trajectory and context.

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