- Improvement of Secondary Education Curriculum of Kazakhstan in the Context of Modern Reforms (2014 – 2016)
From 2014 to 2016, the Centre took part in the research project “Improvement of Secondary Education Curriculum of Kazakhstan in the Context of Modern Reforms” with the Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education, University of Cambridge Faculty of Education and Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools AEO. Research was carried out as part of the dissemination of renewed educational content in national pilot schools.
Research objectives:
- to study what teachers, school directors and other stakeholders think about the introduction of the renewed primary education content and criteria-based assessment in mainstream schools of Kazakhstan.
- to give recommendations on the effective introduction of the renewed curriculum and assessment practices for primary education in Kazakhstan.
Research reports are available on the University of Cambridge website at:
2. Translation and Continuity of Educational Innovations in the Secondary Education System of Kazakhstan (2018 – present)
Since 2018, the Centre’s employees have been taking part in collaborative research of the Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education, Cambridge University Faculty of Education and Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools AEO on “Translation and Continuity of Educational Innovations in the Secondary Education System of Kazakhstan”.
Research objectives:
- to study what teachers, school directors and other stakeholders think about the introduction of innovations in renewed educational content of Kazakhstan;
- to study the reform model, its advantages and disadvantages and impact on different levels of the education system;
- estimate the effect of the reform on teachers and opportunities for their professional development.
3. OECD project “The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030”
The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030 project was initiated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD Project) in 2015.
In 2016, the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan designated Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools AEO as the national coordinator of this project. As a result, NIS AEO joined an informal working group for the OECD project.
The project aims to establish a common language and platform on which jurisdictions jointly and individually can explore the development and renewal of educational programmes.
Working group members discuss what knowledge, skills, attitudes and values students need to overcome today’s challenges and turn them into potential opportunities for themselves and others. This project is designed to adapt school education to the unpredicted conditions of the modern world (VUCA world) as much as possible and to outline the image of school – 2030.
The Centre’s core activities in the OECD project
Development of CONCEPTUAL LEARNING FRAMEWORK – 2030 under supervision of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills.
Aim: to develop a conceptual framework that would define the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that students need to fulfil their potential.
The OECD Learning Compass has been created to help students navigate in different social and environmental contexts, set personal goals and make plans for the future. OECD Learning Compass video is available by clicking the hyper link.
The Centre’s core activities in the OECD project
1) Development of CONCEPTUAL LEARNING FRAMEWORK – 2030 under supervision of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills.
Aim: to develop a conceptual framework that would define the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that students need to fulfil their potential.
The OECD Learning Compass has been created to help students navigate in different social and environmental contexts, set personal goals and make plans for the future. OECD Learning Compass video is available by clicking the hyper link.
2) Curriculum content mapping
Aim: to monitor/review current curricula of the participating countries in terms of the 21st century competencies effectively.
The Centre compared and analyzed the curricula of the renewed secondary education content of Kazakhstan in seven educational areas: Art, Humanities,
Mathematics, National language, Physical education, Science, and Technologies. Curriculum content mapping provides an overview for introducing 28 core competencies of the OECD Conceptual Framework – 2030 in the curricula of the participating countries.
3) Mathematics Curriculum Document Analysis Project
Aim: to analyze state standards, curricula for primary and secondary schools, and textbooks for Mathematics, Grade 8.
4) In-depth Analysis of Physical Education
Aim: international comparative analysis of physical education in different education systems in grades 5-9. OECD released the final report «Making Physical Education Dynamic and Inclusive for 2030».
5) Thematic Working Groups
Aim: to develop major documents and to study concepts.
The participating countries worked in thematic groups on the design and development of 9 focus-based concepts. The Centre’s employees were involved in 3 working groups.
6) Video making
Aim: to enable students to express their clear position and vision about the sustainable development of the world in which they want to live in 2030; motivate teachers to share their experience of developing competencies and skills that students need to be successful in future.
Teachers and students of Nazarbayev Intellectual and mainstream schools made 112 videos, 5 of which were selected by the secretariat for publication on the official website of the OECD Project.
7) Dissemination of project ideas
In order to disseminate the project ideas, leading OECD experts are invited to international conferences annually held by Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools AEO.
VIII NIS International Conference “Taking Change to Scale in Education” § William Schmidt, Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University, United States, OECD expert. He gave a speech on “Inequality through schooling: A worldwide phenomenon”. § Miho Taguma, Senior Policy Analyst of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills. She gave a speech on “International perspectives on early childhood, education and care”.
IХ NIS International Conference “Values, Wellbeing and Innovation for the Future of Education”: § Yuri Belfali, Head of Division for Early Childhood and Schools, Directorate for Education. She gave a speech on “Students’ well-being: what we can learn about students’ social life, learning attitudes and performance from PISA 2015”.
§ Phil Lambert, Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney, Australia, OECD expert. He gave a speech on “The place of Values, Wellbeing and Innovation in Education Today and Tomorrow”. Phil Lambert also delivered a training for the staff of the Centre for Educational Programmes in 2018 on “Introducing changes in the learning process” and in 2020 on “Monitoring and meta-subject skills”.
Х NIS International conference “Next Generation Schools”:
§ Richard Bailey, OECD expert for Physical Education, International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education. He gave a speech on “The influence of physical activity on students’ wellbeing and academic performance”.
In 2020, Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, was the first guest on the new Intellectual Podcast. He gave a speech on “Education disrupted – education rethought”.
During the project period, the Centre translated a number of documents and videos into Kazakh and Russian. It also made 4 issues of research and information brochures. All materials are available on the NIS platform for Teaching and Learning Materials in section “International research projects”: documents, books and brochures, presentations, videos and information materials.