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The paper argues that the Warin Ukraine is promoting and accelerating the Westernization of the region's higher education. The paper employs Mignolo's (2011) geopolitics of knowledge as the theoretical framework to illustrate how internationalization promotes the adoption of Western/English liberal education and how the War in Ukraine is speeding up the process. Using focus groups, I capture conversations with local graduate students in Kazakhstan to demonstrate that Western education is acquired to 1) accelerate the de-Russification of Kazakhstan by moving away from the former imperial power, 2) use English to undermine the Russian language and cement Kazakhstan's independence from Russia, 3) acquire internationally recognized English credentials for global/Western competitiveness and modernity. The participants in this study framed their decision to pursue university graduate studies as freedom from the Soviet system, de-Russification, and modern development, underscoring the high value that some graduate students have for an English credential.

It's crucial to boost future educational psychologists' readiness in project-based competencies, as current training often neglects psychological resources, highlighting the need for enhanced project support in Pedagogy and Psychology education. The paper aims to enhance understanding of psychologist professional development by specifying the concept of "readiness for professional activity design," defined as the integration and interaction of personality structures and educational environment conditions. The study utilized systematic, structural, functional, and comparative analysis, expert assessments, questionnaires, socio-pedagogical modeling, pedagogical design, education quality diagnostics, and statistical methods for comprehensive research. The paper provides a theoretical and methodological analysis of future educational psychologists' readiness to design professional activities in the context of a comprehensive study, including a survey of graduate students of the specialisation "Pedagogy and Psychology" of universities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as an expert assessment that allows objectively assessing the psychological potential of psychologists-graduates, predict the features of their project work in the educational environment. It emphasizes the importance of the personal component in professional readiness and offers an expert assessment of training effectiveness for educational psychologists in designing activities within educational environments.

The paper examines the degree of digitalization of Academic Writing and Information Literacy (hereafter AW & IL) course in the countries of the post-Soviet era. Numerous research demonstrated that digital transformation has taken place toward the teaching of AW & IL in most of the developed countries and beyond, yet little is studied about the digitalization in countries of the former Soviet Union that have passed a long way to align their education with the globe. Keeping up with the four main categories of digitalization, the paper will look at its application as a part of curriculum development, assessment, students' competency, and university maintenance. The paper employs a phenomenological approach confirmed through the qualitative analysis of 18 in-depth interviews conducted with AW & IL instructors from nine countries. The study revealed that recently AW & IL course has moved through partial digitalization, providing that the university stakeholders do not exert any necessary support.

This critical interpretive paper deploys Walter Mignolo's geopolitics of knowledge concept to examine higher education internationalisation in Kazakhstan. Amidst growing concerns about economic and environmental sustainability, elitism and cognitive justice, among other critical issues, internationalisation remains a vital government policy. By tracing Kazakhstan's development since independence from the Soviet Union and focusing on key higher education development policy frameworks, the paper argues and illustrates that: (1) the internationalisation of higher education in Kazakhstan promotes a specific representation of the world that is considered universal and modern; (2) the internationalisation of higher education in Kazakhstan illustrates the existing hierarchical global higher education system that is dominated by the West as centres of knowledge and learning while allocating other countries peripheral roles; and (3) the geopolitics of knowledge concept enables the reading of higher education internationalisation beyond what is knowledge to who, why and where knowledge is produced. The data for this paper came from a qualitative study that involved 15 semi-structured interviews with graduates who studied abroad at Western universities through the government-sponsored Bolashak Scholarship. Three focus group sessions with 21 graduate students at Nazarbayev University complemented the interviews. The qualitative data suggest that Mignolo's geopolitics of knowledge offers a close-to-perfect description of the internationalisation of higher education in Kazakhstan. The conclusion drawn from this post-Soviet study is the universalisation of Western knowledge as nations utilise it for meaningful development, despite decolonial and cognitive justice concerns.

This paper explores how schoolteachers in Kazakhstan engaged with the Renewed Content of Education (RCE) that has been introduced by the Government, and how changes in their beliefs and understandings influenced classroom practice. The study draws on the ecological model of teacher agency and elaborates on factors that contribute to the formation of teacher agency. The study used a mixed methods research design and is based on data collected over two years in rural and urban schools across three regions of Kazakhstan. Altogether, 227 teachers having different levels of experience with the new curriculum were involved in focus group discussions. The findings demonstrate that the majority of teachers acknowledged the value of the RCE, its short- and long-term benefits for students, and the broader aim of boosting the economic competitiveness of the country. At the same time, the findings suggest that, while a surface change occurred in teachers' beliefs, their pedagogical practices, and the learning context, there is limited evidence that the teachers moved fully to new ways of teaching and embedded the principles of the RCE in practice. Through our findings, we verified the centrality of socially dynamic relationships in educational change. Teachers shared agency in developing their own rules and routines for collaboration. This paper adds to research on educational change in an international context by showing that the scope for teacher agency in reform implementation increases when teachers are able to develop deep reform-oriented beliefs, discourses, and pedagogical understanding.

The years of independence have changed various social, political, and literary realities in Kazakhstan, which has affected the thematic and stylistic expressions of Kazakh writers. Thus, research should identify the ideological, social, and thematic features of modern literary writing produced during the years of independence. In particular, social symbolism's role in transmitting national ideals should be scrutinized simply because such sentiments have various literature, cultural, and educational repercussions. Hence, this paper distinguishes the main issues and ideas revealed in post-independence fiction to give a diachronic analysis of the thematic scope of modern Kazakh literature. Following this, this study discusses the themes and topics found in post-independence Kazakh short fiction to shed light on how these texts can be used pedagogically.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has significantly impacted the outbound student mobility of Russian students. This paper highlights and explains the positive role virtual student mobility can play in shaping and sustaining the international education aspirations of Russian students amidst the entangled geopolitical and financial crises. Drawing upon the Aspirations-Capabilities framework of migration, the notion of mobility capital, and different states of (im)mobility, the study analyses 16 semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with Russian students who participated in various forms of virtual mobility in 2020-2023. The findings reveal that virtual mobility can bolster Russian students' capacity to aspire to international studies despite the mobility-suppressing climate by acting as a 'rite of passage' en route to international education, increasing language confidence, and challenging media portrayals of hostility towards Russian students. The richness of the virtual mobility experience in terms of communication with foreign teachers and students plays a key role in activating this affordance.

The study described in this article evaluates the effectiveness of methods of improving phonetic, grammatical, and syntactic skills in children with general speech underdevelopment in a bilingual environment. The method is based on a theoretical study of severe speech disorders, a structural analysis of linguistic samples, and a comparative study of the results of research by various scientists in an interdisciplinary discourse. An experimental study was carried out concerning the assessment of the effectiveness of speech therapy exercises for forming linguistic skills (phonetic-phonemic, morphological, word-formation, lexical, and syntactic) at different language levels in preschoolers with a general speech disorder in the context of bilingualism (Kazakh was considered the main language, and Russian was considered an additional language). The materials presented in this paper can be used to develop linguistic skills for various speech defects.

As the Bologna process emerged in the framework of European integration, its objectives are closely linked to the process of voluntary convergence of public policies of members of the European Union. In this context, it can be challenging to understand possible convergence or divergence trends in Bologna member countries that are outside the European Union. In this paper, I develop a theoretical framework based on Acharya's (2004) norm localization theory to analyze the historical and present factors of borrowing and adoption of the Bologna standards in Kazakhstan. While the findings suggest that convergence to the Bologna model will be limited, the identified short-term outcomes of the Bologna process include adopting the Bologna-driven competence-based approach. In the long term, the competence-based approach could replace knowledge-based education in Kazakhstan. The analysis reveals the importance of domestic factors for educational policy borrowing.

This paper explores how faculty in Kazakhstan perceive the current and potential effects of the Russia-Ukraine war and sanctions on internationalization and international mobility in higher education in the Central Asian country. The purpose of the study was to provide some initial insights into the perceived effects of the conflict on international mobility and higher education in the country, which has the longest border with Russia. The study uses grounded theory as an approach to research design. The data was collected via semi-structured interviews whereby the participants were selected from among faculty of Kazakhstani universities using a combination of snowball and maximal-variation sampling approaches. The results of the analysis revealed that the participants interpret the impacts of the conflict predominantly in neoliberal terms with only some faculty members noting potential effects in terms of academic colonialism. Identified themes are best interpreted in terms of the conceptual construct of capital. We suggest a combination of several capital theories as a potential theoretical framework for understanding perceptions of the effects of war on internationalization and international mobility in higher education.

A modern specialist's ability to self-educate is a valuable professional quality. Education has been given the essential responsibility to develop the learners' readiness for self-education (RSE). However, university students experience difficulties organizing and implementing self-educational activities. The study's goal is to investigate the development of students' RSE and the impact of interactive training methods (ITMs) on ensuring the development of self-education skills in future elementary school (FES) teachers. The study used a pre- and post-test design for FES teachers' readiness for self-education (RSE). The study involved 240 learners at E. Buketov Karaganda University, Karaganda, Kazakhstan. The study found that university students experienced difficulties in organizing and implementing self-educational activities. The findings revealed that using integrative teaching methods increased students' readiness for self-education which is a significant improvement over traditional methods. This paper contributes to the methodological potential of university education by providing an innovative approach to improve university students' self-education preparation.

The need for IT professionals with fluency in foreign languages becomes increasingly critical as the Kazakhstani government implements steps to foster IT innovation. However, there are structural, geographical and professional imbalances in the interaction of supply and demand for IT professionals who can speak a foreign language in the modern labour market which is the main problem that is currently hindering the growth of the IT sector in Kazakhstan. The aim of this study was to assess the development of subject communicative language competencies (a) in linguistic or grammatical ability and (b) in discourse ability in first-year students for the proposed author's innovative learning technique in the educational process as well as the appropriate technological and systematic procedures. A mixed-research method was used in this study. The study involved 365 learners in the "Informatics" direction at the International University of Information Technologies in Almaty, Kazakhstan during the school year 2021-2022. According to the findings, the experiment participants did not develop subject-related communicative language competencies. The results show that the degree of capability formation is not satisfactory. 52.8% is the basic level, 41.6% is the production point and only 5.8% is the high level. Positive dynamics shaping learners' subject-related language communication competencies were identified as a result of the implementation of innovative techniques. This paper contributes to the research on teaching IT students in developing countries and highlights the most important factors that contribute to improve the level of subject-related communicative language competencies of IT students.

Transition from the Soviet type of economy to a new market system showed the necessity in reforms at the secondary school level. Based on a literature review, this paper aims to reveal how the thinking about teaching economics has changed over the past three decades (1991-2021), and how this has affected teaching economics as a school subject in the Post-Soviet countries. The article illustrates these with the cases of Russia and Kazakhstan. For this paper, a narrative literature review methodology was adopted and scanned studies included only those published in English and Russian.

The current trends in professional military education and professional activity of special military school graduates as future officers require a more thorough and detailed approach not only to assessing the development of their professional and general competencies, but also constant monitoring of the quality of curricula and speciality-oriented study guides. This paper provides a brief substantiation for the need to create an internal automated programme adapted to the capabilities of a special military school and designed for self-assessment of the quality of cadets' training and key performance indicators for evaluating the training process. The paper also describes the current developments on this matter, proposes approaches to the solution and offers some recommendations. The present paper also presents the results of an empirical study on evaluating the cadets' satisfaction with the quality of teaching and customers' satisfaction with the degree of readiness of special military school graduates. This study is prepared and published within the framework of the grant research project "Development of a comprehensive methodology for evaluating the quality of education of special military school graduates" by order of the Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Research methods: theoretical analysis, generalisation, comparison, modelling, survey, SPSS data processing, interpretation. Expected results: substantiation of the key performance indicators of the educational activities of the special military school, the results of the survey on two samples.

The study deals with teaching Russian as a non-native language to Kazakh students from linguistic and cultural positions. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the efficiency of adapting the integrated technology of mastering a non-native language based on the psycholinguistic analysis of the basic values. As the research methods, the study employs the association experiment and Karaulov's matrix of the "semantic gestalt" along with the classic linguodidactic attitudes; based on these methods the study provides the commentary of the associative fields with the valuably marked incentives. Such material being used will promote the actual development of the basic ideological values with the students. The theoretical and experimental content of the paper testifies to the effectiveness of the integrative methods in teaching Russian as a non-native language. The materials of the Free Association Experiment are presented in the comparative commentary of the semantic gestalt stimulus "Azhe -- Grandmother"; the latter represents in the linguistic consciousness of Kazakhs and Russians the significance of the concept under study in the system of the basic human values in the lexical-semantic group "Kinship relations". The conclusion postulated in the paper is as follows: the heuristic potential of the complex usage of the psycholinguistic (associative) and linguodidactic innovations is included in the process of developing a non-native language. The results of the study allow speaking about the expediency and prospects of further integration of the selected material into the study of the humanities at school and university.

Soviet higher education had a distinctive institutional landscape. It combined two institutional types in a uniform model that embedded higher education in the national economy. This paper focuses on the post-Soviet system-level changes in the institutional landscape in all 15 countries of the former USSR. It shows that over last three decades the Soviet two-type institutional model evolved into a three-type model, with the specialized university as a new institutional type. Highlighting the instruments of horizontal and vertical differentiation for each country, the paper explains how structural reforms and market forces led to the rise of the university/multiversity form of institution, and the strengthening of vertical stratification at system level. The comparative analysis shows that there have been different patterns of transformation in the 15 countries, shaped by unique combinations of structural reforms and marketization policies, with certain countries having made more distinctive steps away from the Soviet institutional model. There are now 15 formally different systems of higher education which poses further questions for comparative analysis.

The pandemic resulted in countless tips about how technology can replace face-to-face instruction. This paper illustrates how pedagogical philosophies can impact online course decisions and how a PCK frame offers a gateway for thinking about epistemological access and social justice during Emergency Online Teaching (EOT). This research followed an intrinsic case study design including multiple data sets that were analyzed through inductive, deductive, and axial coding before generalizing patterns across students' reflective journals, FlipGrid recordings, daily tasks, and end-of-course feedback. The results showed that a collaborative online community of practice, self-directed learning, and integrated assessment provided student access and encouraged voice and engagement. Thus, post-COVID-19 PCK holds potential for instructional design and emancipatory online pedagogies in higher education.

This paper presents the results of a pedagogical experiment on the development of media literacy in children of primary school age (7-10 years) in different conditions: at home, at home and school, only at school. Parents who took part in the programme "Media Literacy for parents" were involved in this study. The purpose of the paper was to analyse the effectiveness of media literacy tools in primary school children used in different conditions. The study was conducted through a mixed method, using a questionnaire on media literacy and interviews with parents. The level of media literacy development of younger schoolchildren in the group where the techniques were used at home and school is statistically higher than in children from the group where the techniques were used only at school. The interview results confirmed the need for recommendations for parents and the effectiveness of parental mediation in the development of their children's media literacy.

Recent economic diversifications of Kazakhstan from over-reliance on the extraction of natural resources are mainly based on increasing the quality of human capital by building a knowledge-based economy as an instrument for long-term sustainable development. In this regard, the paper explores the level of cognitive skills of the adult population in Kazakhstan and their associations with important life outcomes. Research is based on one of the prominent studies in adult literacy--The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), and revealed that the performance of Kazakhstanis in information-processing skills is below the average; smaller differences in competencies between the top and bottom performers, which indicates small inequalities in skills acquisition; and a low level of variance between adults with tertiary and secondary education, demonstrating the low education quality. Multiple linear regression of the research indicates that the educational attainment of the population has the highest association with all three information-processing skills, while labour force participation negatively affects the growth of literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving in technology-rich environment (PS-TRE) skills. The main recommendations of the paper are to profoundly transform social institutions, enhance national educational quality, and exercise continuous learning in the country.

This paper examines college students` participation behaviors and the use of social media tools. The descriptive survey model was applied to investigate university students' participation behaviors. The data was collected through a "Participation Questionnaire" from 284 college students in Kazakhstan. The result showed that students who spend less time on social media are positively related to participatory citizenship. Moreover, students with fewer social media accounts are more likely to engage in political, volunteer, and social events than students with fewer social media accounts.

The purpose of this paper is to identify protective factors for students' anxiety management under exam stress. Students experience a range of negative emotions in addition to exam anxiety throughout university exams including stress, fear of knowledge assessments and fear of low performance. However, students' exam preparation and passing can be changed by identifying protective factors for exam stress coping while focusing less on reducing risk factors. Possible protective factors for exam anxiety coping in the present study were resilience, self-efficacy, stress tolerance, overall life satisfaction and coping behavior. In general, our assumption was confirmed that stress tolerance, proactive coping behavior, overall life satisfaction and resilience are the most important factors in overcoming exam fear. Self-efficacy as a latent factor that has a significant impact on overcoming exam fear was not identified. The study validated that stress tolerance, proactive coping, life satisfaction and resilience are pivotal in conquering exam-related fear. However, self-efficacy did not emerge as a significant factor.

This paper comprehensively examines how school leaders in Kazakhstan managed schools during the COVID-19 school closures. An online survey was conducted with 1,298 school leaders, representing 17.5% of all Kazakhstani schools. Anchored in the concept of crisis leadership, the instrument measured school leaders' views regarding teachers' digital competence, their support toward teachers in digital pedagogy, as well as their practices in communicating with parents and teacher autonomy and monitoring. The results of bivariate tests indicate that a significant proportion of schools offered teachers online professional development opportunities to improve their digital instruction, with school location and size influencing the level of training in digital pedagogy received by teachers. Notably, school leaders' confidence in their teachers' ability to teach effectively online increased significantly after receiving training in digital pedagogy. School leaders also maintained regular communication with parents, but this increased their workload, particularly for women and urban school leaders. Most school leaders allowed teachers to choose online platforms and revise curriculum content, while also monitoring teachers' attendance and observing online lessons. These practices varied based on the school's medium of instruction. This study significantly contributes to crisis leadership by examining practices during school closures in addressing teachers' digital competence, communication challenges, and teacher autonomy, with insights on variations by school type, location, and leaders' gender. The study's findings have significant implications for post-pandemic school leadership, emphasizing equity in professional development opportunities for teachers, effective communication with stakeholders, and striking the right balance between teacher autonomy and monitoring.

What ethical and political considerations does zine-making raise in teaching and learning across knowledge systems and artful expression? This question guides the critical dialogue about a research project on teaching sustainability through traditional proverbs from Malaysia and Kazakhstan within a zine-making workshop in a UK university. Merging our reflections with that of students and their zine artworks alongside traditional proverbs, we dialogue across two tensions associated with the challenges of proverbial learning as decolonial connections or appropriation, and the politics and pedagogy of zine-making. Through these tensions which reveal the messy, ambivalent, and unsettled practices within the neoliberal university, we offer some reflections for researchers and teachers engaging in decolonial and arts-based praxis.

Aim/Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate the influence of an augmented reality mobile application on improving secondary students' visualization and comprehension of geometric concepts. Background: The study involved developing an AR app named Geometria to enhance geometry education. Methodology: In a specialized boarding school in Kokshetau, Kazakhstan, 82 tenth-graders were randomly split into control (n=42) and experimental groups (n=40), underwent either traditional instruction or lessons incorporating the AR Geometria app, and were subsequently assessed using a 20-question test spanning spatial relationships, 3D visualization, and advanced geometry concepts, complemented by a feedback questionnaire on the app's impact and usability, all under consistent teacher supervision. Contribution: The research serves as an exploration into the realm of AR in education, offering a detailed assessment of how the Geometria application can revolutionize traditional teaching methodologies in secondary geometry education. Findings: Upon analysis, the experimental group demonstrated significant advancement in their geometry proficiency, especially in competencies like 3D visualization, suggesting that augmented reality tools like Geometria can substantially bridge the conceptual gaps often encountered in conventional teaching settings. Recommendations for Practitioners: Teacher training on augmented reality should be provided, equitable student access should be ensured, and ongoing feedback should be gathered. Recommendations for Researchers: Larger, longer-term studies across diverse educational settings and technologies should be conducted. Impact on Society: Geometry instruction can be strengthened through the effective use of augmented reality to improve STEM outcomes. Future Research: Future studies should focus on best practices for augmented reality implementation and comparisons to other technologies.

This paper explores eight Kazakhstani postgraduate students' reflections of their international educational experiences in the UK after their immediate re-entry into Kazakhstan. Special focus was on their language identity development after their one-year stay in the UK. It was informed by Benson et al.'s ([2013]. "Second Language Identity in Narratives of Study Abroad." London: Palgrave Macmillan) three-dimensional model of L2 identity: (a) identity-related aspects of L2 proficiency, (b) linguistic self-concept, and (c) L2-mediated aspects of personal development. The qualitative data collected from a written narrative and three subsequent rounds of individual semi-structured interviews suggest that most participants had lofty goals in the first period of their study abroad. They gradually became aware that full immersion in the host country could take a long time, and accordingly, they set concrete goals. The analysis of the data also revealed that the participants exercised their agency in displaying their development of sociopragmatic competence and a global citizenship identity, by respecting different opinions and accepting cultural differences. Nevertheless, some of them experienced racism based on their usage of English and presumed ethnicity. This study underlines the significance of introducing pedagogical interventions in all phases of study abroad to avoid student sojourners' unrealistic or impractical goals and empower their language identities.

Modern education is a rapidly developing field of social practice. Requirements for the professional skills of future specialists are being developed; mechanisms are being created that stimulate improving the quality of education. This research is aimed to identify the level of students' reflective competencies with the formation of a distance curriculum within the Moodle platform. The study sample consisted of 71 psychology students from Kazakh universities: Toraighyrov University, NJSC, Pavlodar Pedagogical University, NJSC, and L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. The reflective competencies were measured using a diagnostic map based on the "Method for determining the individual measure of reflection" (A.V. Karpov, V.V. Ponomareva). The test for reliability and validity was justified: the calculation showed a good value for the internal consistency of the diagnostic map: [alpha] = 0.887 in the experimental group and [alpha] = 0.822 in the control group. The findings show a significant improvement in the reflection level: from predominantly middle to high in the experimental group. More than half of the experimental group and one-fifth of the control group improved their reflective skills. This paper has a practical value: further investigation of education digitalization's impact on the development of reflective competencies in students from other regions.

The paper analyses an institutional approach and international faculty responses to implementation of social-distancing measures during COVID-19 on a residential campus of an international university in Kazakhstan. Terror-Management Theory is used to interpret the behavioral responses of the faculty. The theory predicts three types of international faculty responses to the conscious fear of death from COVID-19--death avoidance, death acceptance, and death negation. These responses determine the extent of compliance with social distance-control measures. In addition three anxiety-buffering mechanisms proposed by the theory--commitment to particular worldviews, self-esteem enhancement and maintenance of social connections--serve as factors of variation in responses. Implications are drawn from the results about the relevance of the theory to the analysis of campus population responses to COVID-19-control measures on domestic and international campuses. Recommendations for university administrators at international universities are made about managing the three types of responses.

Globally, scholarships for international higher education play a critical role in human capital development. While substantial research has documented the benefits such scholarships provide for individuals, their impact on the creation of pathways for social change remains under-researched. This paper bridges this gap by examining the extent to which a government scholarship for international education has created pathways for social change in Kazakhstan. Data were collected through interviews with 67 scholarship alumni. Drawing on Dassin et al.'s (2018) framework for pathways to social change, the findings reveal that international education fosters social change in Kazakhstan in four ways. First, the scholarship program develops local talent and builds agents of change. Second, it widens access to international education, particularly for individuals from marginalized communities, who would otherwise lack access owing to their scarce financial resources. Third, the program develops alumni's cosmopolitan and intercultural competencies and strengthens international collaborations. Finally, it creates associations and groups through which alumni can collectively contribute to society. The findings highlight that while the interviewed alumni foster strong patriotic feelings and are determined to contribute to the prosperity of their country, underdeveloped industries, economic volatility, and top-down bureaucracy in workplaces limit their potential contributions to social changes. These findings may help policymakers and administrators to reconsider and improve on the design and structure of scholarship programs.

Purpose: Academics' perceptions of the motives of the introduction of quality management are still rarely investigated, particularly in Central Asian countries. Thus, this paper aims to understand the internal dynamics of organisational change within higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents evidence from an online survey of academics from three Kazakh national universities. Their perceptions are presented with a quantitative descriptive approach using means and standard deviations. Findings: The results show that academics perceive institutional (e.g. regulations, professional standards, existing norms, etc.) and instrumental explanations (e.g. institutional learning, improvement, intra- and inter-organisational competition, etc.) of the introduction of quality management as equally important. This contradicts existing evidence from surveys of other groups within higher education institutions. Originality/value: In addition to evaluating the literature, the paper combines institutional and instrumental reasons for the introduction of quality management in Kazakh universities. Taking a perspective centred on academics, the results indicate that scholars' assessments reveal a comparatively low variance regarding the importance of quality management. Based on these results, the paper suggests that empirical studies need to be broadened with comparative perspectives from different organisational contexts, groups and administrative traditions.

Long-term sports training should be considered as a complex specific system with its characteristics. The whole process of long-term sports training involves many variables, therefore, training tools and methods undergo significant changes. The paper presents the mechanism of organization of educational and training activities of young judoists in the implementation of the program material for sports-oriented physical education of primary school students. The study conducted a survey of children in the form of a conversation, as well as a questionnaire of parents and coaches-teachers. The author has developed software and methodological support and a model of the structure of the content and organization of training of young judoists. In addition, the article focused on the pedagogical conditions as one of the components of the pedagogical system, which reflect the totality of the possibilities of the educational, material, and spatial environment and the factors of the health-saving pedagogical environment.

This paper aims to investigate early career researchers' (ECR) needs and barriers in conducting research at Kazakhstani regional universities employing a mixed methods research design with the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. We surveyed one hundred and twenty university academic staff undertaking the first stages of their research careers at the higher education institutions of West Kazakhstan in the cities of Aktau, Aktobe, Atyrau, and Oral to understand the needs and challenges faced by this community better. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the research administration of the above-stated institutions to understand the issues under study. Understanding these issues is central to developing informed policies for promoting teacher research engagement, as well as taking steps to build the research capacity of university academic staff in their early research career. The study depicts that the university academic staff, in their early research career, face barriers such as the lack of time to conduct research, the difficulty in publishing research, and the lack of research mentorship and university support. The study resulted in the relation of ECRs' knowledge of languages to their research experience, and the ECRs' research directions are as well associated with their (1) conducting research for enhancing teaching skills, (2) applying for research grants, and (3) receiving research funding adds to a deeper understanding of the ECRs' research needs and barriers. Kazakhstani regional universities' ECRs need specifically targeted policies to be undertaken to facilitate their research careers.

This explanatory sequential mixed-method study explored the effectiveness of blended learning (BL) courses offered to graduate students at an English medium university in Kazakhstan. The study's purpose was to explore and understand graduate students' experiences while enrolled in BL courses by learning their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of BL, as well as its potential for enhancing their teacher leadership skills. A survey (n=81) and semi-structured individual interviews (n=17) were used as the main research instruments. This allowed for a detailed and rich data set on the conceptual underpinnings of the BL courses, their effectiveness, and their potential to inform higher education institutions towards implementing BL policies and practices, specifically in the field of education. Through the lens of the Interaction equivalency theorem, we analyzed students' experiences and their interactions with their teachers and peers, as well as the mode, place, and pace of learning. This investigation revealed that the benefits of learning using BL outweighed its challenges. However, most of the participants preferred the face-to-face part of the BL course over its online teacher-student interaction component due to the opportunity to gain immediate feedback. Most importantly, the BL courses facilitated the enhancement of teacher leadership skills among the students. Finally, the paper provides recommendations for further development and revisions to current BL courses to enhance their learning value.

The paper aims at determining the principles of participative management and the nuances of their implementation into integrated e-learning, which complements the traditional forms of education in emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The research uses a semi-structured questionnaire adapted from Dashkova for the education sphere and developed with the consideration of participative management principles. The survey involved 289 students and 293 university teachers. The study found that participative management is the best approach to integrating e-learning into the education process. It ensures effective communication contributing to the uniting of objectives of all participants by expanding their engagement in the management of the education process. Assessment and recognition of participative management in university may be one realistic scenario for more rapid adaptation and effective implementation of diverse learning trajectories.

A case study was initiated from the perspective of three research questions: (1) CLIL teachers' practices at secondary schools of Aktobe during COVID-19 pandemic; (2) challenges for the teachers; (3) support provided for the teachers. The research methodology combined face-to-face personal interviews, and non-participant observation. Data analysis was conducted in line with Mayring's (2020) approach to content analysis and by means of categorization into specific themes that emerge from teachers' conceptualization of their CLIL practices. The analysis of teachers' reflections on their experiences and challenges of using the CLIL approach during the pandemic, support provided to them and teachers' attitudes towards the approach is presented in the paper. Research data on the secondary schools Science teachers' CLIL practices in a remote learning setting was categorized related preparation to teaching, resources used by the teachers, students' interaction during the lessons, and stakeholders' attitudes and perceptions of the approach. The obtained data enables to understand Science teachers' practices in terms of using the CLIL approach in Kazakhstani secondary schools in the period of COVID-19 pandemic, and will contribute to teacher development and preparation for successful CLIL realization in a nontraditional classroom.

In this paper, we described the development of the High School Wave Optics Test (HSWOT). Firstly, 56 conceptual, multiple-choice items with a single correct answer and three distractors were created. Next, we conducted an initial review of the items which resulted in reducing the item pool to 44 highest quality items. Validity evidence and feedback on the quality of these 44 items were collected through an expert survey and small-scale item try-out which included 3 subject-matter experts and 13 high school students, respectively. This process helped us to reduce our item pool to 30 technically improved conceptual items, which were eventually administered to 164 high-school students, from Kazakhstan. Finally, a Rasch analysis of the students' answers resulted in a 24-item scale for measuring conceptual understanding in high-school students. The item reliability proved to be good, person reliability was acceptable, and the difficulty of items was approximately person-independent. All distractors were chosen by at least 5% of students and 8 distracters were chosen by more than 35% of students. We could conclude that HSWOT may be effectively used for measuring conceptual understanding in advanced high-school physics courses and for identifying students' misconceptions in wave optics, in general.

This paper considers one of the relevant problems of modern pedagogy - the use of logical approaches in teaching to the development of thought and language of primary schoolchildren. The purpose of the study is to determine the main criteria for the developmental education of thought and language to primary school children and to assess the level of schoolchildren before and after the experimental work in the process of completing tasks using logical approaches. The study involved 150 3rd grade primary schoolchildren: as an experimental (76 schoolchildren) and control (74 schoolchildren) groups. The experimental work carried out gave exhibited that the use of logical approaches in teaching schoolchildren of the experimental and control groups made it possible to improve the basic skills of speech development of schoolchildren and thinking from low and medium to medium and high levels, respectively.

Campus crisis management remains an understudied topic in the context of COVID-affected higher education. In this paper, we contrasted the ability to tame the wicked problems brought by the pandemic of COVID-19 in private and public universities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Colombia, India, Kazakhstan, Uganda, and Ukraine. The cross-country analysis and diversity of institutional types allowed us to consider a wide range of challenges faced by academic leaders and their institutions during the global pandemic. By drawing on institutional policy reviews and interviews with university administrators, we have examined tensions between the human and institutional agencies on these crisis-stricken campuses given differing institutional coupling, sizes, resources, and missions. The focus on agential co-dependencies and institutional coupling lays the ground for conceptualizing campus crisis management as a culturally specific construct in the context of higher education affected by the global pandemic.

Purpose: This study examines diaspora engagement and return migration programs aimed at providing diaspora youth with an opportunity to obtain higher education in Estonia and Kazakhstan. In particular, the authors sought to identify the main motivations, benefits and challenges of the programs, as well as understand how the programs contribute to the ethnic identity formation of diaspora students. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employed a qualitative multiple-case study research design. In both countries, data were collected by means of 26 semi-structured interviews with return migrant students and experts involved in implementing the programs. Findings: The study findings suggest that the primary motivations for diaspora youth to return to their homelands are tuition-free higher education, financial support and repatriation prospects in both countries. In Estonia, the scholarship holders struggled with language requirements for university admissions, the cost of living insufficiently covered by the monthly stipend and limited integration opportunities. In Kazakhstan, the students had to face the Russian language barrier and socio-cultural marginalization in their everyday life. It was also found that the return migrant students in Estonia and Kazakhstan develop hybrid identities to integrate into their domestic society. They reinforce their ethnic identities and negotiate their diasporic identities to make sense of their own background and cultural heritage and acclimatize to life in the new context. Originality/value: The study provides practical implications for policy implementers and policymakers in Estonia and Kazakhstan. It can also be useful for the worldwide research community interested in exploring education-oriented diaspora engagement and return migration programs and their influence on the ethnic identity of diaspora students.

The paper examines Kazakhstan's decision to join the Bologna Process (BP), its implementation, and its impact on the higher education system in the country. Many post-Soviet countries have joined the BP, while many developing countries are also aligning their higher education systems with it. A diverse body of literature attempts to address the questions as to why do countries engage in policy borrowing and what makes it successful. Through our in-depth primary case study of Kazakhstan and a comparative assessment of similar cases in the post-Soviet space researched by other scholars, we make twofold contribution to this literature. First, we argue that governments often borrow policies with less clearer objectives, making it difficult to evaluate 'success' or 'failure' of the policy transfer. Second, differentiating between the success of policy transfer itself and the achievement of its perceived or real goals, we contend that the success of policy transfer is not a guarantee for the achievement of policies' original objectives which may be disappointing for both exporting and importing parties. In that, wide-ranging socio-political institutional differences explain the varied rationales and outcomes.

Based on the definition of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs can be considered as risk-takers. The literature contains conflicting theories as to whether risk-taking can be influenced by external factors. The current paper investigates the effect of entrepreneurship education and collaborative environment on financial risk-taking behavior among university-age young people. To this end, an online survey was conducted involving 510 participants and various statistical tests were utilized to test the research hypothesis. To measure financial risk-taking propensity, the Choice Dilemma Questionnaire methodology was implemented. The results of the analysis reveal that both the level of entrepreneurship education and a collaborative environment increase financial risk-taking. Moreover, multiple linear regression methodology was used to capture the significant factors that influence financial risk-taking when investing alone and investing in a collaborative environment. As a policy recommendation, the authors suggest that an entrepreneurship training curriculum should be developed that incorporates the various activities and elements of a collaborative environment.

The purpose of this paper is to build and test a framework of four factors stakeholders in postgraduate higher education institutions in Kazakhstan perceive as supporting or hindering language development in English-medium programs. Data in this mixed-methods study were collected through student surveys and interviews with students, faculty and administration from six universities across Kazakhstan. Factor analysis confirmed the value of structural, pedagogical, sociolinguistic, and cultural factors for language development. Quantitative and qualitative data demonstrated that respondents highly valued structural factors such as academic mobility abroad and having an opportunity to interact with international faculty. However, they were less satisfied with national and university policies on the implementation of EMI. Additional structural factors including: a significant lack of pedagogical trainings, lack of collaboration with EFL instructors for curriculum development, and low overall English language proficiency of faculty and students, led to pedagogical challenges in classrooms. These challenges were somewhat mitigated by translanguaging practices. The sociolinguistic factors scale demonstrated that out of three languages, Russian was the most prevalent on campuses, which, according to qualitative data, creates pressure to maintain English. Finally, the cultural factors data revealed that students were highly motivated for their ideal self, whereas institutions strived to be research-oriented and included in the international ranking lists. Based on these findings, it is recommended that curricula be adjusted to include spaces for multilingual practices, and that faculty be provided support in teaching in English through professional development courses.

This paper used three participatory methods- children's drawings, photographs, and group interviews- along with a short questionnaire to explore Grade 6 pupils' experiences and perceptions of the private tutoring (PT) they had received in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The questionnaire data suggest that 316 out of 406 (79.87%) attended PT. The qualitative data from 30 pupils reveal that the participants' motives of having PT ranged from adult-imposed reasons (e.g. complying with parents' wishes by studying for an elite school place) to reasons associated with achieving their ideal selves by boosting their interest in learning and imagining themselves working/studying abroad or pursuing an international career. The participants acted as proactive agents by explaining not only the PT benefits but also its disadvantages, including the unethical practices of some schoolteachers, increasing tiredness and it being a potentially unfair advantage in a competitive context. This study suggested pedagogical implications and areas for ongoing research.

The use of corporate management practices in higher education has led to spread of result-oriented practices to improve research productivity, including publication rewards and requirements. In this paper we stress the importance of input and process based approaches by examining the mediating role of research self-efficacy on the relationship between training & development practices and research productivity, and the moderating role of knowledge sharing climate. This empirical work provides a more complete understanding of how training & development practices may build research self-efficacy which in turn promotes faculty members' research productivity. Finally, we contribute to the emerging literature on the moderating effects of knowledge sharing climate.

This paper reports on research into the top-down implementation of CLIL in the trilingual context of Kazakhstan, with a focus on teachers' conceptualization of integration. Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian country to introduce CLIL for using three different languages as a medium of instruction for different content subjects as part of an ambitious national language-in-education policy. With a constructivist position, the study sought to explore the reality, i.e. the conceptualization of CLIL from teachers' own perspectives through interviews and observations with five participants, working in the network of 20 state-funded and highly selective Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools. Findings suggest that most of the participating teachers were not aware of the pedagogical intentions behind CLIL and understood it merely as just teaching through another language. The subject teachers, who worked in the context of demanding enquiry-based curriculum, prioritized content over language, assuming only an indirect role in facilitating students' language development.

The research reported in this paper explored secondary Science teachers' experiences in a large-scale and top-down CLIL initiative where schools and teachers had little agency in implementing educational change. Through a grounded theory approach, analysis of data suggests that teachers' insufficient English language proficiency and the lack of agency were major challenges for participating teachers. Findings indicate that teachers were not aware of CLIL pedagogy, and did not believe that under the existing conditions, a subject can be taught through English. Struggling to save face in the obscure situation, teachers sought support from students. Although they were not ready to lose authority and control over the teaching process, they had to relinquish some of their power to students due to their superior English language skills.