FACULTY PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCE OF CURRICULUM RENEWAL OF MASTER’S PROGRAMMES IN ONE KAZAKHSTANI UNIVERSITY
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Date
2016-09
Authors
Akhmetova, Guldana
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Graduate School of Education
Abstract
The aim of the study is to explore faculty members’ perceptions and transitioning
experience from State Standards control to greater academic freedom of curriculum renewal
of Master’s programmes in one Kazakhstani university.
After the dissolution of the USSR, Kazakhstan changed its economic direction to a
market-oriented economy. One of the impacts of a market-oriented economy was reforms in
education because with fluctuations in the labour market, it was no longer appropriate for the
government to control the content of university programmes. As a result, the government
incrementally expanded academic freedom in the university curricula by providing of elective
courses in line with the General State Standards of Compulsory Education. However, this
transition to greater academic freedom raised the question of how faculty members who were
experienced in delivering prescribed courses addressed the new role of designing elective
courses. Within this context, this study aimed to examine faculty members’ perceptions and
experiences of curriculum renewal in Master’s programmes in one Kazakhstani university,
focusing on the implementation of elective courses.
This qualitative research is premised on an ethnographic design. A grounded theory
approach was employed to collect and analyse the data. Data collection was conducted over
three-month period in 2015. A total of 42 faculty members engaged in semi-structured
interviews; 17 faculty members were involved in focus group discussions; observations of
setting and meetings, documentary analysis, and informal talks were undertaken as well.
The findings from the study suggest that the expansion of academic freedom has caused
uncertainty in faculty members due to the predominance of the previous education paradigms,
in particular, the findings reveal a lack of relevant professional knowledge, a lack of support
in course design, late adoption of the legal regulations that underpin course design, and
ingrained reliance of relying on previous State Standards. The faculty members perceived that
the previous Soviet mentality was impeding them from practicing the new education
paradigm. The study indicates that these challenges need to be addressed in order to
strengthen the education reforms aimed at educating qualified specialists.
This study contributes to knowledge of education change in post-Soviet countries by
exploring the transition of faculty members from State Standards control to greater academic
freedom in curriculum design in Kazakhstan. The research suggests that faculty members feel
uncertain about transitioning to greater academic freedom due to the predominance of
previous education paradigms in their practice, attitude and mindset.
Description
Keywords
Type of access: Restricted, academic freedom, curriculum renewal, faculty perceptions, higher education, Kazakhstan, transition
Citation
Akhmetova, G. (2016). Faculty perceptions and experience of curriculum renewal of master’s programmes in one Kazakhstani university. Graduate School of Education