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NUGSE Research in Education Journal

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Open Access
Teaching Approaches: Theory and Practice
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(2), 2016) Akimenko, Olessya
While according to some authors, teaching approach is the way of teaching students, implying the kinds of teaching and learning activities that a teacher conducts and the ways in which teacher engages students with the subject matter, other authors use this term to refer to the way of teaching, which can take the form of a lecture, tutorial, or laboratory work. The paper first focuses in particular on the theoretical understandings of teacher-centered and student-centered approaches, executive, facilitator, and liberationist teaching approaches, as well as lecture, direct instruction, and group discussion. These theories are then examined in regard to teaching approaches in Kazakhstan, whose educational system has recently undergone significant changes, moving from traditional to a more competence-based type of education, thereby encouraging students to develop the ability to apply the knowledge and experience in order to solve problems. By examining these theories and their application in Kazakhstan, it is hoped to shed light on the areas for further growth and improvement.
Open Access
Many Colors of Assessment: Participation Matters
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(2), 2016) Kabulova, Meruyert; Pussurmanova, Gulzada; Shaikhina, Dina; Akhmedina, Assel; Issina, Gulden
The problem of non-attendance and lack of student engagement in class is a widely recognized issue in educational circles around the world, including Kazakhstan. One of the reasons is the neglect of class participation in the current assessment models. This policy brief outlines the significance of class participation, considers the relation between class participation and improvement of academic performance, reviews the existing assessment practices, and argues for the inclusion of class participation as one of the aspects of assessment system in Kazakhstani organizations for secondary education.
Open Access
The Key Drivers of the Unified National Test in Kazakhstan: A Critical Analysis of its Impact on School Leavers
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(2), 2016) Jumabayeva, Zhanna
This study is aimed to identify the key drivers of the Unified National Test in Kazakhstan and to determine its impact on school leavers. The main key drivers of implementing the new assessment policy include the following: saving students’ time, receiving school certificate and combating corruption. The paper also considers whether the Unified National Test is a successful assessment policy. This investigation indicates that there are both advantages and disadvantages in implementing the Unified National Test. For example, with the introduction of new system of assessment, there have been many changes in students’ lives. However, some of these changes are considered as hopeless as they caused social problems like suicide. There were also different issues appeared since the introduction of the Unified National Test including private tutoring, the importance of core subjects, which led to a narrowing of a school curriculum, the hidden curriculum titled Course preparation for the Unified National Test and quality gap in education among various population groups. The results of this study show that the structure in the Unified National Test is overall good, but it can be improved for the better.
Open Access
Essential Conference Tips for Graduate Students
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(2), 2016) Yessenova, Aisara
Open Access
Insights from the First NUGSE Graduates
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(2), 2016) Sirgebayeva, Aidana
Open Access
Welcome letter from the editor
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(2), 2016) Montgomery, Philip
Open Access
Surviving Peer Review: A Difficult but Worthwile Experience
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(2), 2016) Syzdykbayeva, Rizagul
Open Access
Academic mobility and the labor market
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(1), 2016-06) Jumabayeva, Zhanna
The current study is aimed to better understand the concept of academic mobility and identify its labor market outcomes in the context of Kazakhstan. The paper considers whether mobility is an advantage for the domestic employment market and whether it enhances graduates’ employability. The researcher also investigates whether in Kazakhstan students’ participation in the international programs, particularly the Bolashak International Scholarship of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, affects their employment upon completion of their studies. This investigation indicates that increasingly large numbers of students continue to study abroad despite the lack of clear evidence supporting the gains graduates have in finding jobs. This suggests that students who return are not necessarily guaranteed with ideal jobs upon their graduation. Just because someone studied abroad, the competition for them does not disappear: work experience can have a higher priority. Hence, the results of this study showed that the Bolashak program is not always a ticket to a better future, at least in the short term.
Open Access
Quality of education in Kazakhstani universities: real or not real?
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(1), 2016-06) Kovaleva, Lyudmila
The quality of education in the sector of higher education has been one of the key priorities of the government for the last decade. In order to assure the quality of education and produce highly qualified human resources, the country needs to have an effective tool for assessing the activities of higher education institutions. Successful international experiences and the need to integrate into the European Higher Education Area urged Kazakhstan to introduce the procedure of external accreditation by independent quality assurance agencies. To understand the effectiveness of the external accreditation in the framework of Kazakhstani context, there is a need to contemplate the issues of the general concept of quality, overall procedure of quality assurance as well as its strong and weak points. While there are ongoing debates about the efficiency of quality assurance agencies and their impact on quality of education, it is important to realize that the internal quality within universities cannot be assured by the means of external review alone. In summary, this article argues that the process of assuring the quality of education in Kazakhstani institutions has to be a cooperative attempt of both quality assurance agencies and educational organizations. Therefore, the culture of quality and attitudes of society, policy-makers and universities towards quality assurance agencies is an important issue for discussion.
Open Access
Publication tips from NUGSE faculty
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(1), 2016-06) Baigazina, Altyn; Gapbassova, Lyazat
Henry Ford once wisely noted, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success”. This quote accurately mirrors the team spirit that has inspired and fueled the creation of the first peer-reviewed student-led journal at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education. Indeed, the first issue of Research in Education has received tremendous support from NUGSE faculty and the student community, who have willingly taken the initiatives to become peer-reviewers, editors, proofreaders, administrators, designers, writers and authors. This has been a long learning process for all of us, and in this editorial we have collected tips from our contributors for future authors. These recommendations explain how to nail down your research hunch, how to present convincing argumentation in your writing and turn it into a solid paper. In addition, our contributors will help you to clarify what publishing ethics you might want to consider to make your paper look substantial and share their experience on how to navigate through the rigorous publishing process for success.
Open Access
Welcome letter from the editor
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(1), 2016-06) Montgomery, Philip
Scholarly research is as much a science as it is an art. The articles presented in this inaugural issue of NUGSE Research in Education reflect the high academic and ethical standards of educational research and policy analysis. All of our authors have completed graduate or postgraduate courses in research methods and educational policy studies. They have chosen and researched the topics themselves, topics which are relevant to education in Kazakhstan and which deserve a wider audience. This critical and analytical inquiry can and will bring positive change to schools, universities and governmental organizations, by placing value on passionate intellectual curiosity and meticulous evidence-based decision-making. The very act of writing, reviewing and editing these articles, we hope, will encourage students to tackle the big problems and wrestle with the big ideas in their field.
Open Access
Welcome Letter from the Editorial Board
(NUGSE Research in Education, 1(1), 2016-06) Kozhabayeva, Kamila; Sanat, Aisulu
As American writer, political activist, and the first special needs woman in history to get a bachelor’s degree, Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Truly, each member of the NUGSERIE editorial board contributed a brick to establish a solid base for this journal. Below, we would like to share our voices, so that you have an idea what we have gained from this extraordinary experience. The following paragraphs are collated and edited responses from our Editorial Board: two MSc students, two MA students, two PhD students, two alumni, and two faculty members.
Open Access
Investigating the Effectiveness of Private Small Group Tutoring of English in Kazakhstan: Perceptions of Tutors and Students
(NUGSE Research in Education, 2(1), 2017) Akimenko, Olessya
The main focus of education studies has been on mainstream schools and institutions. However, the growing phenomenon of private tutoring has been largely overlooked by scholars. In Kazakhstan, numerous specialists offer private tutoring, and the tendency to supplement mainstream schooling continues to grow. The actual effectiveness of private tutoring, meanwhile, remains an open question. Since the study of English language is the most popular among the various subjects offered by tutors, this research studies the effectiveness of private tutoring of English and the way it can – or cannot – complement school education. This qualitative study explores the experiences of five private tutors and five privately tutored small groups of high-school students at private tutoring facilities in Astana, based on data obtained from semi-structured individual face-to-face and focus group interviews. The results of the study indicate that private tutoring is effective in enhancing students’ knowledge of English, as well as serves as a remedial purpose by helping students to form the knowledge required by mainstream schools. However, it should be noted that for other tutored subjects the situation may be different. Also, the results of the research may not be representative for the whole country due to the small size of the sample.
Open Access
Integration of Returnee Children in Kazakhstani Schools
(NUGSE Research in Education, 2(1), 2017) Terlikbayeva, Nurgul
This research is devoted to exploring the adaptation experience of returnee children in Kazakhstani schools. Upon arrival, returnee children who have not been exposed to Kazakh culture encounter social and psychological challenges. Because of the absence of educational policies for migrant children, the Kazakhstani education system fails to meet the needs of returnee children as they are required to enroll into mainstream schools. Relying on the empirical evidence and literature on the integration of returnee children, this study attempts to understand the challenges returnee children face in Kazakhstani schools and how these children cope with the alleged challenges. In the course of the study, returnee children reported language, Kazakhstani education system and teacher attitudes to be the major challenges they have faced. One solution to this problem would be a reconsideration of the existing educational program in Kazakhstan on inclusive education which targets only disabled children. Kazakhstani policy makers should consider widening the scope of its meaning including culturally disadvantaged returnee children in its agenda.
Open Access
The Role of the Mentor in the First Year of Teaching
(NUGSE Research in Education, 2(1), 2017) Kadyrova, Samal
This article explores the effectiveness of mentorship relationships in addressing first year teachers’ challenges at the beginning of their career at one of the Kazakhstani private schools. The study examines the concept of mentoring, the challenges beginning teachers face, the benefits of them, and the experiences of mentorship relationships worldwide and on the territory of Kazakhstan. One-on-one interview has been chosen as the most appropriate research strategy because it helped the researcher to develop a detailed understanding of the mentorship relationship experiences within the mentoring program at school. The results of this study have shown that all participants experience various difficulties in the inaugural period of their career. Even though the existing mentoring programs are the way to enhancement; they have definitely a positive effect on first-year teachers’ professional development.
Open Access
Abay’s Legacy to the Philosophy of Education
(NUGSE Research in Education, 2(1), 2017) Shon, Peter
As early as the nineteenth century, Abay Kunanbayev foresaw the need to adapt to the world being altered by the hands of geopolitical powers. Rather than to be swept away by the waves of colonial influences, he became the lonely voice in the wilderness urging the Kazakhs to become educated multi-lingually. Though Abay is revered as the country’s foremost philosopher and poet, his writings are mostly covered in secondary school Kazakh Literature courses; though often quoted, the work of Abay is seldom read in its entirety. In addition, information about the impact of his writings on present-day educators in Kazakhstan is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to describe and juxtapose the main ideas in Abay’s The Book of Words, first published in 1909, with various philosophers from the West to examine the relevance of his philosophy in today’s Kazakhstani society. This paper is a historical description which seeks to answer the metaphysical, epistemological, and pedagogical questions under the themes of man, knowledge, and education. This study will contribute to bringing a further spotlight on Abay, not only as a steppe philosopher and poet of the past, but as a philosopher in education for contemporary Kazakh society.
Open Access
Language-in-Education Policy in Multilingual Education
(NUGSE Research in Education, 2(1), 2017) Ayazbayeva, Nazira
Language policies and their aspects that impact societies and people are important social phenomena that are not well researched in multicultural and multilingual Kazakhstan. While previous research has investigated how language policies existing in Kazakhstan impact the development of plurilingual individuals (Syzdykbayeva, 2016), this article explores the theory behind the concepts of language policy and specifically language-in-education policy. It analyzes the past and current policies like the Trilingual Policy in Kazakhstan. Using Cooper’s (1989) framework of evaluating the language planning and policy and sought answers to the questions: Who plans what (language) practices for whom, how, under what conditions, and for what purpose?
Open Access
The Promise of Publication: Reflections from a PhD Student
(NUGSE Research in Education, 2(1), 2017) Jumabayeva, Zhanna
Publishing can be useful in a wide range of ways, including the professional growth, worldwide recognition, knowledge acquirement and self-learning that is involved in the process. I would like now to share my experience of having been published in the first and second issues of the journal, established by Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education (NUGSE) in 2016. The requirements for the journal are very rigorous, but the journal is certainly worthwhile for researchers, especially for junior ones like me. When I first heard about the release of the journal, I was so glad to have such an opportunity to get published. I certainly had a previous experience of getting published when I was an undergraduate student...
Open Access
Guidelines for Writing a Book Review: Through the Lens of the First-Year Doctoral Student Experience
(NUGSE Research in Education, 2(1), 2017) Orynbassarova, Dilara
Writing a critical book review is an integral part of the scholarly development process of any emerging researcher. The payoff of writing a book review is great, as it helps the emerging scholar to sharpen both writing and critical thinking skills, and understand the process of writing and editing a book. A critical review of the book may include a brief yet effective summary of the book; the relevance of the ideas today in general; a thorough analysis of the author’s main concepts and ideas, including the discussion about the authors’ main arguments, how and why the author has put the book together in such away, how well the author has supported ideas and facts; and discussion of the book’s strengths and weaknesses, which may include the overall content, organization, style and application to a certain context. Mentioning whether the author has achieved the stated purpose of the book is also important. For example, you may find this information in the preface or the introduction part of the book. My personal experience of writing a critical book review indicates that the process has three stages: before, during and after.
Open Access
Welcome Letter
(NUGSE Research in Education, 2(1), 2017) Makoelle, Tsediso Michael