Inclusive Education Reform in Kazakhstan: Civil Society Activism from the Bottom-Up

Abstract

It is a common discourse in Kazakhstan that policy-making is state-driven and top-down with weak engagement by civil society. One of the educational reform initiatives announced by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan is a transition to an inclusive education model by 2020. The present study sought to challenge the traditional perspectives on the policy-making process and to investigate to what extent and how civil society in Kazakhstan contributes to inclusive education reform. Described as a phenomenological inquiry, this study employed a qualitative approach, interviewing seven representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) about their contribution to inclusive education reform in Kazakhstan...