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Kunakbayeva M.Z.
English language teacher Nazarbayev Intellectual school (Uralsk, Kazakhstan)
OVERVIEW OF KAZAKHSTAN'S EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN PISA
Аннотация: this article examines Kazakhstan's participation in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) from 2009 to 2022, highlighting the historical context, current policies, and ongoing challenges in the country's education system. Initially influenced by international standards, Kazakhstan's educational reforms aimed to enhance student performance in reading, mathematics, and science.
Ключевые слова: Kazakhstan, PISA, educational reforms, student performance, OECD, educational policy.
Historical context and development.
For the need for cross- nationally comparable evidence on student performance, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 1997. PISA assesses the extent to which 15-year-old students, near the end of their compulsory education, have acquired key knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in modern societies. It was first performed in 2000 and then repeated every thryears. Its aim is to provide comparable data with a view to enabling countries to improve their education policies and outcomes. It measures problem solving and cognition. In each round of PISA, one of the core domains is tested in detail, taking up nearly two-thirds of the total testing time. The major domain in 2015 is science, as it was in 2006. Reading was the major domain in 2000 and 2009, and mathematics was the major domain in 2003 and 2012.
Current policies and reforms.
For the first time, the issue of the need for Kazakhstan to participate in PISA became a subject of discussions in 2001-2004, initiated by the Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan within the framework of the project "Development of the National Standard of General Secondary Education in a Changing World". The project was implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan and was aimed at providing Kazakhstan with international expert support and increasing the potential of Kazakhstani specialists in the field of reform of national standards of general secondary education. The key result of the project was the adoption by Kazakhstan of the concept of "Outcome Based Education", the main idea of which is a fundamentally new understanding of the expected educational outcomes as a set of basic competencies that allow young people to make an informed choice and effectively navigate in the modern world. This vector of educational policy was officially enshrined in the "State Program for the Development of Education in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2005-2010" and defined the conceptual framework for the development of the National Standard of General Secondary Education in the context of the transition to the 12-year school education model. From a practical point of view, the analysis of Kazakhstan's results in PISA-2009 (as well as TIMSS-2008) provides a relevant perspective for work in such areas as the transition to new educational standards and the creation of a national system for monitoring the quality of education, which are included in the number of priority areas of educational policy within the framework of the "State Program for the Development of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020".
Challenges and successes.
Kazakhstan's PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results from 2009 to 2022 show some fluctuations in performance across reading, mathematics, and science. 2009: Kazakhstan's performance was notably below the OECD average in all thrdomains. In reading, the country was significantly behind, reflecting challenges in basic literacy skills. Similar gaps were observed in mathematics and science, indicating a need for comprehensive educational reforms.
2022: By 2022, there was some improvement, but Kazakhstan still lagged behind the OECD average. Although the gap narrowed in certain areas, the country continued to struggle, particularly in reading and mathematics. This persistent gap suggests ongoing issues with the quality of education and highlights the need for further targeted interventions. Overall, while Kazakhstan has made strides since 2009, the country's results in 2022 still reflect a significant disparity compared to the OECD average, underscoring the necessity for continued educational reforms and support for students. The following policy recommendations could be explored to build on the impressive overall gains made in PISA 2012:
Ensure that basic reading skills are achieved. Reading performance appears to be the greatest challenge in Kazakhstan's education system. Reading is a skill that begins with a solid foundation in early grade literacy. Rather than waiting for national or international large-scale assessments mostly focused on grades 4 and above, teachers should regularly assess early grade literacy in the classroom and then intervene with the appropriate combination of pedagogical approaches. Early grade literacy is a critical stepping stone for further skills acquisition, and a comprehensive approach that brings together teachers' professional development, learning materials, and assessment tools development is necessary. Kazakhstan should consider implementing a program that includes five important steps to improve reading in the early grades: (i) train teachers how to teach reading, (ii) maximize instruction time in the classroom, (iii) put appropriate books in the hands of children, (iv) implement appropriate language policies and provide mother tongue-based instruction, and (v) measure reading skills.
Establish a comprehensive Early Childhood Development (ECD) program, with an emphasis on at-risk groups. The analysis of the determinants of quality of education concludes that unlike in most countries, attending preschool in Kazakhstan has no impact on student achievement levels at age 15, controlling for other relevant factors. These results may imply that the quality of the preschool system was poor in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In recent years, Kazakhstan has allocated considerable resources through the Balapan program to expand access to preschools, but the focus has not been on improving quality or ensuring that young children acquire key
cognitive and non-cognitive skills that serve as the building block for lifelong skills formation. Kazakhstan therefore should assess the quality of preschools, either by observing teachers and their effectiveness, or by monitoring child development outcomes to ensure that additional investments have the intended impact. Recent evidence also suggests that adequate health, nutrition, and stimulation for children aged 0-3 are critical for brain development, which also affects skills acquisition. Currently, social services for children in the age groups 0-3 and 4-6 are not well coordinated. An effective ECD program should therefore integrate health and social services for children aged 0-3, while ensuring a smooth transition to quality preschool programs and then primary school readiness. The return on investments in ECD is highest for at-risk children and their families, thus in a context of limited resources, a targeted approach is recommended.
Develop an integrated assessment system. An integrated assessment system should ensure that student assessments reflect the content of the curriculum and are objective and fair, and that results are provided in a way that supports the system to identify areas where further research or remedial action might be needed. While the PISA results present a good starting point to discuss education reform, there are limits to the conclusions that can be drawn. For example, PISA is a competency based, rather than a curriculum-based, assessment. There are thus limitations to the data and some information gaps are evident in the determinants analysis, especially for understanding the factors driving the improvements in math and science scores. Summative national student assessments, conducted at key milestone grades, could be reformed to collect data on the missing variables. Interim and formative assessments are also necessary to assess student progress with respect to the curriculum or to drill down deeper on mastery of a specific skill. Education policy makers may wish to consider not only results from international student assessments such as PISA but also national assessments at various levels. The results from this report will hopefully contribute to the ongoing debate about student assessment system reform in Kazakhstan.
СПИСОК ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ:
1. Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. (2010). State program for the development of education of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 20112020. https://edu.gov.kz;
2. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2010). PISA 2009 results: What students know and can do (Vol. 1). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264091450-en
