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Eliminating the Stavka System in Kyrgyzstan: Rationale, Impact, and Resistance to Change in the Post-Soviet Era
... Similar studies by LeTendre and Wiseman (2015) and Tahirsylaj et al. (2015a;2015b) provide additional evidence of regimes of teaching that transcend national boundaries. Studies, like Belyavina and Steiner-Khamsi (2019), suggest that historical ties within some regions (e.g., having been under the umbrella of the Soviet Union) may also have produced strong regional variation in national policies regarding teachers. Such regional solidarity may provide some ability to resist external pressures to initiate teacher-focused reforms that are not well aligned with historical patterns of school organization or national cultures of instruction. ...
... Chinese students' expectations for abundant knowledge transmission or unfamiliarity with collaborative learning). This result echoes Steiner- Khamsi and Belyavina's (2018) argument that local educators are not passive recipients of foreign educational models but are selective in terms of whether the models can be localised in their situated contexts. It is also noteworthy that teachers' ambivalence was revealed in the form of 'formalistic implementation' of foreign approaches. ...
This paper investigated Chinese teachers' professional development in an experiential learning programme situated in a cross-cultural context and focused particularly on the role of teacher agency in the learning and localisation of foreign pedagogies. Analysis of interviews and classroom observations revealed the influence of experiential learning on deepening participants' understanding of foreign experiences. It also highlighted the role of teachers as active agents in recontextualising overseas peda-gogical practices in China, either by showing ambivalence towards changes or by developing transcultural pedagogies. The construction of their agency was related to their previous teaching experiences and learning of international perspectives on pedagogy.
This article is dedicated to analyzing the effectiveness of the reforms in the teacher salary payment system in Kazakhstan and its impact on the quality of pedagogical activity, as well as the possibility of attracting educators from universities and professionals from other sectors to schools by increasing salaries. The results are based on regional statistical data, reviews of salary dynamics, and interviews with school administrators and teachers. The article includes an analysis of previous studies of salary payment systems in Central Asian countries, characteristics of the current system in Kazakhstan, as well as the experience of transforming the Russian and Estonian teacher salary systems. Kazakhstan, while maintaining centralized control and a "rate" system, has achieved a significant increase in the average salary of school teachers by introducing a qualifications system and a number of allowances for taught subjects and working conditions. Moreover, the increased prestige of the teaching profession, along with the rise in salaries, has facilitated the attraction of young specialists to pedagogical activities and reduced the outflow of qualified teachers from the profession. However, according to surveyed teachers, the reform has not been a significant incentive to improve teaching quality, being perceived only as a new salary increase system. This has led to the fact that, despite the undoubted success of the Government of Kazakhstan in preparing the basis for a favorable long-term perspective for supporting pedagogical workers, the measures taken at this stage lack deep understanding among teachers and do not ensure an improvement in learning outcomes. The article aims to continue the discussion on the effectiveness of the conducted reforms, their impact on the real income increase for teachers, strengthening the status of pedagogical workers, and their motivation for professional growth.
We have observed a global focus on improving teacher quality through reforming teacher education, certification, recruitment, and evaluation during the past two decades. Previous single country studies have documented the focus, design, and implementation of teacher reforms in various national contexts, yet few studies systematically analyzed what explains the cross-national difference in how a national, federal, or state government develops and implements a teacher reform influenced by global dynamics. This article presents a conceptual framework to understand how this cross-national divergence emerges within a global convergence on reforming teachers and their work to guide the future research. The author argues that this divergence is a result of collective sensemaking, negotiation, and contestation over a “teacher quality” problem and the solution among policy actors at national and local levels, which are influenced by global dynamics but occur within nation-specific teaching and policy environments.
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