Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

Figure 6.3 Introduction of New State Education Standards (SES) in Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan:
• The New General SES (launched in 2002) introduced
mainly an outcome-based education
program.
• The State Programme of Education Development
2005-2010 was developed based on the
acknowledgement that education standards
and processes required a substantial reform
– including the transition from rote to outcome-based
learning.
• The nationwide discussion of the results of
Kazakhstan’s participation in international
monitoring studies such as the TIMSS
and PISA – in particular the below-average
achievement in PISA – had a direct impact on
Kazakhstan’s education reform policy (Bridges,
2014). The SES were revamped in both
2012 and 2016, which determined a list of
compulsory subjects, programmes and study
plans, and allowed each school to develop its
own educational plan (Pons et al., 2015).
Mongolia:
• The new SES (launched in 2004) introduced
a skills-based curriculum, emphasising student-centred
pedagogies. Major modifications
were made to the SES in 2007, 2010 and 2011
to improve its implementation and outcomes.
• In 2009, the newly formed government
launched the Mongolian Cambridge Education
Initiative in order to align Mongolia’s education
system to international standards (a new
curriculum was piloted in English, maths
and science in selected laboratory schools).
The project also aimed to review and update
the National Curriculum and Assessment
Framework.
• Post-parliamentary elections, the Ministry
launched another comprehensive quality
reform program for 2012-2016, that mainly
focused on skills/competencies that students
must acquire – a competency-based approach
to learning achievements (Sarvi, Munger and
Pillay, 2015).
Uzbekistan:
• In compliance with the National Program for
Personnel Training (NPPT), the Government
of Uzbekistan approved the SES for general
secondary education for grades 1-9 in 1999,
which incorporates a modern basic study
plan, education standards for 23 subjects,
standard curricula and training programs
(Weidman and Yoder, 2010, p. 64).
• A new SES was adopted in 2010 but could
not substantially improve the standards of
education (Nasirov, 2017).
Kyrgyzstan:
• In Kyrgyzstan, a new SES was first developed
in 1996 and subsequently revised in 2002,
2004 and 2015, while the Law on Education
was adopted in 1992 and amended in 1997
and 2003.
• After much deliberation, the Government
approved the new SES and an Action Plan in
2015 for the phased implementation of new
generation standards in secondary education
by 2022 (Soros Foundation, 2014).
Rethinking Schooling for the 21 st Century:
The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia
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