Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

environmental protection and conservation (Appendix II-2), and some subject
curricula — such as Grade 9 biology and Grade 9 foreign language — contain
content on global and national environmental issues, very limited space is
devoted to discussion of the socio-environmental aspects of economic growth.
Uzbekistan
Similar to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan is also a strong state which has devoted much
attention to discourses on the ‘Uzbek model’ of development, nationhood and
moral order (Adams and Rustemova, 2009). A lack of horizontal government
accountability and space for independent public debate has prompted serious
criticism both abroad and (with greater circumspection) domestically. According
to Bertelsmann’s Transformation Index (2016), political space is tightly controlled
by the ruling party, which strictly censors any criticism of the government and its
policies.
A significant enhancement of the quantity and quality of the physical
infrastructure of schooling, improvement of the ‘material-technical base’, and a
gradual increase in teachers’ salaries have been reported by the Government of
Uzbekistan as major achievements of its program for developing the secondary
education system over the past decade (UNESCO, 2012b). The government states
that ‘a key educational goal in Uzbekistan is the preparation of highly-qualified
specialists for the country’s economy and industry as well as the intellectual and
spiritual development of citizens’ (Uzbekistan, 2013, p. 64).
The education policy documents stress upon the state’s objectives and
achievements in the areas of social welfare provision — subsidies for poor
families, free textbooks and other assistance to vulnerable groups — as well as the
high rate of school enrolment. The Education Law defines the purpose of general
secondary education as inculcation of necessary knowledge, independent
thinking, organisational skills and social experience, and development of initial
professional orientation and awareness of the next levels of education (1997, p.
4).
As discussed in the previous section, the recent introduction of the new SES based
on a competency approach was a response to the regional trend of modernising
curricula to align with international standards (Uzbekistan Today, 2017). It was
also aligned with the ‘Concept of ESD’ approved in 2011. The concept document
set out to improve the competency of teaching personnel and learners, and to
reform pedagogical approaches in schools (Uzbekistan, 2011). This explains why
Uzbekistan is exceptional amongst Asian countries in the prominence given in
policy and curricular documents to ‘ESD’ (see Appendix II-14). However, the official
interpretation of competency-based learning seems narrow and instrumentalist.
The new SES described six key competencies including:
• communication competency;
Rethinking Schooling for the 21 st Century:
The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia
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