ATTRACTING AND RETENTION THE BRIGHTEST AND THE BEST INDIVIDUALS IN TEACHING
Nursapinova M.K. – MA Education, senior lecturer at KAZGUU, Astana
Kazakhstan is located in Central Asia and by land surface it is the ninth largest country in the world,
about the size of Western Europe. The republic of Kazakhstan has an upper- middle income economy. In
2011 the population numbered 16.4 million and a quarter of them were 14 years old or younger age. The
population is well educated and this can be attributed a positive influence of the USSR. According to
statistics from UNESCO in 2010, Kazakhstan has attained 99.6 percent in universal adult literacy, 99.0
percent in universal primary education and 99.3 percent in gender parity. Twenty five percent of adults have
completed higher education, thirty percent have post-secondary and forty percent have vocational education.
The government is making considerable efforts in improving learning conditions and the capacity of schools,
and reforming Kazakhstan’s education system to meet the needs of a modern competitive society.
The national system of education includes pre-school, primary, secondary-basic, vocational or general
secondary, post-secondary and tertiary education. From the age of three to six children attend kindergartens,
then usually they start school at the age of six or seven and study eleven years of compulsory education. The
primary phase of education, grades 1 to 5, takes pupils up to age 11; secondary education up to age 17, when
almost all students take the Unified National Test (UNT), which is counted as a test for school-leaving and
for entry into tertiary education.
According to an OECD review (2014), on average education in Kazakhstan is more equitable in
comparison with other OECD countries. However, the learning results in secondary education, which are
measured by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA), are below the international average. These results are the main
factors for motivating development and reforming the education system and Kazakhstan plans several
important measures: restructuring the system, raising the level of excellence, developing teachers’ skills,
expanding pre-school education, introducing new mechanisms of financing, improving infrastructure and
modernising vocational education (OECD, 2014).
Undoubtedly, teachers are the most important part in the success of an educational system. The state
Programme for Education Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020 states that “education
quality is determined primarily by highly qualified teachers”. The international research of Darling-
Hammond (2000); Rivkin et al. (2005), Rockoff (2004) and others suggests that the most considerable
factors, influencing students’ outcome, are factors concerning the teacher and teaching, and they need a
strategic emphasis in the efforts of improvement in education. Most challenges of teacher policy in
Kazakhstan are not unique and have the same tendencies as around the world. The schools of the republic are
experiencing a shortage of teachers and this is the same situation in many other countries too (OECD, 2005;
Schleicher, 2012).
The fact that schools are suffering from teacher shortages was cited in the report of the Ministry of
Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MESRK) when in the beginning of 2010-2011 school
year there were vacancies for 1362 secondary teachers (OECD, 2014). As well as in the UK, according to the
statistics of DCSF (2008), the data on teacher vacancies indicates a growing tendency of shortages as the
number of unfilled teaching positions rose from 2,040 in January 2007 to 2,510 in January 2008. This is
unfortunately getting worse, in 2010-2011, 47,700 teachers quit teaching; an increase from the 40,070 in the
preceding year (Burns, 2012).
Similar to the situation in Kazakhstan, teachers worldwide suffer from low status, feel undervalued, and
are concerned about the image of their profession (OECD, 2005). The income of teachers in Kazakhstan is
low and they are inequitably distributed among schools with highly qualified teachers working in advantaged
schools (OECD, 2014).
Ingersoll (2003) claimed that all teachers after long years of study are thinking of the future and the
enthusiasm of embarking on the process of teaching, and becoming a professional in their field. In this way
there is a lot to learn, a lot to do, a lot to absorb and a lot to start in their new lives. However, there are
statistics that demonstrate that most of them would not be at school in five years.