1

MINISTRY ОF EDUCATION AND

SCIENCE OF THE REPUBLIC

OFKAZAKHSTAN

JSC Information-Analytic Center

Analysis of strengths and weaknesses of

Early childhood development and care in the Republic of

Kazakhstan

АSTANA 2013

2

CONTENT

1. Description of the system of pre-school education and upbringing ..................... 3

1.1. Key concepts in the sphere of pre-school education and upbringing ......... 3

1.2. Tasks of pre-school organizations .................................................................. 3

1.3. Types of pre-school organizations .................................................................. 4

1.4. Legal regulation ................................................................................................ 4

1.5. The content of upbringing and educational process and methodological

support ...................................................................................................................... 5

1.6. Sanitary and epidemiological requirements to facilities of upbringing and

education of children and adolescents ................................................................... 7

1.6.1. Academic load .......................................................................................... 7

1.6.2. Group fullness ........................................................................................... 7

1.7 Coverage of children by pre-school education ............................................... 8

1.8. Placement on waiting list ............................................................................... 11

1.9.Human resourcing of pre-school education system ..................................... 11

1.10. Family upbringing ........................................................................................ 16

2. State control in the education system .................................................................. 16

2.1. Objects of state control .................................................................................. 16

2.2. Types of state control ..................................................................................... 17

2.3 State certification............................................................................................. 17

2.4. Rights and duties of officials exercising state control ................................. 17

2.5. Monitoring of pre-school education system ................................................. 18

2.6. Functional overload of management structures in early childhood

education. ............................................................................................................... 21

Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 21

3

1. Description of the system of pre-school education and upbringing

1.1. Key concepts in the sphere of pre-school education and upbringing

Government resolution № 1684 of the Republic of Kazakhstan of December

30, 2011 "Sanitary and epidemiologic requirements to the facilities of upbringing

and education of children and adolescents" provides the following definitions:

Organizations of pre-school education (hereinafter - OPE) - pre-school

organizations with capacity from 4 to 12 groups, realizing educational curriculum

of pre-school education and training, taking into account activities specific for pre-

schoolers, as well as providing additional health and other services provided by

legislation;

Pre-school classes - classes for five- or six-year-old children in secondary

schools, which provide a one-year free compulsory pre-primary education;1

Under article 30 of the Law on Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan №

319-III of July 27, 2007

1. Pre-school education of children up to six (seven) years is carried out in the

family or from the age of one year to school age in pre-school organizations.

2. Pre-school education is carried out from the age of five years in the form of

pre-school preparation of children for school.

Pre-primary compulsory education and in the family, pre-schools, pre-school

classes of secondary schools, lyceums and gymnasiums.

Pre-primary education in state educational institutions is free.

According to standard rules of activities of pre-schools, pre-school organizations

ensure compliance with the state educational order, the state-funded services for

the volume of education, training and development, and medical surveillance, as

well as supervision, care and rehabilitation of pupils aged from one year to school

age.

1.2. Tasks of pre-school organizations

1) protection of life and health of children;

2) creation of optimal conditions for physical, intellectual and personal

development of pupils;

3) provision of quality of pre-school preparation;

4) training in citizenship, Kazakhstan patriotism, respect for human rights and

freedoms, love of nature, homeland and family;

5) interaction with the family to ensure the full development of a child;

6) provision of advice and guidance to parents on education, training,

development and children's health.

1 http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P1100001684

4

1.3. Types of pre-school organizations

1) nursery-garden;

2) kindergarten;

3) family nursery garden;

4) sanatorium nursery-garden;

5) complex "school-kindergarten";

6) mini pre-school center.

Structural unit of pre-school education organization is a group of pupils of pre-

school age. Group completed by coeval or uneven principle.

Groups vary in time and students stay in the mode of functioning:

1) total stay;

2) partial stay;

3) round the clock stay.

1.4. Legal regulation

Under paragraph 8 of standard rules of activity of pre-school institutions No. 499,

approved by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated May 17, 2013,

pre-school organizations in their activity are guided by:

the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan2,

the Law on Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 319-III dated July 27,

20073,

According to the State Program of education development of the Republic of

Kazakhstan for 2011-2020, approved by the Decree of the President of the

Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 7, 2010 № 1118, the main objective is

to ensure full coverage of children with qualitative pre-school education and

equal access of children to various programs of pre-school education for their

preparation for school.4

The “Balapan” Program on providing children with pre-school education for

2010-2014, approved by the resolution of Government of the Republic of

Kazakhstan No. 488 dated May 28, 2010.5

Сharter of pre-school organization and these rules.6

According to paragraph 4 of Article 30 of the Constitution of the Republic of

Kazakhstan, the State sets educational standards. The activity of any educational

institutions must comply with these standards. In this regard, the State Educational

Standards of pre-school education and training approved by the Resolution of the

Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 1080 on August 23, 2012 should

be noted, which:

2 http://www.edu.gov.kz/ru/zakonodatelstvo/konstitucija_respubliki_kazakhstan/ 3 http://www.edu.gov.kz/fileadmin/user_upload/zakonodatelstvo/Zakony/Zakon_2007_goda_No_319.pdf 4http://www.edu.gov.kz/ru/zakonodatelstvo/gosudarstvennaja_programma_razvitija_obrazovanija/gosudarstvennaja

_programma_razvitija_obrazovanija_respubliki_kazakhstan_na_2011_2020_gody/ 5 http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P100000488_ 6 http://online.zakon.kz/Document/?doc_id=31397905

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1) determines the content of pre-school education, the content of subject-

developing environment of pre-school institutions;

2) establishes requirements for the maximum teaching load of pupils and

students, the level of training of pupils and students, requirements to teachers of

pre-school education and training and to the organization of educational process.7

1.5. The content of upbringing and education process and methodological

support.

To ensure the quality of pre-school education MES RK developed common

requirements for organization and content of educational and training process for

all models of kindergartens.

The Law on Education provides definitions of the following concepts:

training program - a program that determines nature and scope of knowledge,

skills and competencies to be developed for each academic discipline (subject);

curriculum - a document regulating the list and scope of academic disciplines

(subjects) of the appropriate level of education, how they study and forms of

control;

According to Article 15 of the Law on Education:

1. General education curriculum of pre-school education is developed on the

basis of state mandatory standards of pre-school education and training, taking into

account specific activities for pre-schoolers.

2. General education curriculum of pre-school education:

1) ensure succession and continuity of pre-school and primary education based

on the principle of unity of education, training, development and health

improvement of children;

2) are guided by implementation of inclinations, tendencies, abilities, talents of

each child and their preparation for acquisition of primary education curriculum

based on individual approach taking into account peculiarities of development and

health.

3. General education pre-school programs form basic skills of reading, writing,

numeracy and language communication experience and provide for creation of

equal starting conditions for the development of primary education.

Order No. 557 of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of

Kazakhstan dated December 20, 2012 approved:

Model curriculum for early childhood care and education for children from 1

year to 5 (6) years;

Model curriculum for pre-school groups and classes to prepare children from 5

to 6 (7) years;8

A content analysis of pre-school education has currently shown that all existing

programs, educational complexes require a review and update according to the

7 http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P1200001080#z18 8 http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/V1200008275

6

requirements of SES. This work has already begun. In 2009, the Republican

Center "Pre-school Childhood" of the Ministry of Education and Science of the

Republic of Kazakhstan developed three programs in the field of pre-school

education and basic educational programs "Algashky kadam", "Zerek bala", "Bіz

mektepke baramyz" "Secondary school preparation program" as well as a number

of alternative programs such as "Balbobek", "Kaynar" are currently being

updated.9

1. The program of education and training of young children "Algashky

Kadam" is designed for children aged up to 3 years. The program provides

replacement of authoritarian models of education, contains new ideas of

creating psychological comfort in integration of five educational areas

("Health", "Communication", "Knowledge", "Creativity", "Society").

Content of the program provides student-centered approach to young

children in all types and forms of their activity in pre-school organization.

2. Program of education and training of children of pre-school age (3 to 5

years) "Zerek bala", designed to provide a unified socialization-

individualization process through children’s understanding of their

opportunities, abilities, needs.

3. The program of education and training of senior pre-school children (5-6

years) "Bіz mektepke baramyz" defines the basic content of pre-school

education, ensuring the development of child's personality and their

willingness to subsequent schooling.

The following points are distinguished according to the information of the

Office for pre-school education and training of the Department of Pre-school and

Secondary Education of Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of

Kazakhstan:

“The Republican Center "Pre-school childhood" of the Ministry of Education

and Science is engaged in development of curriculum, teaching materials to them

and guidelines, which provide implementation of the state order of the Department

of pre-school and secondary education of MES to develop methodological

materials for pre-school education in accordance with the budget program 008.

The use of international technology «Step by step» has become widespread.

Innovative adapted technology by Montessori, N. Zaytsev, F. Froebel, Waldorf,

etc. is used for development of children along with domestic procedures. In

addition, new techniques, developed on the basis of innovative technologies, such

as multimedia, animation, educational games, interactive tutorials, health keeping,

9 From address by B. K. Igenbayeva, Director of RC "Preschool Childhood" at the international conference on

“Innovative approaches to provision of social services for children and youth in Kazakhstan”

7

design-research and intelligent technologies will be introduced in educational

process of pre-school organizations.10

In pre-school education a vital role is played by the knowledge of foreign

languages on a par with knowledge of the mother tongue. As the President of our

country N. A. Nazarbayev said: "Kazakhstan should be seen worldwide as a highly

educated country, whose population uses three languages: Kazakh – as state

language, Russian - as lingua franca and English - for successful integration into

the global economy." In order to perform this task the programs of triunity of

languages are being developed and the republican contest for the best program on

development of triunity of languages for pre-school children has been held.

Today there is already a number of kindergartens operating in three languages.

Foreign language, mainly English, is entered via gaming methods based on

innovative technologies.11

1.6. Sanitary and epidemiological requirements to facilities of upbringing and

education of children and adolescents

1.6.1. Academic load

According to Article 52 of the Law on Education, the normative teaching load

per week for calculating monthly salary of teachers directly involved in the

educational process in public pre-schools and pre-school groups of pre-school

education and pre-school classes is set in the amount of 24 hours.

According to paragraph 6 of the Model Regulations activities of pre-school

organizations, occupancy of groups of pre-school organization is carried out

according to the sanitary regulations "Sanitary and epidemiologic requirements to

the facilities of upbringing and education of children and adolescents No. 1684",

approved by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 30,

2011.12

1.6.2. Group fullness

According to the sanitary rules the fullness of groups of organizations of pre-

school education with regard to the age of children is set as follows (see Table 1).13

Тable 1

Groups Age Number of

children

10 From the address by the director of DPSE MES J. A. Zhontayeva at an expanded meeting of Majilis on preschool

education dated November 14, 2013 11 From address by B. K. Igenbaeva, Director of RC "Preschool Childhood" at the international conference on

"Innovative approaches to provision of social services for children and youth in Kazakhstan» 12 http://online.zakon.kz/Document/?doc_id=31397905 13 http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P1100001684

8

1. Nurseries:

group of young children

first junior group

in the presence in a group of

children of 2

ages

from one year to two

years

from two to three years

from one year to three

years

10

not more than

20

not more than

15

2. Pre-school:

second youngest group

middle group

older group

preparatory group

in the presence in a group of

children of any 3ages

in the presence in a group of

children of any two ages

from three to four years

from four to five years

from five to six years

from six to seven years

from three to seven years

from three to seven years

not more than

25

not more than

25

not more than

25

not more than

25

not more than

20

not more than

20

Source: Government resolution of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 1684 of December 30, 2011

"Sanitary requirements to facilities of upbringing and education of children and adolescents"

1.7 Coverage of children by pre-school education

Prior to independence Kazakhstan had the best system of early childhood

education in Central Asia, which covered approximately 70% of children under 7

years. In 1991 there were 8743 kindergartens, more than half of which (4868) were

privatized during the "optimization", some of the buildings of kindergartens were

abandoned and underwent destruction. In general, until the 2000 year, the number

of kindergartens in the country decreased to 1144. During the years of

independence the system of pre-school education has begun to revive again: the

number of kindergartens has increased, new types of organizations for pre-

schoolers have been created 14.

Demographic processes in the country is one of the growth determinants of

queueing for places in pre-school institutions of the republic; since 2008, the

number of children waiting for a place in kindergartens has increased by 20.8

thousand. Analysis of the birth rate of children in Kazakhstan over the past 20

years shows that from 1990 to 1999 there was a decrease in birth rate, and from

2000 to 2010 - a rise in births, an average of 13 thousand people, which will result

in a subsequent increase in the queueing for places in pre-school organizations by 5

- 7% per year.15

14 Government resolution of RK No. 488 dated May 28, 2010 On approval of the “Balapan” program to provide

children with preschool education for 2010 - 2014http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P100000488_ 15 The same as No. 14

9

Today in the republic a primary solution to the problems related to improving

access to good quality education, pre-school programs, and training is of

paramount importance to pre-school education. The country has a problem of

shortage of places in kindergartens.

According to statistics for October 1, 2012 8392 of pre-school organizations

were functioning in the country, 2418 units of which in urban areas and 5974 units

in rural areas. Total for the country 631,489 children were being trained and

educated in pre-school organizations, including 361,801 children in urban areas

and 269,688 children in rural areas 16 (Fig. 1).

According to the National Report on the condition and development of the

education system of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2013, the proportion of pre-

school enrollment of children, the number of children from 1 to 6 years in the

republic in 2012 was 47.2%, including 50.6% in urban areas (an increase of 1.8%

compared with the previous year), and 43.3% in rural areas (an increase of 5.6%

compared with the previous year). Dynamics of the total share of enrollment in

pre-school education of children of the number of children 1-6 in general is

positive, with an increase of 3.7%. The analysis of statistics of coverage of

children by pre-school institutions in the country shows that for 100 places there

are 115 children, and 103 in private kindergartens.

Figure 1: Network of pre-school education and training organizations

Source: National data collection "Statistics of the education system of Kazakhstan"

In order to expand availability of high-quality early childhood education and

preparing children for school the Law on Education provides for the mandatory

pre-school free training of children from 5 to 6 years of age. According to

statistics, the republican enrollment in pre-school education of 5-6 year-old

children is 94%. This is a very high indicator in comparison with the coverage rate

16 Source: National data collection "Statistics of the education system of Kazakhstan", NCESE, Astana, 2013

7591

2591

5000

8392

2970

5422

pre-school organizations kindergarten mini pre-school center

2011

2012

10

of 1-6 year-old children by kindergartens and mini-centers (47.2%). Thus, a

contingent of children, enrolled in pre-school education, totaled 367,820 people, of

whom 129,750 are trained in pre-school groups of kindergartens, 38,326 – in mini-

centers, 199 744 – in secondary schools.

100% coverage of pre-school is recorded in Akmola, Atyrau, East Kazakhstan,

West Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Kostanay, Kyzylorda regions. Significantly lowest

rate is in the city of Almaty and Mangistau region where enrollment ratio is 75%

and 76%, respectively (Appendix table.)

Thus, the greatest coverage of pre-school education accounts for the age range

of 5-6 years (94%), the lowest - 1-6 years (47.2%).

It should also be noted that the state is taking various measures to resolve the

situation. For example, one of the objectives of the State Program of Education

Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan till 2020 is formation of public-

private partnerships in education. The expansion of a network of private

kindergartens is an instrument for implementation of public-private partnership

projects in the field of early childhood education. As a result, the number of private

kindergartens increased by 219 units in 2012 (National Report, 2013). Also, in

2012, under the “Balapan” program on providing children with pre-school

education for 2010-2014 the growth of network of pre-school education

organizations amounted to 801 unit. Increasing the number of pre-school

organizations is provided mainly through development of network of mini-centers.

In 2012, the network of educational organizations in the country increased by 422

units. At the same time 2197 mini-centers functioned with a full day stay,

representing 40.5% of the total.

The group fullness indicator remains topical. Average occupancy of groups in

kindergartens in the republic is 27.4 persons. A significantly greater number of

children is observed in primary schools of Aktobe (average occupancy - 32.2),

South Kazakhstan (31.2) and North Kazakhstan (30.8) regions (see Fig. 2).

Figure 2: Average occupancy of groups in pre-school educational institutions,

persons

Source: National data collection "Statistics of the education system of Kazakhstan"

25,3

32,2

22,6

30 28,8 27,524,7

26,925,1

23,3

27,4 26,74

30,8 31,2

26,4 26,1

11

In 2012, the number of children being on a waiting list at the kindergarten, was

406,608 people, of whom 352,792 - in urban areas, 53 886 - rural. This indicates

persistence of significant public demand for services of pre-school education.

The procedure for obtaining licenses for private pre-schools has been

simplified in order to increase the number of pre-schools: if before to obtain a

license one had to have building in ownership or in the operational management, it

is now allowed to take the building lease and open a kindergarten, and it is not

necessary to create laundry at the establishment anymore, now it is allowed to

attract labour contract.17

1.8. Placement on a waiting list

According to the GRRK standard of public services No. 1119 "Placing of pre-

school children on a waiting list (7 years old) to be sent to pre-school

organizations"18 dated August 31, 2012 placing of pre-school children on a waiting

list to be sent to pre-school organization is rendered by:

education departments of districts and cities of regional importance,

Akim's administration of settlement/ aul (village)/ aul (rural) district through

citizen Service Centers

through the web portal of "electronic government": www.e.gov.kz

in the cities of Astana and Almaty public service is only through Citizen

Service Centers.

Form of public services: Partially automated.

Information about public service is located:

1) on the Internet - portal of the Ministry of Education and Science of the

Republic of Kazakhstan: www.edu.gov.kz

2) on the Internet – portal of the Republican State Enterprise "Citizen Service

Center»: www.con.gov.kz;

3) in official sources of information and at the stands located in the premises of

the center;

The result of public services are referrals in pre-school organization, the

notification about placing on a waiting list in the absence of places in pre-school

organization with the number of queue in the form of an electronic document

signed by electronic signature of an authorized person, authorized body or a

reasoned response to refuse to grant public service in the form of an electronic

document.

Public service is provided to individuals. This service is limited to the number

of available places in pre-school organizations. Eligibility for priority places

belongs to:

1) children of disabled persons;

2) children left without parental care;

17http://www.damu.kz/content/otchet/OtchetMarketingovykhIssledovaniy_DoshkolnoeDonachalnoeObrazovanie_de

tskieSadyOt3Let_.pdf 18 http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P1200001119#z47

12

3) orphans;

4) children from large families;

5) children of persons equal in privileges and guarantees to war veterans and war

invalids;

6) children of the military.

1.9. Human resourcing of pre-school education system

In modern conditions, development of pre-school education system is largely

driven by effective implementation of the issue of training and retraining of

teachers. The number of teachers in pre-school organizations is determined in

accordance with the staff list of pre-school organization. The staffing table is made

on the basis of resolution No. 77 of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan

dated January 30, 2008 "On approval of the model personnel establishment of

employees of public education institutions and the list of posts of teaching

employees and persons equated to them" and Resolution No. 1400 of the

Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the remuneration system for civil

servants, employees of organizations financed from the state budget, workers of

state enterprises” dated December 29, 2007.19

In pre-school institutions of the republic 29.8 thousand people is currently

working, including 8.3 million of young teaching employees (27.9%). The

educational level of teaching employees of kindergartens has shown trend towards

improvement in recent years: 54.4 % have higher education, 3.6 % have

uncompleted higher education, 40.7 % - vocational secondary education, 1.3 % -

general secondary.

The average age of teaching employees is 35-40 years. In 25 universities and

31 institutions of technical and vocational education (hereinafter - TVE) staff

training in "Pre-school education and training" is held.

The number of graduates of TVE in "Pre-school education and training" is

increasing. So, in 2006 349 were trained, in 2007 - 528, in 2008 - 705, in 2009 -

750.The expected release of TVE schools in 2010 – 2014 is 5884 persons. The

number of university graduates was 742 in the 2008 – 2009 academic year, in the

2009 – 2010 academic year 717 graduates are expected. All students of pre-school

institutions are provided with health service in accordance with the legislation. In

pre-school organizations 1.5 fee of nurse and 0.5 fee of dietary nurse are provided

for 8 - 9 groups and more. Organizations performing tasks to protect and promote

physical and mental health of children and having physiotherapy rooms, are

provided by one staffing position of doctor.

The expected release of nurses in medical colleges in 2010 - 2014 years is 720

people, which will satisfy the need for health care personnel for pre-school

children in 2010 - 2014.

19 According to the information provided by the Office for pre-school education and upbringing of The Department

of pre-school and secondary education of MES RK

13

In addition, medical care of pre-school children in the mini-centers and groups

of partial stay will be implemented in the territorial organization of primary health

care (PHC).20

In 2012 the total number of teaching personnel of the educational system of the

Republic of Kazakhstan by level was 426,428 people, that exceeds the 2011 by

12,433. The increase in the number of members of teaching staff was due to

changes in the network of educational institutions at all levels (see Figure 7).

Figure 3: Teaching staff of the education system

Source: Data of MES RK

The number of employees of pre-school education system of the republic in

2012 was 47,456 people. This indicator is higher than in 2011 by 6013 people. The

increase in the number of members of pedagogical staff was due to the

construction of 422 mini-centers and 379 kindergartens (see Table 2).

Table 2. Education level of teaching staff of pre-school organizations

Total teachers 47456 persons

With higher education 27501 persons

% of total number of teaching

employees

57,9

Including with higher pre-school

education

5808 persons

% of total number of teaching

employees with higher education

21,1

With secondary vocational education 18004 persons

% of total number of teaching

employees with secondary vocational

education

37,9

20 Government resolution of RK No. 488 dated May 28, 2010 On approval of the “Balapan” program to provide

children with preschool education for 2010 – 2014 http://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/P100000488_

41443

286370

45724 40458

413995

47456

292064

45684 41224

426428

Pre-school educationand upbringing

General secondaryeducation

Technical andVocational Education

Higher education RK

2011 2012

14

Including with secondary special

pre-school education

9556 persons

With general secondary education 286 persons

Psychologists 2185 persons

Musical employees 3362 persons

PE instructors 1462 persons

Other specialists 3542 persons Source: National data collection "Statistics of the education system of Kazakhstan", NCESE,

Astana, 2013

The main aim of pre-school education at the national level (development of

child having the key competences and personal culture based on human and

national values) is realized by teaching staff of pre-school organizations of

education that have high educational and skill level.

The educational level of teachers of pre-school organizations tends to grow.

Comparative analysis of the proportion of teachers with higher education

institutions in pre-school education has shown that in 2012 the figure rose to 1.5%

compared to 2011 and figure decreased with secondary vocational education - by

1.1%. Furthermore, there is an increase of 0.3% with a higher proportion of

teachers with higher pre-school education while maintaining the proportion (0.6%)

of teachers with secondary education and 1.2% decrease in indicators for teaching

staff with secondary vocational education (2011 - 21 3%, 2012 - 20.1%) (See

Figure 4 and Table 2).

Figure 4 Educational level of teaching employees of pre-school

organizations of education.

Source: MES RK data

System of testing of teachers is the first stage of certification, which is

conducted by testing center21. The work on formation of the National Qualification

21 According to the information provided by the Office for pre-school education and upbringing of The Department

of pre-school and secondary education of MES RK

0,6

39

21,3

56,4

11,90,6

37,9

20,1

57,9

12,2

General secondaryeducation,%

Vocational secondaryeducation

including vocationalsecondary educationwith specialization in

early childhoodeducation,%

Higher education,% including highereducation with

specialization in earlychildhood

education,%

2011 2012

15

System is being held for personnel training for pre-school institutions in

accordance with requirements of the labor market. In accordance with Article 233

of the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan and paragraph 37 and Article 5

of the Law on Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, there is a procedure for

certification of teachers of pre-school education. In addition, the state program

includes measures to increase the state order for training and professional

development of executives of pre-school education and training system.

In short-term courses of NCPD JSC "Orleu" annual training of teachers at all

levels of education is carried out. Thus in 2013, 12,409 teachers of pre-school

organizations were trained. The main purpose of training is to improve the

professional level of heads of educational institutions, teaching staff of pre-school

organizations, and other educational organizations. Table 3 below presents

quantitative indicators on professional development of pre-school education

workers.

Table 3. Data on upgrading qualification of employees of pre-school

organization

Total number of teaching employees 47456

Teachers of PO who upgraded their qualification 12409

Percentage from the total number of teachers 26,1%

Heads of PO 760 ,

% оf total number 1,6

Senior educators 873

% of total number 1,8

Educators 8889

Psychologists 434

Defectologists 82

PE instructors 244

Other focused specialists 696

Source: National data collection "Statistics of the education system of Kazakhstan", NCESE,

Astana, 2013

According to the Plan of course activities to improve the skills of teachers of

the National Institute of Continuous Education for executives and academic staff of

the educational system of the Republic of Kazakhstan of branch of JSC NCPD

“Orleu” in 2013 the following courses were held (see Table 5):

Table 4 Schedule of course activities to improve the skills of employees in pre-

school education

Contingent Course topic

Head of pre-school organization

Formation of functional literacy of head of

pre-school organization

Development of professionalism of

managerial personnel of pre-school education

and training system

16

Introduction of educational technologies

and methodologies by M. Montessori, N.

Zaitseva, «Step by step»

Content and organization of pre-school

education and training

Methodist of the district/city method-cabinet

(MC)

Management of pre-school organization of

education on the basis of coaching technology

Implementation of quality evaluation

criteria system of pre-school education and

training.

Methodists of pre-school organization

supervising children with disabilities (ROD)

Modern approaches in training and

education of pre-school children with

disabilities (ROD – Restricted Opportunities of

Development)

Source: JSC NCPD “Orleu” 22

There is a problem of non-attractiveness of the sector for the labor market. The

average monthly salary of teaching staff in public pre-schools amounted to 49,600

tenge in the country in 2011, with 45 300 tenge in urban areas and 53 800 tenge in

rural areas23.

1.10. Family upbringing

One of the most important aspects of early child development is an

environment of child rearing. Precisely because of the environment and life

experience, children, identical at birth, grow up with different abilities and

characters. Also in the education system parents should be more actively involved

in their work. The analysis of pre-school education of England, Netherlands,

Australia and New Zealand proves the effectiveness of involvement of parents in

the education of children. It should be noted that this form of work is being

successfully implemented in some regions of our republic in the form of

counseling centers for parents. Standard rules of organization of counseling centers

for parents to support home care have been created and approved. Now in

Kazakhstan 1106 counseling centers operate for parents that have a social

pedagogue, a psychologist, a speech therapist, a medical worker, a defectologist

(speech therapist) and other specialists.24 An educational course "Language of

children's play," aiming to promote pre-school children at home, "Parent education

program in terms of counseling offices", "Caregiver-tutor program," etc. have been

developed for parents.

2. State control in the education system

According to Article 59 of the Law on education state control in the education

system aims to provide public right to education and the legal persons supplying

educational curricula, matching their educational activities undertaken by the

22http://www.ripkso.kz/files/blocks/0/%D0%9F%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD%202013%20%D0%A0%D0%98%

D0%9F%D0%9A%20%D0%A1%D0%9E%20%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81.pdf 23 National data collection "Statistics of the education system of Kazakhstan", NCESE, Astana, 2013 24 http://www.group-global.org/ru/publication/view/5017

17

requirements of legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of education

and licensing and the authorized body in the field of education and local executive

bodies within their competence.

2.1. Objects of state control 1) Educational activities of legal entities implementing educational curricula;

2) The level of learner acquisition of corresponding educational curricula.

2.2. Types of state control

1) State certification of educational institutions;

2) Monitoring compliance with legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on

education and qualification requirements for educational activities.

2.3 State certification

State certification of educational institutions regardless of departmental

subordination and ownership is held once every five years in a planned manner

by state education authorities in accordance with their competence.

First state examination is conducted in newly created pre-school organizations

and institutions of additional education after three years.

Education organizations subject to state certification conduct self-assessment

and provide self-assessment materials to the state education authorities. According

to the GRRK "Rules of state certification of education No. 1270" dated December

24, 2007:

State certification of educational institutions, regardless of subordination and

forms of ownership, implementing educational programs of pre-school

education and training, is carried out by the authorized body in the field of

education.

In pre-school educational institutions instead of comprehensive testing a survey

of employees and parents of pupils is conducted.

The decision "not to certify" entails bringing an educational organization to

administrative responsibility with suspension of the license except pre-school

organizations.

In case of failure to eliminate violations in pre-school organization, the

decision on further activities of the said organization is accepted by the courts.

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2.4. Rights and duties of officials exercising state control

1. Officials of the state control in the field of education should have the

necessary qualifications and undergo appropriate training in additional education

system at least once every five years.

2. Officials of the state control in the field of education, have the right to:

1) visit freely organizations, institutions and enterprises of education for

examination and departmental organization of education upon presentation of a

service certificate, taking into account the established regime of their visit;

2) request any necessary information during the audit to get acquainted with the

original documents relating to the subject of the inspection.

3. Officials of the state control in the field of education must:

1) comply with legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the rights and lawful

interests of educational activities;

2) carry out checks on the basis and in strict accordance with the procedure

established by this Law and other legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

3) not interfere with the established mode of organization of education at the

time of inspection;

4) timely and fully work to prevent, detect and prevent violations of the

requirements established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the

field of education;

5) hand educational organization a certificate of inspection results on the day of

its completion;

6) ensure the safety of received documents and information obtained as a result

of the audit.

4. Action (decision) of officials exercising state control in the field of

education, and information which served as the basis for an action (decision) may

be appealed by the interested person to a higher official and (or) to the court.

2.5. Monitoring of pre-school education system

According to the OECD definition, monitoring is defined as the process of

systematically tracking aspects of educational services, personnel structure, child

development, implementation of training programs for the purpose of data

collection, reporting and / or improving the efficiency and / or quality. According

to the GRRK No. 536 "On approving the Rules of Educational Monitoring" of

April 27, 2012 the following concepts are identified:

Educational monitoring is a systematic observation, analysis, evaluation and

prediction of the dynamics of change of results and conditions of the educational

process, student contingent, network and rating indicators of achievement of

educational organizations.

Quality of education is a set of indicators that characterize the educational

system and reflect the extent of achieved actual results, educational, operational

19

modalities of the education system, regulatory requirements, social and personal

expectations.

The purpose of educational monitoring is information support of development

and implementation of educational policy, education authorities to ensure current,

complete, accurate and regularly updated information on the situation of the

education system of the Republic of Kazakhstan, formation of evidence base for

analysis and prediction of the development of education.

Educational monitoring is carried out according to the following indicators in

early childhood education:

Coverage of pre-school education

The number and age structure of children in pre-school institutions

The share of private kindergartens

Average occupancy of groups

Public expenditure on education

The number of educational institutions that have passed the state certification

Results of the training and certification of teaching and leadership training

The educational level of teachers of pre-school institutions, etc.

Educational monitoring is carried out according to the following indicators in

early childhood education:

Coverage of pre-school education

The number and age structure of children in pre-school institutions

The share of private kindergartens

Average occupancy of groups

Public expenditure on education

The number of educational institutions that have passed the state certification

Results of the training and certification of teaching and managerial personnel

The educational level of teachers of pre-school institutions, etc.25

According to the information provided by the Office for pre-school education

and upbringing, the Department of Pre-school and Secondary Education, Ministry

of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan provide the concept of

monitoring with the following description:

Monitoring in pre-school organizations is conducted on the basis of guidelines

for pre-school children for diagnosing the level of knowledge and skills.

Each pre-school organization chooses methodology for diagnosis. Monitoring

the quality of acquisition of basic minimum content of a comprehensive program is

conducted in most pre-schools with the use of N. I. Benes procedure recommended

by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Methods

of assessing and measuring the quality of children’s development and learning the

25 Appendix to the Rules of educational monitoring: The list of indicators of educational monitoring

20

basic content of the educational program. Monitoring the quality of teaching staff

is determined by the level of education and category appropriated on the basis of

certification.

The main purpose of monitoring knowledge and skills of children is to

determine the learning level of basic content of program and monitoring the quality

of teaching staff is conducted to determine the quality of educational services.

To monitor the level of competence development of a child, a system of

indicators is being introduced which allows to diagnose child's development

through individual routing. This will help build child's individual educational

trajectory, in which teacher determines objectives and content of educational

process after each stage of diagnosis of child. Indicators of child development are

determined in each educational area of SES.26

The management of each pre-school organization (a head, a methodist, a

psychologist) diagnoses activities of teaching staff, and caregiver - children of the

group.

Local departments and the Office of education, respectively monitor separate

organizations and in the whole the system of pre-school education in the region.

Funds are not allocated to conduct monitoring in most pre-school

organizations, with this being their functional duties and daily work. Divisions and

offices of Education provide funds from local budget for travel expenses.

Diagnosis of knowledge, skills and abilities of children is held three times a

year (beginning, mid-term and final), which result in the final output monitoring in

the end of school year. Monitoring the performance of children is carried out

directly by age group’s educator regardless of kind and type of pre-school

organization and its subordination. Information about the progress of pre-school

children is not provided to school. Recently, however, interaction of kindergarten

with school has been practiced, where primary school teachers study level of

readiness of children for school. Monitoring results are brought to parents of

children.

Monitoring of activities of teachers is carried out during the year, on the basis

of which certification is held. The share of teachers of first and highest categories

determines the qualitative composition of teachers.

Monitoring of teacher increases their category, and rating of pre-school

organization at the regional level with the award of incentive prizes and

certificates.

Head of pre-school organization shall be liable for execution and fulfillment of

tasks of monitoring. Authorized body in the field of education provides educational

monitoring and information system software, manages the quality of education,

methodical and methodological quality assurance provided by educational

26 From the address by the director of DPSE MES J. A. Zhontaeva at an expanded meeting of Majilis on preschool

education dated November 14, 2013

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organizations of educational services, conducts state certification of educational

institutions, regardless of ownership and departmental affiliation.

The Republican Center "Pre-school Childhood" is a developer of methodical

recommendations for diagnosis and monitoring of pre-school institutions, while

Ministry of Education and Science approves and recommends them.

Internal monitoring is carried out directly by pre-school organization during

educational process, external monitoring is ensured by higher authorities in

accordance with the approved plan.

Throughout the school year, surveys of parents are carried out as needed by the

decision of meeting with a head to identify the level of parents' satisfaction with

the quality of educational services, teachers’ work and quality of nutrition.

Questionnaires are pre-compiled and approved.

2.6. Functional overload of management structures in early childhood

education.

(Office of pre-school education of Department of pre-school and secondary

education at the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan

has a large amount of functional load and a small staff (at the time of providing

information 2 employees were working). Pre-school childhood center under MES

provides staff of 40 employees (20 employees were working at the time of

providing information). Interaction with the above employees of the education

system has been hampered by their lack of time and functional congestion.

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Conclusion

Thus, from the above analysis, we can identify a number of weaknesses

existing today in the country in early childhood education.

First weakness stems from the shortage of places in kindergartens, the lowest

proportion of coverage of children aged 1 to 6 years by kindergartens and pre-

school mini-centers in the Republic of Kazakhstan (47.2%).

The second weakness is related to the content of educational and training

process. For today, there is a need to update and refine comprehensive curricula

and teaching materials based on pre-school education of innovative components

and requirements of modern times.

The third weakness is related with the personnel structure of sphere of pre-

school education and training:

Despite the positive trend in the field of training and raising educational level,

these indicators are unsatisfactory. Non-attractiveness of the sector for the labor

market for new personnel stems from low average wages.

The fourth weakness is reflected in the lack of clarity of the monitoring system

in early childhood education.

The fifth weakness derives from the lack of attention to the development of

home care.

The sixth weakness derives from an issue of functional overload of

administrative structures in early childhood education.

For today targeted measures are conducted in all directions to address these

problems as soon as possible and to minimize their consequences. The focus on

solutions and intense dynamics to improve the system can be identified as strength

of the system of pre-school education.