Round table «Organization and management of the educational process in small-scale schools»

On October 29, 2021, a round table was held at the Abai KazNPU within the framework of advanced training courses for the heads of small schools on the topic «Organization and management of the educational process in small-scale schools».

The event was attended by the rector of the university Darkhan Bilyalov, director of the Department of Academic Affairs Khairulla Zhanbekov, course curators Amangul Orakova, Meruert Beldenbayeva, Tatyana Kornilova and 163 directors of small-scale schools from 9 cities and 12 regions of Kazakhstan.

The initiative to conduct these courses belongs to the leadership of our university, and this choice is not accidental. The program is aimed at providing the necessary theoretical knowledge and practical skills for the design of organizational and managerial activities, the teaching and educational process in the context of small-scale schools in accordance with the innovative format of the main directions of education development and regulatory legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the context of the updated content of secondary education.

During the event, Darkhan Bilyalov noted the importance of such courses for the heads of small-scale schools, which are most often located in remote regions of the country, are not always equipped with modern equipment and innovative technologies for teaching and educating students. There are other problems that have only been exacerbated by the pandemic.

«According to statistics for the 2019-2020 academic year, 2,833 small schools functioned in Kazakhstan. They do not have parallel classes, the contingent of students is small, and students from several classes are often combined into one class-set. This is one of the features of the Kazakhstani education infrastructure. We analyzed international comparative studies (TALIS, PISA, ICILS) and national systems for assessing students`knowledge (UNT, External Assessment of Academic Achievements) and came to the disappointing conclusion that there is still a large gap in the quality of education between rural and urban schools», said D.N.Bilyalov. He noted that Abai KazNPU, the leading pedagogical university of the country, decided to carry out systematic work to provide methodological support to small- scale schools. These courses are one such measure.

The round table discussed the acute shortage of teachers in small schools, the provision of methodological assistance to their leaders and teachers, as well as their social support. Suggestions were made: to send young specialists to the target (for practice, for working out grants, etc.); conduct free courses for teachers in subjects (planning, Instructional design, drawing up assessment criteria, drawing up assignments for summative assessment for a section and summative assessment for a quarter, etc.), as well as consultations on the practical aspects of the educational process in such schools.

At the end of the event, representatives of small-scale schools thanked the university leadership for organizing special advanced training courses, for discussing the problems of small-scale schools and finding ways to solve them.