Education reform discourses in Kazakhstan since the 2000s

Abstract

The goal of this research is to analyse official discourses regarding education reforms in Kazakhstan. This research focuses on two ideologies underlying education reforms: the desire for internationalization and the willingness to consolidate a fragile national identity. The two main education reforms in primary and secondary education in Kazakhstan since the 2000s, the Trilingual policy and the Twelve-year compulsory education, are taken as case studies. Official documents from the national authorities of Kazakhstan regarding these education reforms are analysed alongside international organizations’ documents to understand the broader international context. This study reveals the complex interactions between national identity and internationalization discourses in education in Kazakhstan. It aims to understand how national education reform discourses are influenced by the international context but also how these national discourses reappropriate the international context to serve national identity interests.