The struggle with an ideology…

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Is this and this not a provocation, guys?

The spread of terrorist acts significantly changed the lives of people and the perception of Islamic religion around the world. To the continuation of the classroom discourse about the accident on 7 of January I would like to provide the prehistory of the terrible events in Paris.
Charlie Hebdo – is a satirical magazine mocking politicians, religion and famous people very often of the obscene character. First impingement was in 2011, when the caricaturists published Muhammad prophet naked, causing the act of the office bombing and the Charlie Hebdo website hacking. After the distribution of the film “Innocence of Muslims” French journalists supported the anti- Islamist video publishing negative and even offensive utterances about the prophet and were assaulted. In the course of attacks 12 people including two policemen were killed.
Our Professor asked us to analyze whether the events in Paris somehow connected with the ideology of linguistic purity. According to Weber & Horner (2012), the ideology of purity declares that people have a belief that the only one norm or reality exists and diversity of different views on life should be eradicated. The ideology of purism could provoke racial disturbances, wars; terrorist attacks on the account of religion. Salman Rushdie (2003), states that “those who embrace difference are in danger from the apostles of purity” (as cited in Weber & Horner, 2012, p. 21). The ideology of the purity might evoke the struggle for the power, and that way it could become a real social as well as political danger for human beings. Langer and Davies (2005), mentioned about the emotional factors that drive the influential members of society to perceive things in accordance with their own beliefs and values (as cited in Weber & Horner, 2012, p. 20).
There is a harsh critique in the society. On the one hand people believe that the murders upheld the name of the Prophet because the pictures hurt feelings of all the religious people. However it is refuted by those who argue for the freedom of expression and accept those pictures as a joke.
The linguistic purity here means not the preservation, revitalization or standardization of the language but the way the caricaturists metaphorically showed harsh criticism and censorial pictures of the Islamic prophet which you can see above. Terrorists might hold the idea of purity and did not accept that derision of the Saint. This gives me better understanding of the necessity to pay attention to the education as one of the most important sphere of human future life. If we, future leaders in education, claim to bring up a generation which will be tolerant, democratic and intelligent. How can we attack the roots of religious discrimination? As for me, there is a great need now not to develop the extra abilities, but to start from the very beginning is to bring up a kind-hearted individual who will be abide by the humane rules, will not abandon himself to despair and will think with his own head. Consequently, the terror act was an example of the one-sided life perception that caused such irreversible consequences taken away lots of human lives.
What do you think about this act? What side are you for? Do you think that the ideology of purity could lead to such kind of terrorist acts? Does this act shows that we should start implement teaching subject “religion” at schools? So, is it an ideology or another reason for that kind of action?

References:
Weber, J-J. & Horner, K. (2012). Introducing multilingualism: A social approach. Abingdon: Routledge.

Things I learned about NU campus life

      I dedicate this blog to all of you, GSE people. Since the beginning of last semester, I have been thinking about my campus life. Therefore, I came up with the idea of writing a post on the theme that is close to us, campus life. 

     Studying and living in a campus is an incredible experience; this tendency is probably one of the best inventions of human beings. In fact, many people assume that the tendency of campus derived from US; however, it was used during the medieval period in European universities. At campus where we spend our studentship. This temporary moment of our lives will probably be influential. Here are the things I collected about campus life at NU.

• The dormitory is our home for a period of our study. NU provides us with a dormitory to live in, which is free of charge. It is an enormous gift; nearly hotel level conditions of dormitories can only amaze. We need to treat it as our temporary home, respect and be thankful for these opportunities.
• You are an independent individual. Living far away from family makes you become more aware of the responsibilities you have. Life is not the same; you cannot rely to your parents any more to fix things for you. Things are now lie on your shoulders. When you realize the beauty of having a complete control on yourself – you become independent.
• Manage your time. Time passes so quickly at NU, that you cannot escape learning how to manage your time. It is the most significant thing I learned here. Before coming to NU, I could have a messy time management and put all the duties until last minute. There is an enormous amount of information, and if you are not capable of managing your time, you are in trouble. The trouble of sleepless nights, a dizzy head, a feeling of weakness, and rushing for everything.
• Library is your friend. It is not that I try to look like a nerd, but this is how it goes. You see many students from different schools in the library. It is an everyday reality of NU studentship. When you walk into library, all you see concentrated people who are “all in themselves and their studies” that makes you concentrate too.
• Diversify communication. All of us know that people cannot live without society. At NU, it is hugely important as you get to become closer to people. By facing each other almost every day; we study, live next to, and spend leisure time together. By the way, do you remember what was told on the first day? It is not only a place to get best education, but also a place to make friends, friends for life.
• Embrace positive attitude. When you set yourself a shiny mood, everything goes shiny. I believe this is the way to go. We are not undergraduate students – we are graduate students who have much deeper work to do. At that moment, words from one of my favorite movies suit right: “No one said it would be easy”. If we embrace it as a crashing thing, we will fall down.

     There are more things than I listed here, but I decided to list these ones. Do you agree with me? Do you have something to add?

Accreditation of Higher Education in Kazakhstan

One of the priorities of national development of education is high quality. Accreditation system is the specific tool which helps to ensure high quality in higher education. According to the State program of education development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020, since 2012 the accreditation of higher education institutions will be conducted by non-governmental organizations. In this post I will inform about the outcomes of this reform initiative and problems of accreditation system of Kazakhstan. Personally, I think that creating the independent accreditation organizations is beneficial for quality assurance system in Kazakhstan.

Sharing the government competence of ensuring the quality of education through accreditation helps to decentralize the state power which positively influences on the level of accreditation process. Comparing to the state attestation, which aims to control and revise the documents, accreditation has the recommendation character and estimate the compliance of education quality and stakeholders’ expectations. There are several outcomes to education organizations from this initiative. Firstly, it is beneficial for institutions because the ensuring of high quality reflects the positive results of academic work. Secondly, Kashuk (2007) indicates the advantages of university attraction for students. Specifically, she mentions that students will be provided by useful information about education institution which helps to choose them the appropriate one.

However, the accreditation process of higher institutions has not been adapted to the international requirements and was the only one of the types of state control. The external evaluation was carried out only on quantitative goal, which led to some extent to the duplication of state certification procedures. Monastirskii (2008) proposes another problem regarding accreditation from employers’ perspective. In current job market, the employers usually criticize the young colleagues because of the lack of communication skills, abilities, creative thinking and inability to work in the team. Therefore, the requirements for accreditation should be more strict and related to academic work innovative techniques.

Kazakhstan decided to follow international standards of education in order to improve its level, including the accreditation. That is why the change of government’s role is crucial. Despite the fact that the majority of authors reveal that the problems in implementation of the accreditation reforms in Kazakhstan are connected by poor methodological support, lack of experience and quantitative approach, I think that creating the independent agencies in Kazakhstan is important step to improve the quality of higher education. It will help to improve not only the accreditation system, but also the whole higher education of Kazakhstan.

References:

Kashuk, L. I. (2007). The quality assurance system of higher education: assessment and management mechanisms (on the materials of the Republic of Kazakhstan). (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://yadocs.ru/tw_files2/urls_1/262/d-261879/7z-docs/1.pdf.

Monastirskii, A. D. (2008). Higher Education Accreditation: Key issues and solutions. Proceedings from the International scientific-methodic seminar “Role of accreditation in improvement of higher education quality”, 87. Almaty.

I wish teacher status raised as dollar did…

http://imgkid.com

It was a nice Saturday evening, after a hard work week when my brother invited me to join his company of friends to play billiard. I thought it was a great idea, to go out and relax, leaving all thoughts related to work, students, home works and lessons at home. I was introduced to others because I had never appeared before them till that day. Here we are playing, chatting, getting to know each other. One guy wearing stylish sunglasses with a cigarette, filling the room with smoke, came up to me. And everything started… Having asked how my things were going and other regular stuff, he showed interest in my occupation. And… In a moment I found myself surrounded by my brother’s friends, guys playing billiard stopped it, those in back of the room stepped forward. I thought to myself “I just said I am a teacher, what’s wrong?”

Of course, upon graduation from the university I was already aware of the problem of the low status of teachers, and what attitudes people (especially young man) had towards teaching profession. So was I aware of the shortage of male teachers in schools, but it is a different story. To be honest I understood the reaction of my “billiard partners”.  This kind of situations are the lessons to learn from. Unfortunately, we have to admit that we are all responsible for the current state of things with teachers and teaching profession.

The role of media in this is important. If mass media are one of the means of propaganda, we are on a wrong track… Sometimes chasing shocking news to increase their ratings, they “add fuel to the fire”, worsening the situation. In everyday life we can see what image of a teacher mass media build, often it is negative, presented in the form of incidents. Sad to say, media cannot or do not want to understand what kind of seeds in people’s minds they trigger to grow. If seeds are watered by unhealthy teacher images, the consequences of it are not optimistic. It seems like a hindrance for the government, given the fact that the state officials have made much efforts in attempt of promoting and increasing the status of teaching profession. Rather, media could serve for the sake of the country and society by launching different inspiring projects, as the US did producing movies about teachers.

It is already a beaten topic, the low status of teachers, but is worth to keep talking about it as the problem persists. The desired goal is to make our society understand how vital the role of teachers is, because they are the main agents in developing the country’s human capital. If we manage to do so, success and prosperity are just around the corner.

To study or to take a pill?

The end of the first semester. Paper submission. I remember those crazy weeks… The time when your only home is library, when your best friends are books, when you are like Duracell Bunny, is impossible to forget. Joking apart, one can notice the same picture in many universities around the world. In order to pass examination or write excellent paper students spend days and nights cramming for tonnes of lectures, books, or looking for appropriate materials. The workload is so heavy that they resort to coffee, drinks like Red Bull or more recent tendency – so-called smart drugs.

If you watched the movie Limitless, you might be amazed thinking how dramatically one small cognitive-enhancing drug changed main character into the most intelligent person. Now this is no longer a fantasy. To combat their fatigue, to boost their academic performance, to improve their memory students found one decision – modafinil (name of a pill). As far as I know, this is not a case for Kazakhstan, however, in the USA and the UK this problem fuels hot discussions among researchers and educators.  Modafinil’s original prescription is for people with narcolepsy, people who are always asleep. Dr. Barbara J. Sahakian, a professor of clinical neuropsychology at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine in Cambridge, estimated that 90 percent of modafinil’s use is off-label, meaning that a doctor has prescribed it for other than its official purpose (Sparks, 2012, p. 16). It is quite clear that modafinil’s indications for use, i.e. “a sensation of natural wakefulness for hours at a time, without the jittery buzz and disrupted sleep” (Taylor, 2013), are perfectly suitable for the students who want to be those Duracell Bunnies. It is necessary to mention also that these brain-boosters are easily available on the internet.  Such easy online selling is more likely to flourish ‘smart drug’ tendency among youngsters. Despite youth finds these pills helpful, they should remember that pills have only temporary effect. More important, as every coin has its flip side, ‘marvel pill’ is certainly to have its own. Alas, there is a finite research on the side-effects of smart drugs. Probably, illegal online selling, students’ fear or reluctance to confess or something else impedes research in this direction.

By and large, this question remains more than serious nowadays. In their race for ‘A’ grades, ‘pass’ in the examination, some students use smart drugs to sustain their active condition. As there is no concrete evidence what damage smart pills could bring, researchers and educators continue speculating on this issue. At the end of this post I propose you to enjoy a panel discussion on the topic “Are the drugs the answer to learning languages?”

And what do you think about it? Is it normal for students to take cognitive-enhancers during study? Would you try one before exam? Would you take a pill to perfectly know languages?

References:

Sparks, Sarah. (2012, October, 16-17). “Smart pills” promising, problematic. Education Week. Retrieved from   http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2012/10/24/index.html

Taylor, Ph. (2013). It’s exam time! Can smart drugs make you smarter at this testing time? [Web log]. Retrieved from    http://www.cmfblog.org.uk/2013/05/15/its-exam-time-can-smart-drugs-make-you-smarter-at-this-testing-time/

Release pupils from homework…

I do remember my schooldays when I relentlessly tried to complete all home assignments  because the teachers evaluated commitment to studies with the amount of the tasks done. The parents also “contributed” by not allowing playing until the work done.  So, I did not want to be labelled as a “dull and lazy student” who neglected the exercises assigned. That was in my experience of studying at school in 2000s. Time passes way, but nothing changes. I cannot stand noticing my almost infant cousins’ fears and pains concerned with homework. Having spent almost the half of the day at school, they, sick and tired of lessons, rush home to complete all exercises. They can misunderstand the new topic; they may feel exhausted. It does not matter – they have to do it at any expense. And I strongly believe that this overload is not a key to high academic performance. And I am not alone. The OECD states that, the empirical research justifies that, and some classroom practitioners mention that homework is not so effective.

“People [ask], ‘Doesn’t doing more homework mean getting better scores?’ The answer quite simply is no” – says Professor Gerald Le Tendre at Pennsylvania State University (“Homework”, n.d., p. 2).  This misconception of the “divine” power of homework has deeply penetrated into people’s mind. It cajoles the educators to give students a profusion of the tasks. Allegedly, homework polishes till perfection pupils’ skills, reinforces their learning abilities, and helps to memorize the subtle details. However, the empirical study by Cooper, Robinson, Civey, and Patall (2006) demolishes this myth. The correlation between time spend on homework and academic performance is subtle; minimal for primary school, moderate for middle (Cooper et al., 2006). As for high school, excessive homework has a detrimental effect: it impedes progress (Cooper et al., 2006). A large – scale international inquiry by Baker and Tendre (2006) reveals that the highest TIMMS performers come from Denmark, Japan and the Czech Republic where students enjoy a minimum of home assignments. In contrast, the overloaded Thai, Iran and Greek students are on the bottom of the TIMMS ranking (Baker & Tendre, 2006). The morale is: do not expect children to outperform the counterparts by mechanical completing the exercises. Quality of education matters. Not quantity.

Homework and social disintegration… This may strike as a “surprise” (in a negative connotation), but the studies demonstrate that students from socially vulnerable families do not cope with homework (Rønning, 2011). The educational attainment of a child directly hinges upon what assistance he or she gets when doing homework, especially elementary students (Rønning, 2011). He compares the academic performance of low socio-economic status (hereinafter SES) students and pupils from high-income families. For socially advantaged students homework brings comprehension and practice of the new material; for low SES pupils it is a limited opportunity to cope with tasks without appropriate parental involvement ((Rønning, 2011). The OECD (2014) provides the following explanation:

“advantaged students are more likely than disadvantaged students to have an appropriate      place to study at home and engaged parents who can convey positive messages about schooling   and the importance of doing what is required by teachers, including regularly completing assigned homework” ( p. 4).  It is difficult to disagree with the authoritative organization such as the OECD with arguments based on the PISA results. The reality is that the children from the early age are marginalized owing to the absence of support and facilities to do homework.

Some teachers have already abandoned assigning homework. John Spencer (n.d.), an American schoolteacher, postulates that he swims against the tide: this practice is not in tune with the U.S ideology of schooling. According to Spencer, students had better to spend time on extracurricular activities: sports, hobbies, etc. Thus, students don’t get bored; don’t lose aspiration to learn – parents feel comfortable and confident. Spencer offers several alternatives to homework: (a) to organize workshops for parents who want their offspring to complete exercises; (b) to support the individual work of students who strive for more commitment; (c) turn schooling into more engaging and creative activity (i.eg. learn history by attending museums). Similarly, the head teacher of Tiffin School (one of the top schools in the United Kingdom) realizes the inefficiency of homework and reduces “homework to a maximum of 40 minutes per night” (“Is it time”, 2013). Thus, if even the conservative British educators abolish homework, why cannot we reconsider homework and make it less time-consuming?

One can read this piece of writing and claim that no one has invented the best tool of practicing knowledge gained. Another may think we should change our position and go straight to the child suffering from home tasks overload. Critique and abolishment, reconsideration and reduction, assistance and support – these are the reactions to the by – effects of homework. My address may be optional, but students’ despair is not. To believe or not to believe – is not a question… Whoever (a teacher, a parent, an adult, a brother, a sister) you may be, but give a hand to a pupil to cope with homework.

References

Baker, D.P., & LeTendre, G.K. (2005). National Difference, Global Similarities: World , Culture and the Future of Schooling. Stanford University Press.

Cooper, H., Robinson, J.C., Civey, J., & Patall, E.A. (2006). Does homework improve academic  achievement: A synthesis of research, 1987-2003. Review of Educational Research, 76, 1-62.

Homework: you can make a difference. (n.d.) [excerpt from the end the race companion book]. Retrieved from http://www.racetonowhere.com/sites/default/files/Homework_MakeADifference-013013_links.pdf

Is it time we banished homework? (2013, April 14). The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/is-it-time-we-banished-homework-8586836.html

OECD. (2014). Does homework perpetuate inequities in education?  PISA in Focus, 2014/12  (46), 1-4. Retrieved from http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/5jxrhqhtx2xt.pdf?expires=1422334971&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=517CDDEF4464F6AE3B4898F31289F98A

Rønning, M. (2011). Who benefits from homework assignments? Economics of Education Review, 30(2011), 55-64.

Spencer, J.(n.d.).Ten reasons to get rid of homework (and five alternatives) [web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.educationrethink.com/2011/09/ten-reasons-to-get-rid-of-homework-and.html

Segregation of Genders in Education.

Eton College, Harrow school, or Bruton School, first school for girls in Irgiz opened by Altynsarin, Kazakh-Turk lyceums for boys and girls have something in common. All of them are types of SSE.

The abbreviation SSE stands for single-sex or sex-segregation education. The goal of SSE is to educate boys and girls separately according to their different learning abilities and capabilities.

SSE effects academic achievement and class size. Funding and special teacher training are pivotal to implement SSE. The benefits of SSE: reductions of class size that effect on academic achievement. According to SSE boys are “visual learners” and girls are “audio learners” that is why they have to be separated and taught with the use of different methods and techniques. Implementation of SSE is not easy, the main concern is funding. Text materials prepared in accordance with the gender learning differences; costs of teacher training programs are only few of the examples.

Many evidences support a well-known fact of gender diversity. Brains of males are larger than females’. However, when it comes to children can we claim the same? The truth is that many of research studies on learning differences among males and females concern adults’ brains, not children’s. There is little or almost no research done on the difference between children learning abilities according to their genders. An associate Professor of Neuroscience at The Chicago Medical School, Eliot (2013) points out “the reality is that children’s brains do not operate like adults” (p. 364). In her further research she also mentions, “boys and girls learn and process information in very similar ways from birth” (p. 374).

The research that was conducted by Crawford-Ferre and Wiest (2013) showed both sides of a coin. The strengths of SSE were the following: in all-boys schools distraction disappeared as there were no girls doing boy’s homework. This removal of distraction caused girls to become more active in a learning procedure. Girls did not have to act out looking silly in front of boys anymore. Despite this advantage, the research revealed the weaknesses of SSE. Lack of social experience between genders brings disrespect and omission of diverse ideas in a classroom. “Boys and girls must learn to work together, and the classroom is the ideal setting for such practice because it is both purposeful and supervised” (Strauss, 2012). In addition, negative attitudes of girls in all-girls schools can lead to negative behavior. Intimidation and bullying can be understood by the fact that “girls can be as bad as boys” (Crawford-Ferre & Wiest, 2013, p. 309).

The theme of SSE is difficult to judge from one side. Some may find reasonable arguments for developing such schools. Some can argue that disadvantages overshadow advantages. In any cases, it is up to parents where to send their children.

 References:

Eliot, L. (2013). Single-sex education and the brain. Sex Roles, 69 (8), 363-381.

Crawford-Ferre, H.G. & Wiest, L.R. (2013). Single-sex education in public school settings. The Educational Forum, 77 (3), 300-314.

CK, (2012, November 12). Gender Segregation Education. WomanStats Blog. Retrieved from https://womanstats.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/gender-segregation-education/

Strauss, V. (2012, May 4). The case against single-sex schooling. Washington post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-case-against-single-sex-schooling/2012/06/03/gJQA75DNCV_blog.html

I am MUSLIM and I am not a terrorist

From the first days of their birth my mother-in-law has been teaching her grandchildren the traits of Islam. Hopefully they will grow up into faithful and strong Ummah in the future. Most of the grandchildren are aged below 5, except the oldest girl, who is already 10. Having seen videos about the violence in France, she called my mother-in-law and asked why Muslims are terrorists… In the discussion to follow I would like to introduce you the ghastliest terrorists of the world, mass media.

The 9/11 tragedy in 2001 sealed a terrorist mark on ALL Muslims of the world, accusing them for further incidents as bombing in Indonesia, Turkey, Spain and England (Sirin & Balsano, 2007). Today, Muslims again appear to be the most atrocious Homo sapiens that unreasonably killed innocent people in France, despite the previous offensive actions towards the Prophet. The power of mass communication turned the whole world against Muslims. How did it happen?

Media outlets surround us everywhere: we wake up in the morning listening to the news, go to bed after the news and listen to the news on the way to work and back. Therefore, news is omnipotent driver of the society (Norris et al., 2003). Whether the people accept the new reform or reject depends on fingers of the feature writer. Unfortunately, due to the global demands and speed, the knights of the pen have to make up or even exaggerate the twists and turns of the news, neglecting the “background factors”(Norris et al., 2003, p. 8). I wonder has any of such facile newssupermen thought of dismembered current and future life of Muslim children.

Our children are lucky to live in the society preponderated by Muslims for 70%. Otherwise, they would suffer as 10% of Muslims DO now in France because of remarkable discrimination. Although the whole world tries to blame Muslims for all faults, there is a lack of sufficient and reliable investigations on Muslims most of which cover merely “veiling” and female education (Sirin & Balsano, 2007, p. 1). What is worse, none of them cover the impact of terrorist incident outcomes on Muslim adolescents and their academic and social achievements (Sirin & Balsano, 2007). Widespread velocity news frames are only interested in raising money and acclamation exacerbating the situation.

2 billion Muslims are praying for justice and adequate attitude on the Earth. Let us hope and pray that one day the pencil pushers will start working with good conscience and distribute trustworthy information.

References

Norris, P., Kern, M., & Just, M. R. (Eds.). (2003). Framing terrorism: The news media, the government, and the public. Psychology Press.

Sirin, S., & Balsano, A. (2007). Editors’ Introduction: Pathways to identity and positive development among Muslim youth in the West. Applied Development Science, 11(3), 109–111.

How my placement organization positively affected my career direction

Why did you decide to apply to M.Sc. in Educational Leadership program? What did influence you? Let me answer these questions by showing you how my undergraduate placement affected my career choice and future professional direction.

Student time is the period of taking risks, overcoming challenges, and making choices and trials. Merrill states “learning is promoted when knowledge is applied and integrated in the real world” (cited in Allsopp et al, 2006, p.66), therefore it is very valuable to offer students an opportunity to try and taste the real work environment in order they could make sense of their knowledge. In this regard undertaking placement is the ideal opportunity for students to bridge the gap between theory and practice and foster knowledge and professional growth. The main purpose of taking placement is to engage students in activities in a professional setting, deepen their professional skills and prepare for a future professional world.  Gaining practice in the real work atmosphere assists students in shaping their future plans, it provides students with an opportunity to make sense of their studies and see how their knowledge fit into the professional world.

It can be said that the experience of placement is unique to each student. In my case, I believe that the impact of the placement on my learning was huge. I undertook my placement at the University of Brighton’s Student Services department in 2009. This was an ideal place to see the ‘full picture’ of the work environment and feel it as an ‘insider’. It was the time of making sense of the papers I have read during my studies and actively experience different situations in the real life (Kolb, 1984). Furthermore, by reflecting I was able to understand the processes and structures of my placement organisation (Schon, 1991). Reflective writing helped me to review critically my own learning, emotions and behavior. By challenging myself I have learnt to engage in self-development and self-knowledge. I have build on my previous knowledge and adapted to the new knowledge during my placement.

I have become more focused and confident, the qualities which definitely helped me to excel in my studies and career. I have realized that though I have been responsible for only small part of different tasks at Student Services, other members of staff relied on me, so I have become more responsible. I focused not only on the outcomes, but on the whole journey I went through while on my placement. The positive atmosphere motivated me to learn more about Student Services. Professional knowledge I have gained throughout my placement enabled me to evaluate critically my role within organisation (Bulman, 2004).

I have learnt to make positive contributions while working in a team and manage my time efficiently in order to meet the deadlines on time. I have realized that it is so crucial to feel the sense of belonging and benefiting organisation, which stimulated me to learn more. By leading several interviews with different members of staff, producing the video, talking to students and staff during the wellbeing week and answering telephone calls – for the first time I have realized that my confidence in communication skills and English have increased enormously. Owing to the fact that I was actively involved during the wellbeing week I have developed my organisational skills. Working within Career Services presented me an opportunity to improve my IT skills. As an addition, I have learnt certain technical skills such as using different equipments, designing brochures and vouchers, database inputting and coding, experiences which I really think positively affected my growth.

By the end of the placement I have realized that I see myself within the placement context and part me of already belonged to this place, therefore I have decided to apply for a Student Services Student Ambassador role. After completing my placement I became more focused on my studies and future career direction. This placement opportunity confirmed my career choice to work within Higher Education setting and after graduation I have been offered a place to support students and faculty at one university in Astana and to further enhance my professional competencies I have decided to apply to M.Sc. in Educational Leadership program.

What is your story?

References:

Allsopp, D.H (2006). Bridging the gap between theory and practice: connecting courses with field experiences. Teacher education Quarterly. Retrieved from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3960/is_200601/ai_n16027845/?tag=content;col1

Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. London: Prentice-Hall.

Schon, D. (1991). The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. Aldershot: Ashgate

What should we be thankful for in Education?

We all like criticising and often forget to remember and be thankful for those valuable things we do already have. In my first post I would like to take a moment to share some reasons I am grateful for education in Kazakhstan.

After the collapse of the USSR, Kazakhstan as all other former Soviet Union countries experienced serious problems in all public spheres including education. Even though there are lot of issues that need to be considered and resolved, it was possible to manage and overcome almost all challenges. And nowadays education in Kazakhstan opens doors and takes a long way many smart, capable and hardworking young people.

First of all, I am thankful for all educators, policymakers, politicians and many others, who despite of the complications of that tough period of 1990s as well as now create reforms and take an effort to make all educational organizations run efficiently and effectively for the sake of the bright future of the country.

I am thankful for the opportunity that allows every child in Kazakhstan to attend any public school for free regardless of gender, social background, ethnicity or religion. For example, in Afghanistan, only 14% of female children are enrolled in primary school and In Saudi Arabia women attend gender-segregated schools and are prohibited from studying architecture, engineering, and journalism (www.nationmaster.com). Moreover, in recent years in Kazakhstan a big attention is paid to inclusive education that considers the possibility of students with disabilities to be involved in the learning process.

According to the level of literacy of citizens (99,6%), Kazakhstan is in the 14^th position among 177 countries all over the world and in the 1^st position in Asia (www.24.kz). For instance, in Morocco, approximately 40% of females between the ages of 15-24 are illiterate (www.nationmaster.com). And I am thankful for a chance we have in our country that admits any ambitious, dedicated, ingenious and enthusiastic student to release and expand his/her skills and capacity in any school or university no matter if it is at home or abroad.

I am thankful for teachers I met through my long way of learning since the kindergarten. My first teachers taught me to read and write, thus engaged to acquiring knowledge for my further performances in this journey. I am very grateful for my teachers and tutors in secondary school education, who took the time to build a relationship with and understand nature of each student. They believed in us and were able to inculcate an excitement about learning. Along with being excellent students they taught us to become good people. I am thankful for the individualized attention I received in my undergraduate education, which helped me develop both my strengths and areas of growth. All in all, I am thankful to all of those who are helping Kazakhstan’s students succeed everyday.

In conclusion, Kazakhstani education system is improving day after day, applying the best experiences of developed countries, and thus opening different opportunities to a new generation. I am not overestimating our possibilities, but just express my sincere gratitude for what we have already achieved. And what are YOU thankful for in education?