Teacher education and inclusive education in Kazakhstan

The aim of the study was to analyse the factors enabling or inhibiting the preparation of pre-service teachers for the practice of inclusive education in schools by Kazakhstani pedagogical/teacher training universities/colleges. A generic qualitative research study was conducted during which data were collected through one-on-one interviews with teacher educators and focus group interviews with pre-service teachers. Documentary analysis of participating pedagogical universities/colleges was done to corroborate data collected during interviews. Data were collected in five pre-service teacher training institutions of Kazakhstan situated in Nur-sultan, Pavlodar and Almaty cities. Three pedagogical universities and two colleges participated in the study. In each university/college, five teacher educators were interviewed, and a focus group of five students who were enrolled in a teacher training program. Data were analysed using inductive thematic content analysis. Among the main findings was that Kazakhstani pedagogical universities do not have a coherent and well-articulated strategy for pre-service teacher preparation for inclusion, i.e. development of inclusive programs, courses and curricula. The pre-service teacher practicum will require exposing pre-service teachers to dealing with an inclusive classroom setting. It is therefore recommended that teacher training institutions prioritise the training of teacher educators and develop specialised courses on inclusive education.