This paper seeks to answer the central inquiry question: what is role of globalization on facilitating inclusive education in Kazakhstan? This exam paper aims to explore how the globalization process brought the notion of inclusive education to Kazakhstan and further on how global forces shaped/modeled it. Specifically, this paper analyzes the benefits for three main stakeholders: the government, the people of Kazakhstan and international organization. The government is responsible for gaining access to economic and political benefits, the people for widening participation in education and international organizations for implementing democratic values as well as lifelong learning in the young country.
The paper begins by elaborating on globalization process explaining complexity of international relations. Then the main concepts and understandings of inclusive education and lifelong learning as the major pillars of knowledge-based economy are developed. For the global labor market it is important to engage people working as long as possible. All these three definitions are based only on the readings and course discussions covered by the course Globalization and Education. Our course discussions on” Globalization and Education” are central to my inquiry in the following way: discussions are supported with assigned readings, additional books and team seminar projects. For this reason, the definitions draw heavily on some authors who were thoroughly read and discussed in the classroom with Ph.D fellows taking into considerations their visions. Finally, how and why inclusion of adults in TVET of Kazakhstan was implemented during 1992-2013. The third section elaborates on intergovernmental interaction discourse; it explains how the global values penetrated into Kazakhstani education system by embedding inclusive education to it. This section sheds the light on the role of intergovernmental organizations in facilitating inclusive education. Further on the impact of political and economic aspects of globalization on the people of Kazakhstan is developed. The fourth section uncovers how global political, economic relations and global forces facilitated inclusive education in Kazakhstan. The conclusion argues that inclusive education was facilitated in Kazakhstan due to soft and hard measures, motivated by financial and political incentives, set by global forces.
PhD Arman Assanbayev from Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Public Policy. His research interests are public policy, education and public administration. He worked on the topic of “Lifelong Learning for Adults with Disabilities in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) of Kazakhstan” during the January-July 2017.