Schools’ Transition Toward Inclusive Education in Post-Soviet Countries: Selected Cases in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan has adopted a path to implement inclusive education. As in many other countries of the world, transition to an inclusive education system is not easy and sometimes riddled with anomalies, contradictions, and challenges. This qualitative study takes account of inclusive education in Kazakhstani schools, analyzes the current state of the move toward inclusive education in Kazakhstani schools, discusses achievements to date, highlights some challenges, and makes recommendations on how the implementation of inclusive education in schools could (if necessary) be improved. A generic qualitative research design was used, involving semistructured interviews conducted with school directors, teachers, professionals, and regional representatives of the Department of Education, representatives of the Psychological Medical and Pedagogical Commission, nongovernmental organizations, and parents. The study uses Ainscow’s levers of change as a theoretical lens to analyze the implication of the transition and implementation toward inclusive education in schools. The study was conducted in 12 inclusive schools in one region north and one region south of Kazakhstan. Data were analyzed using an inductive and thematic content analysis framework, from which themes were derived and used to harvest findings and draw some conclusions. Among the findings of the study is that although there has been some shift toward inclusive education, the concept is still not well understood by stakeholders in Kazakhstani schools, as it is currently mainly aimed at disabled children rather than other categories of diversity.