Redefining educational leadership in Central Asia: Selected cases from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Group Submission Type: Book Launch

Description of Session

One of the conclusions drawn from the policy and published work on educational leadership during the past few decades is that “context shapes leadership in dramatic ways” (Lytle et al., 2018, p. 1). Therefore, leaders and leadership practices highly effective in one context are not so effective in another context due to the peculiarities, complexities, and dynamisms of each context (Avolio & Bass, 1988; Bredeson, et al., 2011). Despite these inevitable influences of context on leadership, educational policies and leadership scholarship often ignore the discernible intricacies of educational institutions and the voices of those working in those institutions (Lytle et al., 2018). This is true in the context of Central Asia where the post-soviet independent states of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are going through fundamental changes in their geo-political, socio-economic, and cultural landscapes. Education is seen as a vehicle to achieve the political stability, economic boost, and socio-cultural progress that these states aspire for. As a result, educational leaders work in the context of radical educational reforms, heightened expectations, often hidden chaotic, real worlds of their day-to-day practices and changing leadership paradigms and role (Frost et al., 2014). These radical changes in education have transformed the role of educational leaders, both in schools and higher education institutions, who now need to lead changes beyond their individual institutions in order to contribute to the success of the system as a whole (OECD, 2008). However, there is hardly any publication that collates insights on how the leadership role in educational institutions in Central Asia has evolved over time and how it is being redefined and reconceptualized in a rapidly changing context driven mainly by economic, social, technological, and political priorities of the nation states.
Realizing the dearth of literature on educational leadership in Central Asia, Tajik and Makoelle have put together an edited volume to be published by the Emerald Publishing by January 2024. This book is about redefining the role of educational leadership at school, district, and higher education institutions in times of radical educational reforms in the post-soviet independent states of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. By bringing together the voices, views, experiences, and reflections of educational leaders from both secondary schools and higher education institutions in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan about the way they conceptualize, understand, and enact their leadership role, this volume provides a research-based account on how the current reforms have shaped the evolution, reconceptualization, and enactment of leadership in schools and higher education institutions.

The book provides policymakers, researchers, graduate students, and practitioners with a reservoir of knowledge and insights to draw from while reviewing and revisiting leadership policies and practices in the climate of rapid changes and heightened expectations from these leaders. The book is a welcome addition to the existing literature on educational leadership in this region where there are not many studies on this critically important topic. The wider implications that this book will offer for reform policy and leadership will attract audience from the rest of the world.

Sub Unit

• Pre-Conference Workshops, Book launches, and Visual Art Exhibits / Book Launch

Chair

• Chynarkul Ryskulova, American University of Central Asia

Book Launch Presenter

• Mir Afzal, Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education