‘A person who stays in one place becomes a dictator’: Educational leadership in schools in Kazakhstan.

• In Event: Case studies in educational leadership

Proposal

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore the understanding and practice of leadership in schools in Kazakhstan. This research demonstrates the findings from the district case study school in this context. The central research question is ‘How is leadership practiced and understood in case study schools in Kazakhstan?’. The study uses a constructivist perspective to understand the experience of teachers, middle leaders, headteachers, parents, and the heads of local education departments by discovering their perceptions and understanding of leadership in the education system. It explores how educational leadership is practiced in schools.
Multiple perspectives on leadership in educational organizations are reported in the literature and there are a variety of leadership models. For example, managerial, transformational, transactional, and distributed leadership models were discussed. However, this research is not seeking to impose a conception of leadership; instead, in some respects, it is researching people's ontological positions on school leadership. This is achieved through a phenomenological approach rooted in examining people's understanding and experiences of leadership to ensure that the dominant conceptions of leadership are not imposed on participants.
The education system of Kazakhstan was based on the Soviet Union education policy. Since its independence in 1991, the country has faced major political, social, and economic reforms aiming to be more Westernized. Kazakh people are trying to re-establish their national identity by focusing own language and culture. A trilingual language policy is implemented to support learning not only Kazakh or Russian but also international English language. The new educational standards are encouraging students to think critically, and develop higher-order skills, teamwork, and lifelong learning. The development of market economy is also a challenge as attracting the foreign investments remain one of the main goals for Kazakh government. These changes had an impact on the education system, as it has been an important characteristic of the position of Kazakhstan in the global economy. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD (2015) report, Kazakhstan has been described as a highly centralized country with a top-down system where the level of the hierarchy is represented, and “political, administrative and fiscal authority” (p.29) is significantly low. The education system has also been reflected by this top-down approach, one can be characterized by a substantial system of norms and planning.
This research employs a phenomenological approach as it focuses on people’s perceptions, their attitudes, and beliefs, and feelings and emotions towards leadership practices in educational settings (Denscombe, 2014). It employs two approaches within phenomenology which are termed transcendental and hermeneutic. While transcendental (descriptive) phenomenology brackets the subjectivity of the researcher during data collection and analysis, hermeneutic (interpretive) phenomenology allows the researcher to reflect on essential themes of participants and their own experiences (Neubauer et al., 2019). Therefore, it combines both elements to offer a fresh perspective on leadership in Kazakh schools by describing and interpreting the data.
Philosophical assumptions and research questions guided the selection of both descriptive and interpretive phenomenological methodology. This research examines leadership in three comprehensive schools such as urban, rural, and semi-rural schools in one region. However, this abstract shares the findings of the district case study school. This is examined through the views of headteachers, deputy headteachers, heads of departments, and teachers about the practice of educational leadership. Local education authorities and parents’ opinions are also explored. Using a constructivist perspective, participants’ perception of leadership is formed through cultural and historical norms where they operate and interact with others.
Phenomenology was combined with the case study approach as it helped to collect the data in three schools selected in Kazakhstan. Case study (Yin, 2018) schools helped to understand the leadership practices within the school context. The ethical committee has approved this research, and the research followed BERA (British Educational Research Association) guidelines.
As primary methods of data generation, one-to-one interviews (online) and focus groups were chosen, where participants shared their ideas freely. Using these methods in this study enabled an exploration of leadership in Kazakh schools by revealing teachers, middle leaders, headteachers, and parents’ views about leadership in this district school in Kazakhstan. Thematic analysis assisted in discovering concepts and themes about the meaning of leadership and leadership styles practiced in Kazakh schools. In order to interview school principals and deputy principals, a semi-structured interview schedule was developed and focus groups were organized with teachers. The purpose of using the focus groups was that it could assist in getting the opinions of multiple teachers about leadership practices in their school by including a group of people in one discussion. Using focus groups in phenomenological research is based on individuals' views and knowledge that can be linked to their experiences, and this research intends to describe, understand, interpret, and explain participants' experiences (Cohen et al., 2018; Denscombe, 2014). Thus, combining interviews and focus groups allowed us to get multiple perspectives.
The analysis of the data from interviews and focus group discussions identified the main themes such as school context, governance, and school leadership. The school context includes sub-themes about background information and socio-economic situation. The governance theme has discussed the relationship with the regional and local education departments, the performativity of students, teachers, leaders, and schools. Leading and managing the school theme has provided in in-depth discussion of understanding the concept of leadership and leadership styles, the practice of leadership in case study schools, leadership roles, and leading changes. Participants from district schools understand the concept of leadership in different ways. However, what they all have in common is that leadership is about supporting a team, effective management of the school, authority, and bringing people together. During the focus group discussion, teachers tried to associate the word leader with other words. The principal has a special place in school leadership in this Kazakh schools as head of local education authority said, “A person who stays in one place becomes a dictator" This demonstrates the role and power of the school director in schools in Kazakhstan.

Author

• Bauyrzhan Kaziyev, University of Nottingham