Abstract

Since its introduction to Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) in 2012 through collaboration with the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, collaborative action research (CAR) has been promoted as a key approach to teacher professional development in Kazakhstan. The later initiative, SHARE/Astana (2019–2023), extended this approach to mainstream schools in Astana. However, the project faced sustainability challenges due to limited support from local administration. Since 2024, it has been reconfigured as the SHARE/NIS project, continuing on a relatively small scale with ongoing support from both international and local experts. Although the implementation framework created opportunities for local educators to assume active roles as trainers, facilitators, and administrators alongside international partners, the shift toward genuine ownership and long-term sustainability remains uncertain.

This paper draws on the experiences of a team of local researchers, educators, and administrators involved in NIS, SHARE/Astana, and SHARE/NIS initiatives. It examines how local actors contribute to the development, adaptation, and sustainability of CAR within a highly centralized and evolving educational context. Particular attention is given to the influence of socio-cultural norms, policy dynamics, and institutional hierarchies. The central research question guiding this study is: What is the potential of CAR advocates in Kazakhstan in fostering sustainable educational change?

We argue that CAR becomes sustainable when it evolves from an externally driven reform into an internally valued and embedded practice. Its sustainability depends on shared ownership among policymakers, local education authorities, school leaders, and teachers. Moreover, sustainability is strengthened when local educators and professional development institutions actively reinterpret and adapt the approach to align with contextual realities. The findings suggest that sustainability is not merely a matter of implementation, but of cultivating meaningful ownership grounded in local expertise, agency, and professional commitment.

Reference:

N.Ayubayeva & C.McLaughlin, (2023), Developing Teachers as Researchers: Action Research as a School Development Approach, In C.McLaughlin, L.Winter & N.Yakavets (ed), Mapping Educational Change in Kazakhstan, CUP.

McLaughlin, C. & Ayubayeva, N. The teacher and educational change in Kazakhstan: through a sociocultural lens (2021), In Fielding, N. Ed. Kazakhstan at 30: The Awakening Great Steppe. (pp.175-191).

McLaughlin, C., Ayubayeva, N., Fimyar, O., Helmer, J., Malone, KL., Yakavets, N., Tursunbayeva, X., Winter, E., Abdimanayova, L., Khamidulina, Z., and Zhontayeva, Zh. (2020). Thinking about Change in Education Systems, Pedagogical dialogue.

McLaughlin, C. & Ayubayeva, N. (2015). ‘It is the research of self experience’: Feeling the value in action research. International Journal of Educational Action Research. 23:1, 51-67