June 26th, 2023 Astana International University (AIU) hosted a meeting of the university staff with a group of lawmakers of the Maslikhat (local representative body (parliament) of the city of Astana, headed by the Chairman of the Maslikhat - Kanalimov Yerlan Ermekuly, as well as with the head of the city department of education - Sengazyev Kasymkhan Sengazyevich.
Within the framework of the round table, the progress of the implementation of the PPP project No. 4 on the transfer of the Pedagogical College to the management of AIU was discussed. It was noted that this project serves the purpose of integrating teacher education at all levels for the capital's schools and kindergartens and is designed to largely meet the growing need of Astana for higher education teachers, through the gradual transformation of the college into a pedagogical institute.
In particular, the Astana International University invested more than 6 billion tenge to create a pedagogical institute. These are two educational buildings in the very center of the capital with a total area of 10 thousand square meters, fully equipped in accordance with strict qualification requirements (subject rooms, computer classes, auditoriums, library, a first-aid post, canteens, gym, etc.) and with required licenses and accreditations. This is a great intellectual work of highly qualified AIU faculty to design the necessary educational programs. In addition, the college was renovated and modern educational equipment was purchased in the amount of more than 136 million tenge. And to increase the salaries of college teachers, AIU has invested more than 330 million tenge in the college and continues to invest more than 20 million tenge for these purposes every month.
The transition of teacher education from the level of TVET to higher education is an urgent need for Kazakhstan. Thus, for example, higher education for teachers of even preschool education and upbringing is mandatory in OECD countries, and in 4 countries (England, France, Iceland, Italy) teachers of preschool education are required to have a master's degree.
Finland, which school system is recognized by the academic and expert community as one of the best in the world, already in 1974 made the transition of pedagogical education from colleges to universities and since 1979 all teachers must have a master's degree.
The Concept of Development of Pre-School, Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2023-2029, approved by Government Decree No. 249 dated March 28, 2023, states that specialists with Master and a PhD degree will be recruited to secondary education and will take retraining at the pedagogical higher educational institutions.
At the round table, it was noted that the transformation of a pedagogical college into a pedagogical university should take place gradually and smoothly, according to a clear and understandable algorithm for all interested parties, which should be synchronized with the efforts of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education to develop pedagogical education.
During the meeting, mutual understanding was reached on the importance of high-quality training of teachers for the capital's schools. Establishment of an leading pedagogical university on the basis of the AIU Pedagogical College, as well as advanced training of teachers and a number of possible solutions to these issues were proposed in the interests of the capital.