ENU discussed trends in the development of inclusive education in Kazakhstan’s and Russia’s higher education

The L.N.Gumilyov ENU hosted discussions by Kazakhstani and Russian experts of trends in the development of inclusive education in higher education in Kazakhstan and Russia.

The agenda includes issues on the tasks of developing inclusive education in higher education, on the problem of training personnel to work with students with disabilities, on the prospects for cooperation in the development of inclusive education, identifying requests and needs within the framework of inclusive education, as well as the introduction and application of education in the field of inclusivity at universities in Kazakhstan.

ENU Vice-Rector for Social and Cultural Development Lyazat Tolegenkyzy noted:  

"The Center for Inclusive Support has been operating at our university for a second year. The center’s professional staff includes practitioners. As part of the transformation of the system of science and higher education, the accessibility of higher education and scientific research are expanding our opportunities."

Maria Simonova, Director of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Comparative Educational Policy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Laboratory for Coordination and Monitoring of Dissertation Research in Pedagogical and Psychological Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that, as is known, the effectiveness of implementing inclusive education and ensuring the quality of inclusion depend on three components: inclusive policy (local acts and regulatory documents), inclusive practice (a fairly large number of children with special educational needs are already studying and, therefore, teachers are included in inclusive practice).

"But no normative act will work and will remain a "paper" if an inclusive culture is not formed in an educational organization (value-semantic foundations of attitude towards people). Educational activities to improve the competencies of the staff of higher educational institutions should be focused mainly on this – the most difficult task associated with the formation of relationships with people with disabilities and special educational needs," the specialist said.

During the meeting, the participants also discussed the main directions of activities for the development of the system of inclusive education in universities of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan, including the problems of training personnel to work with students with disabilities in the higher education system.