JSC «Information - Analytical Centre»

REPORT ACCORDING TO THE RESULTS OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

1. "An assessment of satisfaction of the population with

reforms in education sphere by levels"

2. "Survey of the population within indicators framework

of education and science system by SQI"

3. "Assessment of satisfaction with MES RK's activities"

2014

JSC “Information-Analytic Center” has conducted three

sociological researches jointly with sociological agencies in 2014.

Results of researches have showed the following results.

1. "An assessment of satisfaction of the population with reforms in

education sphere by levels" (together with "The center of studying the

public opinion", 6400 respondents).

Brief information on the organization:

The main field - sociological and market researches, coverage across

Kazakhstan and the countries of Central Asia. 25 years of expertise in the market.

Resources:

a) Own well-adjusted regional network across Kazakhstan;

b) 345 constant interviewers in all regions of the country;

c) 18 skilled supervisors;

d) 12 professional employees at the office of the company in Almaty;

e) Monitoring service in Almaty.

CSPO's personnel is experts in the field of sociology, economy and public opinion

in Kazakhstan, experts of the international organizations, members of the

international associations.

Own material resource base and office, computer and audiovisual equipment,

large and specialized types of various surveys across Kazakhstan and Central

Asia.

The purpose of this sociological research is the assessment of

satisfaction of the population of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the

reforms in education sphere by levels as follows: preschool education

and training, secondary education, technical and professional

education, higher and postgraduate education.

Research problems:

1.To study opinions of the population of RoK on the quality of

education;

2.To evaluate the satisfaction of the population of RK with the

reforms in education:

2.1 in preschool education and training

2.2 in secondary education

2.3 in technical and professional education

2.4 in higher and postgraduate education.

Data collection method – the individual standardized interview in

the form of personal survey.

The statistical error at this volume of selection won't exceed 1,2%

at a confidential interval of 95%.

According to the research results about a third of the population

(28,7%) are constantly interested, try to be keep up with all changes,

a little more than half of citizens (53%) are interested in educational

innovations from time to time.

Thus more than 53% of respondents have noticed the insufficient

level of awareness of the population on innovations in the education

system. 77% of respondents have indicated the need to enhance this

direction.

50% of respondents aren't informed about the creation of a

network of world-class colleges "Kasipkor", 45% - about the

introduction of per capita financing, 43% - about the introduction of

dual system in colleges and 38% - about the social mechanism SESS.

According to the research results, the respondents have

designated three key problems of education system:

53,0%

15,1%

3,2%

28,7%

I'm sometimes interested in/I'm interested from time to time

I'm not interested at all

It's difficult to answer

I'm constantly interested in, try to keep up with all the changes

- corruption in education establishments (46%),

- incompetence of educators (41%),

- lack of access to the higher education (36%).

76% of respondents have supported the educational policy of

the country.

The following percent of respondents has noted its dissatisfaction

with reforms in education:

- 28% - with the level of preschool education because of waiting

lists in the state kindergartens, overpopulation of groups, low

qualification and shortage of teachers (86,3% of unsatisfied

respondents have pointed out the limited access to kindergartens to

be the main cause)

- 15% - with the admission to the 1 st grade of children aged 6,

division of SNT, introduction to the system of secondary education of

per capita financing,

- 14% - with the lack of experience and low level of training of

VET graduates, weak MTI of colleges, complexity of employment,

- 14% - with the high cost of education and corruption in higher

education institutions, low level of faculty's training, absence of

demand of graduates of the Kazakhstan higher education institutions.

In total, 65,8% of the population are satisfied with reforms in

preschool education and the Balapan program; 81,3% of the

population - in the sphere of secondary education; 78,8% - in VET and

79,9% - in system of the higher and postgraduate education.

Considering that some reforms haven't been realized in the

education system yet, and pass the preparatory or probation period

(introduction of 12-years education, division of SNT into two stages,

introduction of per capita financing in secondary education and at

the level of VET, creation of world-class colleges "Kasipkor") then the

satisfaction percent of 76,45% (average at all levels) testifies to high

expectations of society.

The lowest level of population's satisfaction is observed on the

following reforms:

The highest level of population's satisfaction is observed on the

following reforms:

There is a moderate positive dependence of the level of

satisfaction with reforms on degree of awareness of the population

and innovations in education (Pearson's coefficient of correlation of

0,442).

When planning educational policy 39% of respondents as

recommendations pointed out to the need of studying the public

opinion, 36% - the international experience, 30% - carrying out the

qualitative analysis of the current situation and 18% - continuity of

reforms.

2. "Survey of the population within indicators framework of

education and science system by SQI" (together with Research

institute "Sange", 3172 respondents).

Brief information on the organization:

Exists in the market of sociological services since 1993. Renders services to

businesses, state agencies and the international organizations, and also

cooperates with SPA, in particular:

• international organizations - the World Bank, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF,

Fund of Democracy of the UN, OSCE, the European Commission, ABR, etc.;

• government bodies – the Senate of Parliament of RK, MED, MES, MLESP,

MF, APS, Water Committee, RK Agency on statistics, etc.;

• non-governmental sector – Soros Kazakhstan Fund, Eurasia Fund, Civil

Alliance, Association of taxpayers of Kazakhstan, etc.

Over the years of its existence the organization has implemeneted

52 projects in education and employment of youth.

The purpose - identification of the reasons of low indicators of SQI

in education and search of prospects for their growth.

Tasks:

1. to provide comparability with SQI

2. to reveal problems in educational process

3. to reveal problems in management, organization, and

motivation

4. to define a difference in the points of view of the parties

Data collection method – personal interview "face-to-face" and

in-depth interviews within focus groups.

Interviews with the employers, experts in education, students,

parents have identified the following factors of low indicators of

Kazakhstan in SQI:

- imperfection of methodological base, including imbalance of

the theory and practice,

- lack of qualified personnel at all education levels, weak

management,

- low prestige of teacher profession and low salaries,

- lack of systematic work with students from vulnerable segments

of the population,

- lack of mechanisms of interaction with the parental public and

businesses,

- accountability and transparency of education.

Programs and textbooks have been thoroughly evaluated on

compliance with modern requirements, balance of the theory and

practice in primary and basic secondary education:

The weak point in management of the organizations at all levels

is the lack of communication of the educational organizations with

business. In the assessment of management of education system the

weak point is insufficient orientation to market requirements, inability

to forecast.

Require improvement: %

Development of state programs, reforms 48

Exchange of experience, coordination 37

Work planning at all levels of 36

Determination of teachers' salaries 35

Selection of curricula/textbooks 35

Tracking the after-life of graduates as an ultimate indicator

of learning success 35

Motivation, incentive scheme 34

Determination of academic load on students 32

Work with parents, the public 32

Interaction with businesses and partners on improving the

quality of education 31

Upon that 64% of business representatives expressed their

willingness to assist in updating the schools' MTI , 62% - in employment

of graduates of colleges and universities, 59%- financial support, 42%

- sponsoring of teachers' advanced training and only 16% have

proposed to take part in the work of advisory and supervisory boards.

57% of employers have pointed out to the lack of mechanisms

to involve businesses in implementing the priorities of education.

Businesses advised to encourage their participation in

investment of education through PPP arrangements, tax cuts for

employers who invest in education.

In general the study to improve the surveyed indicators of

education, SQI is recommended:

- to strengthen interaction between educational institutions and

enterprises,

- to radically update professional educational programs,

- to create a system for tracking the trajectory of the professional

development of graduates,

- to develop tools to assess the effectiveness of educational

reforms.

3. "Assessment of satisfaction with MES RK's activities" (together

with Public Opinion Institute, 3000 respondents).

Brief information on the organization:

The Institute was formed in 2013 by the group of sociologists with

professional experience of more than 15 years.

The Institute specializes in the public opinion research, and carries out the

marketing and sociological studies in Kazakhstan and other countries, such as

Central Asia, Western Europe, Russia, China, Mongolia, Turkey, USA, Canada, and

so on.

The Institute’s special area of business is «Public Opinion», scientific work.

Institute staff regularly participate in the academic basic research and regularly

publish articles in various worldwide scientific journals.

Research objective – an assessment of satisfaction of the

population of the Republic of Kazakhstan with quality of the work

which is carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science of RK.

Main research objectives:

1) research of the level of satisfaction of the population with the

solution of problems by MES;

2) definition of criteria by which the population estimates the

performance of the Ministry;

3) assessment of satisfaction with access and quality of

information on work of MES and its interaction with citizens;

4) assessment of MES experts' performance for obtaining the

recommendations allowing to improve MES's performance.

Data collection method - mass survey of the population and

experts in education through personal interview with respondents on

the basis of in pre-engineered questionnaire. Answers in the

questionnaire were filled by interviewers in writing.

66% of respondents have noted that MES has succeeded in the

development of education and science, general progress is evident.

1/5 of respondents aren't informed on work of the Ministry.

The population expresses the lowest satisfaction with

performance of the Ministry in development of science (26%) and

higher education (25%). Ministry is best at ensuring the rights and

interests of children, creation of necessary conditions for education.

78% of respondents receive information on activity of the Ministry

from TV. Considerably less used source of information is the MES RK

web-site (27%).

The following results on satisfaction with work of MES and

availability of information on its activity were received:

Ok Quite OK

Rather not

OK

Unsatisfact

ory

At a loss

to answer.

Quality of information on work of MES 22,9 42,3 13,4 4,4 17,0

Availability of information on

Ministry’s activity 20,1 41,2 14,7 5,4 18,6

Data on satisfaction with performance in education has

provided the following results: Areas

Satisfied

Rather

satisfied

Total of

«satisfied

»

Rather

dissatisfi

ed

Dissatisfi

ed

Total of

«dissatisfi

ed»

Not

faced

At a loss

to

answer.

Secondary

education 32,9 43,1 76 13,0 8,2 21,2 1,1 1,7

Pre-school

education and

training

36,1 38,3 74,4 14,6 4,9 19,5 3,5 2,6

Higher

education 26,7 41,8 68,5 16,7 8,5 25,2 2,0 4,3

Technical and

vocational

education

(colleges)

25,2 42,9 68,1 14,8 6,5 21,3 5,4 5,2

Postgraduate

education

(masters,

doctoral,

postgraduate

studies, etc.)

23,0 36,4 59,4 15,0 7,2 22,2 9,4 9,0

Scientific

development 18,8 30,7 49,5 18,8 7,6 26,4 8,7 15,4

Failure to obtain necessary information and lack of feedback

have been indicated by 11% of specialists in the field of education.

Thus for improvement of quality of MES work, the experts have

proposed to cut the operational reporting, educational progress

measurements, to involve in development of methodological base of

experienced teachers in the country.

The population is not sufficiently informed about the powers of

MES and MHC. Up to 20% respondents felt that the issues of registration

of documents for admission in schools and kindergartens, the

appointment of the heads of the education organizations, school

meals and textbooks are in the competence of the MES.