Teachers’ Pedagogical Approaches in
Kyrgyzstan: Changes and Challenges
Duishon Alievich Shamatov
Introduction
This chapter describes pedagogical approaches that are used by teachers in
primary and secondary schools of Kyrgyzstan, and presents the results of a
study, conducted in 2013, which was designed to increase understanding of
pedagogical approaches and thereby contribute to future reforms in national
education policies and educational practices for improved learning.
Background
Country context
Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a small, landlocked and
mountainous independent nation in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan’s territory is
close to 200,000 square kilometres, bordering China to the east, Tajikistan to
the south, Uzbekistan to the west and Kazakhstan to the north (Shamatov,
2005).
Kyrgyzstan was previously one of the 15 republics of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR). Soviet rule was established between 1918 and 1922
(Landau and Kellner-Heinkele, 2001). During Soviet rule, and especially from
the 1960s onwards, many Kyrgyz people became “Russified” (Ibraimov, 2001).
This was reflected in people’s dress, personal behaviour, language and modes
of speech at the time (Akiner, 1998). Korth and Schulter (2003) observed that
many Kyrgyz, particularly those who lived in urban areas, became deeply
immersed in Russian culture and barely spoke their mother tongue.
Major changes in the political life of the USSR began in the mid-1980s, when
Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the policies of perestroika (restructuring) and
glasnost (openness) to overcome social, political and economic stagnation
in the country (Davies, 1989). ‘Windows opened up to the pluralism of
opinions, cultural and political associations and various forms of economic
activities’ (Niyozov, 2001, p. 97) in Kyrgyzstan, as in other parts of the USSR.