Uneven Transformations: Examining Secondary Public Education in Urban Kazakhstan

 Fall Lecture Series: Associate Professor at KIMEP University  Elise Ahn's lecture, "Uneven Transformations: Examining Secondary Public Education in Urban Kazakhstan." In the last 20 years, Almaty has been undergoing urbanization due to internal emigration, regional immigration, suburbanization, and major changes in the population’s economic activities. In this context, pre-existing disparities between different populations have become more apparent and new patterns of social and spatial inequality have been emerging. This study looks at the relationship between structural, social, and spatial aspects related to access and students’ reported education aspirations. A survey was distributed among 2954 students (grades 9 to 11) in 29 schools throughout Almaty between March and May 2014. The results showed that among the schools and participants, patterns regarding school location, composition and language of instruction as they affect students’ education aspirations reflect a number of issues that the Almaty education system is facing as it undergoes systemic transformation. Additionally, patterns regarding gender and family structures were also observed and can be connected to broader population changes in society. The authors conclude that the observed relationships between the different variables demonstrates how empirical, school-based research in the Kazakhstani context can provide a more nuanced glimpse into the process of system and social transformation in post-Soviet contexts.

The Speaker:

Elise S. Ahn is an Assistant Professor at KIMEP University’s Language Center. She graduated with her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2011 in Education Policy Studies with a concentration on comparative and international education and program evaluation. She has a number of forthcoming articles on education access and inequality and using spatial analysis to examine the construction of social spaces. Her research interests focus on the intersection of the social, structural, and spatial in examining the effects of internationalization in education and policy production processes. She is also interested in issues related to language, education and equity/access with a focus on urban contexts. She is also currently an Honorary Fellow at CREECA.