This is a book about four rural secondary schools of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, a newly independent Central Asian state of the former USSR. Utilizing case study methods, we describe and discuss how teachers, administrators and students are attempting to survive the proclaimed “transition” to democracy and a market economy within their particular schools and communities. We view this work primarily as a cultural study of schools and school life, not a work about the national education system. There is in fact a growing volume of other writings on issues and problems in education in Central Asia, some of which we have ourselves contributed to (see DeYoung, 2004; Reeves, 2004). The focus in this study, however, involves school, individual, and group lives and dynamics in and around the four village schools we studied during 2004 and 2005. Two of the four schools are in Chui Oblast; one in Naryn Oblast, and one in Batken Oblast. One Chui school lies within an economically and demographically stable community by Kyrgyz standards; the other school faces more serious economic and migratory issues. Our Naryn school is located in an isolated livestock-breeding region of Kyrgyzstan high in the Tien Shan mountains near China. Finally, we describe community and school situations in an agricultural community in the south that is characterized by considerable poverty-driven labor migration. Our work involved schools in the small town of Shopokov, and the villages of Tash Dobo, At-Bashy and Ak-Tatyr. These are all actual places on the map of Kyrgyzstan – if your map is detailed enough. In several cases, nearby smaller schools are also discussed as they relate to our primary institutions.

The editors of Emerging International Issues in Student Affairs Research and Practice situate developing issues in student affairs through research, new and emergent methodologies, pedagogies, and practices. The text aims to encourage intercultural perspectives and opportunities across student affairs research and practice, while calling upon international student affairs practitioners, faculty, and staff to engage in international evidence-based research that provides a foundation toward a collective consensus of the field. To accomplish these goals, the editors invited predominant practitioners in student affairs practice and student affairs scholars from across the globe to engage in discourse, share their insights, and offer implications to the student affairs profession at the international level. The editors do this by dividing the text into two parts: Part I: Theoretical, Historical, Cultural, and Ideological Considerations in International Student Affairs and Part II: Emergent International Issues and Practice in Student Affairs. In Part I, the text addresses larger contexts, theories, and frameworks for understanding some of the most recent concerns and issues that have surfaced among international higher education leaders, student affairs professionals, and scholars. The section highlights discourse on directions and praxis that relate to the internationalization of student affairs and the resulting implications. Part II amplifies the larger international issues that have recently surfaced through the context of student affairs practice. International scholars and practitioners share timely concerns and matters that influence the profession on a global scale. This section highlights specific ways that practitioners can think about their work moving forward and implications that can shape research and the profession in the future. Collectively, these chapters represent a snapshot in time. Written early in the third decade of the 21st century, they emerge from one of the most distinctive—and some would say, one of the most unrelenting and tragic—recent periods of human history. The confluence of the pandemic and other global issues is exerting extensive pressure on higher education in general and the practice of student affairs in specific. Consequently, sustained, significant change seems inevitable. As a text within the series, International Perspectives on Educational Policy, Research and Practice—a series that aids to be a leading forum for global discussion on educational issues, urgent problems, successful experiences, and reflections from educational researchers and practitioners around the world—the editors believe the text is both timely and consequential.

This book is a defense of linguistic pluralism and language policies and practices in education that sustain that ideal. Educational meanings and models are influenced by different populations and different social and historical contexts. International comparisons can shed interesting light on the issues. Therefore, the purpose of the book is to provide scholars an international comparative understanding of language policy, its relation to educational practice, and current debates within the field. The book is divided into three sections dealing with the general topical areas of policy, practice, and controversy. This book will be of interest to policy-makers, scholars, and graduate students in the areas of bilingual education, language policy, and sociolinguistics.

The book has two parts. Through a series of four interconnected studies, the first focuses on the youths’ perceptions. We, meaning the reader and I, accompany them on their way into the new school, in chapter 1, and listen to evaluations of their academic and social experiences. In chapter 2, we learn about their informal social adaptation in various life settings, emphasizing gender differences in coping mechanisms. From here, we proceed to public opinion formation in the course of preparation for first-time voting in a new political culture (chapter 3). Perceptions of the military, in chapter 4, as the last stage of compulsory postsecondary civic engagement for Israeli youngsters, close this section. The second part places in the limelight the reactions of the educational system to catering to the needs of these immigrants who excel. Chapter 5 dwells on teachers’ perspectives on the challenge they present, exploring differences in these perspectives according to their years of experience and subject matter area. Chapter 6 examines the organizational modus operandi of several schools, eliciting field-based models for handling immigrant students. Evolving from the latter, chapter 7 offers an anthropological approach for training teachers to work optimally with immigrant and culturally diverse students. The programmatic epilogue offers an operational model for materializing the potential to enhance global participation for immigrants as well as locals, ensuing from the inter-cultural encounter. Research procedures that are common to a number of studies are explained upon first mention. To aid in the visualization of adaptive patterns emerging from this large body of data—on both immigrant youth and educators in the receiving society—tables summarizing findings are provided for all but chapter 7. In addition to the comparative component, each chapter also includes an assessment of globalization proneness in light of its specific topic.

Focusing on the areas of politics, identity and education, this book looks at some of the most pressing and challenging issues that Kyrgyzstan faces in the post-Soviet era. It argues that Kyrgyzstan is challenged with oscillations between the old and the new on the one hand, and domestic and international on the other. The book analyses the process of post-Soviet transition in today’s Kyrgyzstan by focusing on the political elites, some of the major identity problems and educational issues. It discusses how Kyrgyzstan’s first president in the post-Soviet era had already been an exceptional leader even prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union in terms of his democratic and liberal tendencies. The book goes on to look at how identity is a major factor in the country, shaped to a large extent by genealogical factors and patron-client mechanisms on the one hand, and religious considerations on the other. Finally, it highlights how education has been perceived as a very influential agent of socialization that develops not only literacy and other skills, but also common attitudes and values that are considered essential to any society. By evaluating these three areas, the book argues that Kyrgyzstan cannot isolate itself from the demands, priorities and pressures of international actors, which sometimes are in conflict with the country’s domestic conditions. It is of interest to students and scholars of Asian Studies, Politics and International Relations.

This comparative study provides an overview of the textbook production chain, starting with its origins in the curriculum, and suggests ways in which policymakers can make improvements at every point in the chain. With evidence from a range of countries, mainly in Asia, the study is intended as a resource for policymakers and as a reference and benchmark for education systems. Although the study focuses on textbooks, which are the priority for governments and teachers and represent the greatest item of expenditure on teaching and learning materials, it also includes other teaching and learning materials including digital resources.

Reflecting on almost three decades of postsocialist transformations, the second edition of Globalization on the Margins explores continuities and changes in Central Asian education development since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, with a particular focus on the developments that took place since the production of the first edition in 2011. Rather than viewing these transformations in isolation, the authors place their analyses within the global context by reflecting on the interaction between Soviet legacies and global education reform pressures in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This new edition, in addition to a revised introduction and a newly added conclusion, consists of four thematic sections, each reflecting a key theme in the educational life of the Central Asian states. These thematic sections, introduction and conclusion collectively update our understanding of the recent developments and challenges in education of the five Central Asian states. They, however, go beyond mere information update, so as to complicate, re-engage, re-form and re-define the margins, taking up ‘margins’ a conceptual, geographic, cultural, and geo-political construct. Notwithstanding the diversity of local and international authors, variety of theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and conceptual lenses, the essays reveal the complexity and uncertainty of the post-socialist education transformations. Instead of portraying the transition process as the influx of Western ideas into the region, Globalization on the Margins provides new lenses to critically example education as a contested field of diverse perspectives, competing forces, and multidirectional flow of ideas, concepts, and reforms in Central Asia. ENDORSEMENTS: "Hindsight famously brings clarity. And, much of what happened after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union has now been correctly deeded over to historians. Nonetheless, we ignore that history at our peril. The contributors to this volume show that carefully textured and historically attuned education research generates deep insights into ongoing transformations and the political, cultural, social and economic structures, relations, and practices that do the work of producing margins and centers in the first place." ~ Noah W. Sobe, Loyola University Chicago "Globalization on the margins and at the epicentre of the battles of the Great Powers. Two excellent educators, Sarfaroz Niyozov and Iveta Silova, compiled a timely and long-awaited scholarly work based on empirical research in societies, which had similar history close to three decades ago. All the contributors are prolific educators who know the education system from within and without, who either hailed from the region or have spent a considerable amount of time to know the systems well. The book contains remarkable stories of education through the ups and downs of historical evolution. It is a must-read primer for anyone interested in learning about high quality research in the field of education in Central Asia. It is a huge contribution to educational research with an impact on research and teaching for years to come." ~ Duishon Shamatov, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan "The challenge of moving Central Asia from the borders of the Soviet Empire to the world’s center is the focus of the discussions in ‘Globalization on the Margins.’ The transition to the Western models of education was happening in the context of major paradigm shift, which entire humanity was experiencing and which could be described as the arrival of the new post-industrial civilization. During this process, Central Asian countries have been pushed to the margins, because their contribution to the wealth of the new world know-how was much less pronounced than that of their Western neighbours. Therefore, investment into the research that contributes to local knowledge production seems a natural solution to the problem. All the contributors to this book have a vast experience in the region and many of their observations are thought provoking. This is a very insightful and much needed book." ~ Elena Lenskaya, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, Russia