К.п.н. Левшина Светлана Михайловна

Костанайский государственный университет им. А. Байтурсынова, Казахстан

Experience of implementing the credit system of education in Kazakhstan

Experience of implementing the credit system in Kazakhstan is quite interesting.
The credit system of education in Kazakhstan began to form spontaneously since the mid 90s of the twentieth century. A number of universities in Kazakhstan at that time were actively expanding international links with leading foreign universities to participate in international projects and programs. However, modern large-scale modernization of Kazakhstan's education system began with the Kazakhstan’s accession to the Bologna process, which highlighted the problem of creating European higher education in the region as a key moment for the development of citizens’ mobility, their being demanded, the global development of the continent, according to which it is necessary:
- to establish a system of common academic degrees, which will contribute to the formation of a single European market of skilled labor, as well as the international competitiveness of European higher education;
- to transit to a two-level system of higher education: Bachelor (at least three years) and Master;
- to introduce a system of credits to meet the evaluation mechanisms. The system of credits - example is the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) – must facilitate the mobility of students.
The new system of learning attracted scholars and leaders of Kazakhstan by the fact that its foundation was based on the ideas of an American educator John Dewey. Under this approach, the student should be taught not the sum of knowledge but the ways of thinking (theoretical, dialectical, logical, analysis, synthesis, system approach), to develop creative skills (ability to apply knowledge learned in all situations, including an independent formulation of the problem, as well as search of new ways of solving problems), to improve professional skills. In other words, "... in the course of education it was necessary to make the transition from the flow of knowledge and skills to the development of abilities."
Analysis of the early years of Kazakhstan’s universities in the credit system has shown that the transition to an innovation paradigm is not possible without a substantial reform of education.
First, the relationship between teachers and students should be partnerships of joint activities.
Second, the approach to the supply of universities with information resources is required to be changed. In terms of innovative learning information resources have to become virtually limitless. Students and teachers should have unrestricted access to them.
The results of independent studies carried out in Kazakhstan under the leadership of P. Dobryaev in 2008 under the program "The opinion of students and teachers about the practice of implementing the credit system at universities " can not only make some positive conclusions concerning the introduction of credit system, but also identify the problem areas:
- among students and teachers the most part are those who believe that the training, conducted under the credit system, is effective. The work of advisors (teachers of the department, assisting the learner to the appropriate specialty to choose the trajectory of learning and mastering the curriculum during the training period) and the Office of the Registration (a service dedicated to the writing of students taught discipline and registering all of their academic achievements during the entire period of study), most of students and especially teachers evaluated mainly on the "very good" and "good";
- the vast majority of students and teachers expressed satisfaction with the available scientific, educational, methodological and logistical support of credit system.
Along with this the system of higher educational establishment and the nature of its external interactions should be reviewed.
However, the general attitude of students and teachers to the introduced credit system of education continues to be controversial. Most of them estimate this system as "satisfactory", half of the teachers and a smaller proportion of students still give preference to a linear system of training. A substantial proportion of students and teachers do not accurately imagine a specific credit system and the main purpose of its implementation in educational practice.
Scientists in Kazakhstan distinguish the prior issues of transition to the credit system:
- the need for coordination through a series of inter-university seminars, meetings, conferences on the implementation of credit technology;
- organization of scientific research on the effectiveness of credit technology in higher education, as well as monitoring the quality of education on credit technology;
- the need to formulate recommendations to improve the quality of training qualified personnel on the credit technology.
Thus we conclude that the research of foreign and domestic scholars have insufficient scientific justification for theoretical concepts and principles of implementation of the credit system. There is insufficient theoretical basis of the scientific, methodological and psycho-pedagogical support of the credit system of education and methods of their realization in practice.

Literature:

1. Ибышев, Е.С. Об инновационном образовании. Опыт внедрения кредитной технологии обучения в Карагандинском экономическом университете Казпотребсоюза / Е.С. Ибышев // Совет ректоров. – 2007. – № 10.

2. Западно-Казахстанский государственный университет им. М. Утемисова [Электронный ресурс] // /www.wksu.kz.

3. Абишев, А.А. О проблемах перехода на кредитную технологию в Казахском национальном педагогическом университете им. Абая [Электронный ресурс] / А.А. Абишев // umo.kaznu.kz/13_1_kubeev.asp

4. Ревский, А.Д. Введение кредитной технологии обучения в Казахстанских высших учебных заведениях: проблемы и перспективы [Электронный ресурс] / А.Д. Ревский // www.ia-centr.ru.