The teacher training system in Kazakhstan has developed as the result of a long process of cooperation and shared experience of training and development in the education system of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The situation in Kazakhstan is favourable, as international policy priorities on education (UN Strategy of the European Commission) and national priorities are identical.

It has been found that the old type of professional development programmes for teachers, based on the education policy of the former Soviet Union, no longer meet the needs of teachers interested in professional development. This has prompted the government to adopt a comprehensive approach which might solve teacher training issues in schools. Firstly, arrangements have been put in place to create an effective model of continuous professional development in accordance with the current requirements, in order to raise the level of Kazakhstani educators’ professional skills.

Existing teacher development practices are influenced by the status of the teaching profession, and by present curriculum policy and pedagogy within the education system. There is debate over whether initiatives for the professional development of teachers should be taken by individual teachers, schools, universities, teacher development centres, the Ministry or other organisations (Loucks-Horsley et al., 1998).

With regard to this school, the administration should focus its attention on providing in-house teacher training. The main reason for this is that there is a growing professional culture, which means that teachers should also be involved in the overall running of school processes, not just in the classroom but also by improving their professional skills at school. Shaw (1995) claims that there are two main explanations for why schools ought to concentrate on teacher training. The first relates to economic, social and political issues external to the school. The second is internal: the issue of creating an improving and reflective school. In addition, Fullan (1991) claims that there are two reasons why leadership is the main issue in professional development. Firstly, leadership development is a specific aim of the majority of professional initiatives in education, even though the achievement of this aim varies greatly. Secondly, research into teacher development in schools demonstrates that leadership and support are required in order to create professional experiences which may result in changes in learning and teaching: ‘The support of leaders – both those in positions of authority such as principals and those with more expertise than teachers taking part in the professional development: legitimizes changes, provides resources, and creates expectations that changes will occur’ (Loucks-Horsley et al., 1998, p.199).

Mullan and Jones (2008) argue that the role of school leader has changed over the years. According to Pollock (2007), the main function of a head teacher has changed to become an instructional leader rather than a manager. In addition to this, the school leader can influence school culture (Lambert, 2003), mainly by supporting the teachers in becoming partners who might eventually be involved in creating curriculum policy and in improving education for the students (Fullan, 2001). Those teachers who have a personal interest in developing the school in general have the potential to increase students’ academic performance. In other words, a head teacher and the other teachers can work together to design and implement a professional development programme at the school. Therefore, the research questions for this study as follows:

1. What are teachers’ perceptions of current in-service professional development courses at NIS Astana?
2. What are teachers’ perceptions regarding the degree to which current professional courses provide added knowledge or skill to their teaching that impacts students’ learning?

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