This paper presents a comparative analysis of pre-service teachers preparation programs for inclusive education environment in the developed and developing western and eastern countries such as the UK, the USA, and the People’s Republic of China through the lens of Stages Heuristic public policy framework. The presented data has a potential of fulfilling a public policy role model that could be adopted and adapted in Kazakhstani education policy of inclusive education integration. The central aim of this research is to explore the policy reforms related to the ways of integrating Initial Teacher Education in HEIs in Kazakhstan in order to be a legitimate part of an international educational community.

By bearing in mind the right of children to be educated without discrimination in schools, Kazakhstan is taking its move towards inclusion and spreading inclusive education in mainstream schools. However, in the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2017-2021, there is estimated a high level of need for teachers with a special education and methodological support in order to expand the Education for All environment among Kazakhstani schools (MoES, 2016). The government has exposed the need for highly trained professionally qualified new teachers to be entering the profession.

However, so far little research has been conducted on inclusive education teacher preparation policies and practices in Kazakhstan. Moreover, there has been relatively little way of radical changes in the teacher education framework at Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) and Pedagogical Colleges in Kazakhstan. Under those circumstances, this paper provides a comparative analysis of teacher training courses and methods as a basic step for preparing teachers for inclusive education and diverse educational environment. Hence, in essence, the specific objectives of this study are to make contributions towards policy reforms by examining and evaluating the ideas and concepts which HEIs stakeholders hold about Initial Teacher Education towards expanding the education for all environment among Kazakhstani mainstream schools, as well as their pervasiveness and adequacy with the current curriculum.

In particular, this paper will address several key research questions:

• What is a teacher’s role in implementing Education for All environment?
• What are the world practices of preparing teachers for inclusive education?
• What are the current practices in Kazakhstan towards inclusive education integration?

It is beyond the scope of this paper to consider the policy problem through the lens of Stages Heuristic policy framework, which divides the policy process into a series of stages: Agenda setting, Policy formulation, Decision making, Implementation, Evaluation (Jann, W., & Wegrich, K., 2007). Stages Heursitic model is one of the pioneering frameworks in public policy analysis that was termed the “textbook approach” by Nakamura (1987), due to its simplicity and at some point naïve approach that in particular cases does not work efficiently (Sabatier, 2007). However, it was further developed by Laswell (1956), Jones (1970), Anderson (1975), Brewer and DeLeon (1983), presenting a systematic analysis of the policy process by dividing it into different stages. The presented stages of agenda setting, formulation, legitimation, implementation, and evaluation are interrelated and inseparable from each other so that they have an impact on each other and broadly picture the whole policy process (Kulac & Ozgur, 2017). In addition, by applying the stages heuristic model it is possible to draw a line on differences and similarities of public policies by making a comparative analysis between different countries (Anderson, 1982 cited in Kulac & Ozgur, 2017).   

Creswell (2012, p. 9) underlines that in general the research questions and set purposes initially predetermine further research design and procedures, such as the process of data collection and analysis, as well as entire study methods. Accordingly, mixed research methods, namely the convergent parallel design will take its stance in order to conduct interviews, focus groups and surveys with faculty members and administrators, as well as students and their parents, related to the institutional policy in integrating the course on Inclusive Education for pre-service teachers, i.e. at their initial stage of teaching education. Taylor and Bogdan (1998) note two different theoretical perspectives of research studies based on positivist and phenomenologist, or interpretivist paradigms. The first one seeks to inquire into facts when compared to the latter which is aimed at exploring social understanding and explaining and scrutinizing it from the participants’ perspectives based on their experiences. There is a demand for adopting different research methodologies as these paradigms differ significantly in terms of their purposes of investigating the issues raised. Hence, both Qualitative and Quantitative research methods are basic and crucial aspects of conducting a study. However, each of these is distinct from each other even though they share key scientific principles. For instance, quantitative research focuses on designing, sampling and measuring due to its emphasis on constructing statistical models. Sample: random sampling; Data collection methods: focus groups, individual follow-up interviews, surveys; Data collection procedures: a letter of an informed consent statement will be handed in to all study participants. According to Luttrell, (2010), “the concept of informed consent assumes the transparency of a social and psychological reality that enables a researcher to provide full and accurate information about the research to autonomous subjects who are able to make rational and informed choices” (p. 128). Informed consent is part of the protocol of the research process (Lankshear & Knobel, 2004). Data analysis: descriptive statistics and content analysis.

The study is estimated to contribute with its significant results to the lack of research with regard to the policies and potential reforms in implementing inclusive education in Kazakhstani mainstream schools. I hope this study will inform practitioners and raise an agenda for policymakers in higher education curriculum reform for initial teacher training in inclusive education. In addition, this study will pave the way for further research, which is needed to explore factors hinder Kazakhstani higher educational institutions of being a legitimate part of international education system.

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