The world today is becoming more interconnected and interdependent due to the economic, technological, social and environmental changes. The increasing level of interdependence requires people to consider the consequences of their own actions not only in private but also in local, national and global level. As educators are responsible for preparing candidates, who meet the expectations of the future labour market, the education world is not spared from the challenges and opportunities that globalized and ever-changing world brings. Asia Society/OECD (2018) reports that Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) made a focus on measuring global citizenship skills through its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) from 2018. Kazakhstan with the population representing more than 130 ethnicities is not an exception from these global trends in education. In 2018 Kazakhstani students (including the students of Nazarbayev Intellectual schools) took PISA tests that contains measurement on global competence.  Nazarbayev Intellectual schools (NIS) is a network of 20 schools, 15 of which are accredited by the Council of International schools. To teach for global citizenship NIS schools have the programme of schools was recognized by a number of countries; students studying and working abroad, international experts working on various subject areas and developing the curriculum and assessment materials, collaborative projects with students and teachers of partner schools in other countries, cultural and language clubs and technical equipment to facilitate teaching and learning.NIS schools have extended opportunities for developing global competence in comparison with mainstream schools. This paper investigates the extent to which NIS students have been supported and facilitated in becoming Global Citizens, by gathering insights from students and teachers. As for the background literature this issue was discussed in a body of research on developing global competence, however  much of the literature does not include the perspectives of teachers and students on the effectiveness of it and no research has been conducted in the context of Kazakhstani education system. As Musil (2006) puts it, “educating students for a global future is no longer elective (p.1).” Therefore, it is important to investigate the experience of other countries of developing global competence skills by reviewing the literature in the field and analyzing data taken from primary sources, i.e. students and teachers. For the purpose of the study, this paper aims to use a qualitative research design to investigate to what extent global competence skills are taught at NIS schools and the ways in which it could be improved to serve the needs of students.  Becoming globally competent person affects all the layers of social community, hereby, the results of this timely research are important for teachers, educators, researchers and policymakers in the way that implications can help them rethink and modify strategies of teaching. The students and parents will gain direct benefits through getting better education services that meets the challenges of 21^st century and future labour market. As for the results, this research come up to the conclusion that both students and teachers have positive perceptions on the effectiveness of teaching for global competence based on the opportunities created by school curriculum, teaching and learning practices, extramural activities and additional measures taken to produce students who are global citizens. Despite the overall positive views on the effectiveness of teaching capacities that are necessary for global citizens there is still room for improvement that include: reach to a meaningful definition of global competence and the skills required for it, needs of teachers on enhancing their professional skills;  utilizing more opportunities for authentic learning. This research is limited by a small size of sample population and consequent lack of generalizabilty.

To explore students and teachers perceptions to what extent global competence skills are taught at NIS schools and the ways in which Global Citizenship Education could be improved this study employs a qualitative research design. This choice is done following the recommendation made by Strauss and Corbin (1998) on using the qualitative research design “to obtain the intricate details about phenomena such as feelings, thought processes, and emotions that are difficult to extract or learn about through more conventional methods” (p. 11). For the purpose of this study the sample population consisted of 20 teachers and 44 students of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools in Kazakhstan, who were chosen using a purposeful sampling strategy. As it is mentioned by Creswell (2014), this sampling strategy helps to get more detailed and accurate answers to the questions of the study from the participants due to their expertise in the field. The population of teachers elected included language, STEM and human science subject teachers of both gender in order to get maximally extensive answer to the research questions. The sample population of learners was represented by secondary and high school male and female students, since the enrollment to the most NIS schools start from grade 7. In order to find answers to the research questions and collect a qualitative data this study used a semi-structured interview with participants, i.e. students and teachers. Follow-up questions used in a semi-structured interview helps to maneuver the conversation and engage participants into an open dialogue, consequently, provides detailed response to the research questions. Moreover, as Fontana and Frey (2000) described it helps to supplement the verbal data with the emotional tone, thus uncovers feelings of the participants. To pursue ethical considerations of the research process participants were given consent forms, read a set of instructions and debriefed about the confidentiality of the research participants. For the convenience of the participants, interviews were organized after study and work day with the lasting from 20 to 40 minutes in order not to distract students and teachers from their everyday study and work routine. To introduce final results of this study of the results, this study used a six-step approach for data analysis, which included the processes of data storage and transcription, data exploration and coding, usage of coding structure; identification of text segments, identification of code labels to the segments and formulation of a description of the research question.

In summary, this overview of both students’ and teachers’ perspectives in regards to teaching global competence skills is positive. The advantages of NIS experience in teaching capacities that global citizens need is that these schools approach the issue from multiple angles, starting from curriculum up to one-hour events of intercultural importance. The most mentioned practice school adopts to teach the skills of global competence by the major representatives of students’ community was extramural activities and international trips. The major percentage of students and teachers also mentioned the input international teachers are bringing by assisting local colleagues in designing curriculum and team-teaching. However, despite the advantages indicated uncovered by this study some point for improvement have been revealed in order to serve the needs of students of globalized world. In particular, opportunities for developing teachers’ professional skills and abilities of global competence, lack of technological capabilities of teachers in teaching the students of digital age, absence of common approach in providing access to authentic learning opportunities by engaging in real life situations despite the flexibility of curriculum. While interviewing participants it was also noted that teachers and students have a little varied comprehension of global competence. Therefore, this research recommends building a common vision about global competence among school community. To sum up, the implications made for teachers, school administrators and policymakers based on the findings of the study include to develop a document that will assists teachers in having common vision about global competence and adopt the strategies to improve students’ skills; design and implement professional development programme for teachers on improving their skills of teaching for global competence capabilities; extend the opportunities of curriculum using up to date instruments of digital technology and mobile applications, offer authentic learning experiences in areas where it is applicable to link with everyday life.

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