Kazakhstan is currently experiencing tremendous reforms in secondary education trying on best practices and experiences borrowed from abroad. Important figures at this stage are Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) created to serve the platform for introduction of a new education system (Shamshidinova, Ayubayeva & Bridges, 2014). According to Fimyar and Kurakbayev (2016) these reformist initiatives can be defined as radical and rapid changes (p.87). In such a tense educational climate teachers may feel confused about their ability to adapt to a new form of identity associated with accountability era (Day, Elliot & Kington, 2005 as cited in Davey, 2013, p.17). 

The analysis of literature sources shows that there is a strong link between the way teachers perceive themselves as professionals and the effectiveness of the learning and teaching processes. For example, Davey (2013) claims that schoolteachers’ values and beliefs, as well as how they see themselves in the school community and what role they play, directly influence student success (p.4). He points out that the problem arising in this respect is whether all the aforementioned are taken into account when reforms are implemented, whether teachers’ voices are heard by policy-makers (p.5). Thus, it is crucial to explore how teacher identity transforms as it is closely connected with educational change and is continually reshaped within certain historical contexts (Goodson & Norrie, 2005 as cited in Tang, 2011, p. 364).

The main purpose of this qualitative study is to explore in-depth the influence of internal and external factors connected with the present school reforms on NIS teacher perceptions of their professional selves. The study focuses on the following research questions: 

•   How do NIS teachers define their professional identity?

•   How does the teaching-related aspect of the reforms in Kazakhstan influence teacher identity?

•   How does the administrative aspect of the reforms influence teacher identity?

Conceptual framework

Considering the studies of the central phenomenon conducted by Davey (2013), Kelchtermans (1993 as cited in Day, Kington, Stobart & Sammons, 2006), Flores and Day (2006), and Vahasantanen (2014), it was concluded that teacher identity can be defined as the way teachers view themselves from four different angles: personal, social, professional, and emotional. Each of these dimensions consists of several components connected with teachers’ both personal and professional lives.

To reveal if Kazakhstani teachers experience any of the forms of teacher professionalism in the context of radical changes, another conceptual framework based on the literature analysis was developed to guide the design of the study. Two aspects of school reforms, internal (or teaching related) and external (or administrative), are viewed as the main factors influencing teacher identity evolution. In the suggested framework, teaching-related reforms lead to reskilling of teachers, which implies shifting teacher professionalism to the form which will satisfy the newly emerged standards and needs (Whitty, 2000, p.282) thus letting them acquire new skills and help them adapt to the changes. On the contrary, administrative factors of the reforms lead to the process of deskilling teachers, i.e. deprive them of autonomy and diminish the sense of agency focusing more on accountability and demonstrable effectiveness (MacBeath, 2012).

Two conflicting types of teacher professionalism suggested by Sachs (2001), democratic and managerial, are associated in the framework with the processes of reskilling and deskilling respectively, with the former focusing on improving skills and practices for ‘the common good’ and the latter focusing on increasing standards and the school formal efficiency. Activist and entrepreneurial identities, emerging from these types of professionalism, are therefore the two main forms of teacher identity in the framework.

Considering the nature of the research questions, a qualitative approach to conducting the study was employed. To be more specific, the study employed a qualitative interview design which is an ideal instrument to hear the voices of people (Rabionet, 2011, p. 563). Since identity refers to the inner perceptions of teachers which cannot be easily observed or understood from the survey results, an interview as a single method employed in this study was effective to explore the phenomenon of teacher identity. The purposeful sampling was used since it enables to collect information from cases best suited to answer the research questions (Patton, 1990, p.169). Therefore, one of the NIS schools was selected as the site of the research. The study employed maximal variation strategy which is typically used to convey opinions of different individuals to present the holistic picture of the issue (Creswell, 2012, p. 207). The criteria for sampling the participants are the following: age, years of experience and area of specialization. Teachers’ education background (locally educated and abroad) was also taken into consideration. A total of ten NIS teachers were chosen for conducting the study: three experienced teachers aged over fifty, four teachers aged over thirty and three young teachers, including those who studied abroad. To collect data, two semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 10 teachers were held, each lasting roughly 40 minutes. The interview questions were constructed in alignment with the categories emerged from the literature review. The process of data analysis occurred simultaneously with the process of data collection. Firstly, all the recorded interviews were transcribed and the responses were organized by the age of participants and the subject they teach. The next stage was coding the data going from the specific features to the broader themes about the central phenomenon in order to generate a larger, consolidated picture. I used the authentic version of interviews to code the data and only translated the parts related to any of the emerged themes in their regard to the literature review analysis. Finally, the results of the study were analyzed and interpreted in conformity to the research questions. They were also compared with the findings of other studies on this topic.

The results of the research revealed that the professional identity of NIS teachers is currently being reshaped and cannot be defined clearly due to the constantly changing environment. Nevertheless, it is clear that teachers believe they improved their practices despite the challenges of transition to a new system. Moreover, the majority of teachers under study seems to be highly motivated and satisfied with their job. The main reasons for the high level of teacher motivation are (1) opportunities for professional growth, (2) financial interest, and (3) new challenges. The study also showed that the aspects of school reforms which have a direct connection with learning and teaching constructively influence teacher identity both professionally and emotionally in most cases. However, there are still factors hindering the process, such as resistance to change and interference of the local mentality. Regarding external factors of the reforms such as formal accountability, work intensification and school management, they negatively influence NIS teachers’ identity diminishing their autonomy and neglecting their opinions. To sum up, NIS teachers are presently exposed to both reskilling and deskilling processes discussed earlier. On the one hand, introduction of a new system makes teachers move forward enhancing their professional competence. On the other hand, all these initiatives are imposed by the top and teachers’ voices are rarely heard. Therefore, it is quite challenging to identify their role since they have to move between "entrepreneurial" and "activist" identities trying to meet individual and corporate goals. These findings might attract attention of other researchers to the importance of teacher self-concept and trigger them explore this phenomenon in the European context. I also believe that Kazakhstani case will contribute to the overall discourse on the issue as it will help understand the process of transition from one system to another from the insiders’ perspective.

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