Today, global challenges such as climate change, migration, and conflict will require people to take effective action, by both individuals and communities. Development of global competence is one means to help young people develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to engage in responsible individual and collective action at their local levels with the aim for better future at the global level (Measuring Global Citizenship Education, 2017).

International collaboration and development of global competence are the new trends in current education worldwide and of Kazakhstan in particular. However, the methods and approaches in its organization in school have not yet been widely established and researched properly.

As Barbara Leigh Smith and Jean T. MacGregor put it, collaborative learning is a term which includes various teaching approaches “involving joint intellectual effort by students, or students and teachers together” (Barbara Leigh Smith and Jean T. MacGregor, 1992). Consequently, international collaboration requires joint effort by students and teachers from different cultures and languages. Finland being one of the world leaders in education focuses on internalization in higher education which includes “the ability and willingness to think and operate globally” (Ala-Louko, R., 2017). It is an evolving trend in secondary schools as it may extend the borders of the classroom for the students and allow them to learn through action and engagement (Collaboration in the Online Learning Environment, 2013).

Today, in the era of online education and communication “global digital exchange is an innovative approach connecting students directly with peers around the world online. As technology and internet connectivity become cheaper and more widely available in schools, digital exchange can also make global education more inclusive of students from low-income and isolated communities” (Marjorie B. Tiven and Ester R. Fuchs, 2021).

Thus, keeping in mind all stated above, our school launched the program of international collaboration with different schools worldwide including the schools of Taiwan, India, China, Russia, Spain, Israel, etc. The main aim of this collaboration is professional growth of teachers and development of students’ global competence and learning outcomes. The necessity for effective collaboration and vivid results brought about the research question: What are the effective methods of organizing international collaboration?

Different ways of online collaboration were used such as exchanging online messages and videos on different topics, video sessions between students discussing different topics, joint project work, online discussions between teachers, etc. To evaluate the effectiveness of all these formats of collaboration a research was conducted by a group of teachers.

The focus group of the research today consists of about 100 students involved in international collaboration. Other participants of the research are 10 teachers from different schools. To collect data, teachers of the schools kept reflective diaries and took photos and videos of all the activities of the project. By the end of each activity, the participants were surveyed on the questions that allow the researchers to measure the level of their satisfaction by the results. Each survey consisted of 5 questions including multiple choice and open ended questions that required extended answers. Besides regular surveys, all participants were interviewed at the end of each term (approximately every 8-9 weeks) which made sufficient contribution to the research, as during interviews some students tend to give more extended and detailed answers than answering survey questions in writing. The research involved both qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative method was used to interpret the data and find out the percentage of participants satisfied/unsatisfied with the outcomes of the collaboration activities. The qualitative methods were used to analyze the results of the surveys and interviews.

As a result, such formats as video sessions (82% admitted as effective), exchange of written messages (65% admitted as effective) and professional discussions (61% admitted as effective) between teachers were admitted as the most effective according to the data derived from qualitative and quantitative methods. However, joint projects (31% admitted as effective) were acknowledged as less effective due to several reasons. Based on the results of the research, a group of teachers developed a special guide to undertaking international collaboration which includes the guidelines on every step of collaboration projects, from finding partner schools to presenting the results of joint work. Besides, the reasons of low effectiveness of joint projects were analyzed (such as lack of constant contact between partners, differences in subject curricula, etc.) and taken into consideration. As a result of this, such special recommendations were given to the participants of collaboration as: 1) discussing and fixing the terms and deadlines of performing each stage of the project, 2) keeping the contact between the participants via the most commonly used tools of communication, 3) determining the topic of research according to the area of knowledge of both sides. Thus, the guide to undertaking international collaboration is the outcome of the research conducted on the work done in our school, while performing joint projects is still an area of development and a subject of our further research. The results of this research will be of interest to schools doing international collaboration projects, developing global competence of their students which are the relevant issues of modern education system.

Ala-Louko, R., 2017. Developing International Competence and Intercultural Communication Skills is an Investment in the Future. P. 2 Barbara Leigh Smith and Jean T. MacGregor, 1992. What is Collaborative Learning? National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment at Pennsylvania State University Collaboration in the Online Learning Environment, 2013. Florida Virtual School and FLVS. P. 1,4 Marjorie B. Tiven and Ester R. Fuchs with Anissa Bazari and Ashley MacQuarrie, 2021. Evaluating Global Digital Education: Student Outcomes Framework. Global Cities, Inc. A Program of Bloomberg Philanthropies Measuring Global Citizenship Education. A Collection of Practices and Tools. Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. April, 2017. P. ix