Nur-Sultan hosted the International Forum "Implementation of Innovations in Education: Practice, Problems, Prospects". The organizers invited the partners and experts from far and near abroad. The organizers are the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs and the Association of Organizations for the Development of Human Capital, Education, and Science.

On the second day of the forum, there were four directions during the panel sessions.

In the course of the dialogue platforms, the experts identified systemic and operational problems in the implementation of ongoing reforms in the field of education in Kazakhstan. These include the introduction of modular educational programs in the technical and vocational education system, the implementation of the course "Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship and Business", vocational guidance for schoolchildren, criteria for employers, the formation of language competencies of students and students, including the introduction of international assessment standards.

The experts discussed the criteria of employers in personnel training and the practice of implementing innovations (modular educational programs and dual training) in organizations of the technical and vocational education. Sayasat Nurbek, an expert, and Lyazat Shonaeva, Director of the Human Capital Development Department at Atameken, moderated the event.

Zholaman Uvaleev, Executive Director of the Kazakhstan Association of IT-companies, spoke about professional standards as a reference point for professional education.

"As a result of our work, we would like to recommend educational institutions to be responsible for their results, as well as to make them free in the formation of the titles of the specialties. But their content should be coordinated with the labor market and industry companies. In the school system, there should be a career guidance system, and possibly a group of specialists. Children are not interested in paper textbooks now, we need to use technologies: gadgets, smartphones with short theses," he said.

 The basic issue of personnel training was of concern to all participants.

 "The labor market is changing,  professional standards are lagging a bit. In addition, the education system is lagging behind. For example, the head of the company needs a marketer. And what are the requirements for it? There should be a web portal, where all professional standards are accumulated by sections, and where both educational institutions and businessmen can enter. It is time for the state bodies to reconsider the approaches to the conceptual issue - personnel training," the Chairman of the Committee for Human Capital Development and Social Policy of Business Talgat Doskenov expressed his opinion.

The speakers also presented the topics of modular programs for quality training of specialists, dual training, vocational guidance, employer assessment in the creation of a certification system, the basic system for training and satisfaction of the labor market, the requirements of the CEFR in the English language training, etc.

The author of the textbook "Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship and Business" Yermek Duysenkhanov named businessmen who actively promote social entrepreneurship. In particular, he noted  Sairash Mataybaeva, general director of Kazyna ST LLP, owner of the private school "Business Academy "Dara". Also within the framework of the theme "Gamification in entrepreneurship education" Yermek Duysenkhanov explained his method of attracting students to the subject through auctions, stakes and a set of points as in economic processes.

During the session, Olzhas Ordabaev told about the implementation of the initiative of the Atameken NCE RK to introduce the course "Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship and Business" for school, college and university. Another initiative of the Chamber, the Atameken academy electronic platform, was presented by Arslan Darimov, the project manager.

"The most important problem in online learning is to involve the user, keep him/her. We also used methods of contests and quests. Our analysis showed that the person who watched the first 4 lessons is likely to finish the whole course. Now the number of those who have completed the course - about 15 percent, it is planned to increase this indicator, " he summed up.

The site was attended by teachers of pilot schools (tested in 11 classes), teachers who teach the subject "Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship and Business" in the 10th grade, experts of the Uchebnik publishing company, representatives of the Arman PV publishing house, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Altynsarin National Academy of Education, developers of educational programs and manuals, Atameken academy platform, methodologists of regional education departments and colleges, business representatives. School teachers and teachers from organizations of the technical and vocational education in the republic shared their experience of teaching the subject "Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship and Business".

As a result of the Forum, the experts developed the recommendations and proposals for National Qualifications System (NQS):

1.        The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan should expedite the establishment of the National Qualifications Authority. To work out the possibility of creating this body as an independent organization outside the Labor Resources Development Center JSC;

2.        The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the RK should update the list of regulated professions;

3. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection together with the Ministry of Education and Science and the Atameken NCE should carry out appropriate work on the creation of the Law “On the National Qualifications System”;

4.        The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the RK should update the Order of the Minister of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 28, 2015, № 1035 "On approval of the Rules for the development, introduction, replacement and revision of professional standards".

5.        The Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan together with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the Atameken NCE RK should carry out work on updating the National Qualifications Framework;

6.        The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan should develop and approve the rules governing the procedure for making changes and updating the National Occupational Classifier;

7.        Higher education institutions should develop modular educational programs based on approved professional standards.

8.        The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Atameken NCE RK adhere to the established deadlines for the implementation of the roadmap for the development of the NQS for 2019-2025.

9.        The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection should accelerate the competitive procedures for the development of certification.

10.     To update the Regulation on interaction in the system of the Atameken NCE on human capital development in the part of "Formation and maintenance of the Register of Certification Centers of specialists and the Register of certified specialists" to improve the quality of certification of specialists.

On the development of organizations of technical and vocational education, the participants of sessions have decided to direct recommendations to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the following character:

1.        To continue the work on the development and implementation of modular programs for quality training of specialists;

2.        To work out unified approaches on the definition of quantitative indicators of dual training realization and to send to regions explanations on questions of the introduction of dual training in the organizations of technical and vocational education according to article 17 of the Law of RK "On education";

3.        To develop a mechanism for transferring financial resources to employers participating in dual training;

4. To update the Classifier of specialties and qualifications of technical and vocational education taking into account the developed 36 Industry Qualifications Frameworks in 2019;

5.        Develop a Roadmap for the systematic equipping of technical and vocational education organizations with modern updated educational resources, including those on electronic media, for timely equipping, taking into account the timing of the implementation of tasks in the field of technical and vocational education, to involve in the development of qualified, experienced in the development of educational resources of the organization and the company.

The experts send the following proposals on the results of discussions for the development of entrepreneurial thinking among schoolchildren and students of colleges and universities:

1.        State higher education institutions should strengthen the control of student attendance at Entrepreneurship Fundamentals courses to ensure the quality performance of the state task.

2.     State higher educational institutions should take part in the protection of business projects for each student in the context of higher educational institutions for 50,000 students to form entrepreneurial thinking among students.

3.     To use the Atameken academy electronic platform developed by the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs  as an additional digital resource when organizing the educational process of mastering entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial thinking among students of higher education institutions, students of technical and vocational education institutions, students of secondary schools;

4.        Developers of textbooks on the subject of Entrepreneurship and Business Fundamentals will be provided with further development of training materials in the Kazakh and Russian languages to supplement the training course;

5.        The Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry should consider the possibility of early learning of digital skills through integration into the educational process, initially in the form of a pilot project, of the Algorithmic program successfully implemented in several CIS countries.

It should be noted that two other panel sessions discussed the implementation of the Concept of the state policy in the religious sphere at the level of general secondary education, the level of teaching languages as non-native (foreign) languages and the introduction of international standards for evaluating language competencies.