Conference Agenda

Kazakhstan's educational infrastructure is defined by a significant number of rural schools, which represent the socio-cultural and intellectual centers of the rural community. One of the pressing challenges facing Kazakhstani education is improving the quality of education in rural schools and narrowing the gap in educational achievement between urban and rural students. The "Concept for the Development of Preschool, Secondary, Technical, and Vocational Education in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2023-2029" outlines priority tasks for supporting rural schools [1].

Kazakhstan first participated in the international study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2009 and continues to participate in each testing cycle (2009, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2022, 2025). PISA analyzes the relationship between learning outcomes and factors characterizing students' socioeconomic status, that is, the impact of segregation on learning outcomes: students' place of residence, family income, cultural development, and ethnic origin in relation to the general secondary education system, curriculum, and educational policy.

In Kazakhstan, there is a large gap in the quality of education between urban and rural schools. One indicator illustrating the differences in educational achievement between urban and rural students is the results of the international PISA study across different cycles, which primarily examines the sustainability of education and then the accessibility of quality education. Differences in educational achievement between urban and rural students are confirmed by data from the international PISA 2022 study, according to which the gap between urban and rural schools in Kazakhstan was 18 points in mathematics, 37 points in reading, and 26 points in science [2]. Research questions:

1. How can we improve the quality of education in Kazakhstan's rural schools, reduce the achievement gap between urban and rural students, and create an effective educational environment using innovative educational technologies?

2. What effective methods for developing reading literacy using artificial intelligence tools should be used to improve the academic performance of rural students?

3. What new digital technologies should be used in developing digital educational content on literacy and mindful reading as an important skill for solving real-life problems?

The PISA 2025 innovation track, Learning in a Digital World, assessed students' ability to learn independently using digital tools (browsers, online courses, virtual labs, and other technologies). To improve the academic performance of Kazakhstan's rural students, it is necessary to create an effective educational environment using innovative educational technologies and new artificial intelligence developments, adapted to the educational needs of rural students. To this end, we have created a digital educational resource for rural schools: https://auylschool.kz/. As part of our research, we aim to further develop this educational resource by creating digital educational content on reading literacy using large-scale language models (LLM) and generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI). The idea of ​​developing a digital educational resource for rural students and teachers is aimed at addressing educational challenges in developing functional literacy and soft skills in rural students.

The Institute for Teaching and School Development at the University of Klagenfurt follows, among other things, an empirical and analytical approach to research in existing learning environments. The research project presented here, which is being carried out as part of a dissertation at this very institute, follows this approach. The focus is on a form of organisation at the primary level that is unique in Europe: teaching children from first to sixth grade in a mixed-age class based on the Montessori concept. With their interdisciplinary, non-frontal, grade- and exam-free setting, in which standardized textbooks are not used (Eilers 2018), these primary classes represent a stark contrast to the familiar framework conditions of teaching and schooling.

Mixed-age groups in educational settings take various forms in Europe but are most common in early childhood education or in the first years of school. (Wagener, 2022) In addition, it has been and continues to be used as an organisational solution for primary schools in rural areas in order to maintain them despite low student numbers. (ibid.) Although some international research has now been published on multi-level work in primary schools, which can be implemented in a wide variety of ways (ibid.), classes with six age groups working according to the Montessori concept remain a research desideratum.

Since this is a new exploration of a rarely implemented and scientifically untouched learning environment and thus an “unusual case” (Yin, 2018, p. 50) case study research (Yin, 2018) was selected for the dissertation project combined with Constructive Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014). The study uses a multiple-case study design to examine two classes, one located in Germany and the other in Austria. Both classes are embedded in privately run schools that provide education leading to the completion of compulsory schooling.

While previous studies on multi-age classes have highlighted findings in areas such as children's social development (Harrison, 2018), mutual assistance (Wagener, 2022) or participatory practices in learning interactions in mixed-age tandems (Wagener & Walther, 2024), the research project presented here aims to holistically capture the specifics of the reception, transmission, and reproduction of knowledge in the classes studied. The guiding research questions address the classroom culture enacted in the classes, how knowledge is acquired, reproduced, and transmitted, and which perspectives on and approaches to knowledge can be identified. In line with common practice in Constructive Grounded Theory, the theoretical framework is developed as Sensitizing Concepts (cf. Keane and Thornberg 2025, p. 121) and includes perspectives from Dave Elder-Vass (2012), Käthe Meyer-Drawe (2012), and Wolfgang Maiers (2017).

From an ethical standpoint, the present project adheres to the International Charter for Ethical Research Involving Children, and the “Getting Started” reflection questions from the Ethical Research Involving Children platform were applied (Graham et al. 2024). Moreover, the author aims to contribute to a critical and constructive perspective on developments within the Montessori concept, which is implemented in schools worldwide irrespective of national school laws and curricula (Murray, 2022). Recent publications (see, among others, Hopmann 2022; Canzoneri-Golden und King 2023; Seichter 2024 and Seichter 2025) highlight pedagogical blind spots and their implications for learners, which this research project explicitly addresses and discusses.

Metacognition plays a central role in students’ learning and academic development, as it enables learners to plan, monitor, and evaluate their thinking while engaging with complex tasks (Ohtani & Hisasaka, 2018). In primary school, developing metacognitive strategies is particularly important, as children are still learning how to approach tasks independently and reflect on their own understanding. Supporting metacognitive development at this stage has been shown to be associated with improved learning outcomes and more effective problem-solving in mathematics (Fyfe et al., 2022).

Early research conceptualized metacognition primarily as an individual mental process involving the monitoring and regulation of one’s own thinking (Flavell, 1979; Veenman et al., 2006). In mathematics education, this perspective guided studies that focused on how learners regulate their thinking while solving mathematical problems. Researchers examined processes such as planning, monitoring, and evaluating when students chose operations, checked intermediate results, or judged the reasonableness of their solutions (Garofalo & Lester, 1985; Schoenfeld, 1985; Schneider & Artelt, 2010). Within this perspective, metacognition was mainly examined as an internal cognitive process. It was often assessed through self-reports, think-aloud techniques or performance measures that focused on how learners approached and evaluated the given task (Desoete, 2007; Veenman et al., 2006).

From this perspective, social interaction and instructional context were generally treated as supportive factors for individual regulation rather than as integral components of metacognitive process. Although these approaches contributed to showing positive relations between metacognition and mathematics achievement (Schoenfeld, 1992; Donker et al., 2014), they tended to assume that metacognitive regulation occurs independently of social and instructional contexts.

More recent sociocultural and situative perspectives have challenged this view by emphasizing that thinking and learning are mainly shaped through social interaction (Çini et al., 2023; Iiskala et al., 2021; Zepeda et al., 2019). From this perspective, metacognition is understood not only as an individual act of self-regulation, but also as a socially shared and co-regulated process. Studies on collaborative learning have shown that learners often regulate their understanding collectively by negotiating meaning, coordinating their thinking, and responding to one another during problem-solving processes (Goos et al., 2002; Molenaar et al., 2011). In these interactions, metacognitive processes are shared among participants and develop as they work toward a common task.

These become particularly observable in classroom dialogue when participants explain their reasoning (Goos et al., 2002), jointly check their understanding (Iiskala et al., 2021), evaluate their progress aloud (Molenaar et al., 2011), or adjust strategies in response to one another (Goos et al., 2002). However, existing research on socially shared metacognition has mainly focused on secondary school and higher education contexts (Goos et al., 2002; Zepeda et al., 2019), while interactive metacognitive processes in primary school classrooms have received much less attention in empirical research. Therefore, it is still unclear how younger students engage in metacognitive regulation through classroom interaction. Specifically, little is known about how metacognitive processes are co-constructed during primary school whole-class mathematics lessons, despite calls for more classroom-based research on metacognition in the early years (e.g., Zepeda et al., 2019).

Building on these diverse conceptual and analytic approaches, the present study approaches metacognition from an interactional perspective. It focuses on how metacognitive regulation unfolds over time within whole-class mathematics instruction by drawing on classic metacognitive theory and sociocultural perspectives on co-regulation. The study is guided by the following research question:

How do metacognitive events in social interactions develop over time, and what sequential patterns characterize their interactional organization in primary mathematics classrooms?

The use of student-generated digital videos in schools is gaining attention in educational ICT research. As this technology becomes more accessible, issues related to teaching and learning through DV projects are increasingly examined [1]. Two studies conducted under the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency illustrate this trend [2]. The first study explored filmmaking across fifty UK schools, finding that such activities enhanced student engagement, self-expression, and creativity, while understanding the “language of the moving image” was essential for successful filmmaking [3]. The second study investigated the use of “digital video assets” in fifty schools, where students edited existing video materials to illustrate curriculum concepts [4].

During video projects, individual learning is influenced by student interactions and the cultural environment, shaping the meaning-making process [5]. Examining these interactions provides insight into how students engage with DV as both a product and a socio-cognitive process. Students invest considerable time and effort in pre- and post-production activities, involving social collaboration, cognitive engagement, reflection, adaptive learning, flexibility, and creativity, particularly in the micro-context of English language learning. Consequently, a meaning-making approach that promotes active learning requires students to engage with flexibility and adaptive intelligence [6].

Teachers assigning DV projects may not always recognize the empirical learning experiences occurring throughout the production process. Student-created videos thus serve as both instructional outputs and vehicles for deeper learning, facilitating content mastery and the development of essential 21st-century skills.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how student-created videos support deeper understanding and conceptual comprehension of biology among Grade 11 students transitioning from the IGCSE to the A-Level curriculum. Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools in Kazakhstan operate a specialized "NIS-Programme" developed in collaboration with Cambridge International Education. The school follows a trilingual education model, where instruction in middle school is delivered in Kazakh and Russian, while in high school key academic subjects, including biology, are taught in English.

This curricular transition places heightened demands on students’ English language proficiency, use of academic terminology, and ability to engage in abstract thinking, despite the fact that biology instruction prior to Year 11 was predominantly conducted in students’ native languages (Kazakh and Russian).

Findings from the preliminary stage of the study indicated that students in the experimental group exhibited a lower level of English proficiency in comparison with those in the control group. This conclusion was drawn based on diagnostic interviews with English language teachers and a review of students’ academic records. Furthermore, academic results from the first and second term showed that learners in the experimental group demonstrated weaker subject knowledge, which can be partially attributed to language-related challenges in understanding complex biological concepts in English.

Within this context, student-created video production is explored as a pedagogical strategy that may mitigate language barriers, facilitate meaning-making, and enhance students’ conceptual understanding of biology in an English-medium learning environment. А meaning-making process that promotes active learning must involve student learning with flexibility and adaptive intelligence [6, 7]. Student-created videos foster meaning-making that engages all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, with a particular emphasis on enhancing the Analyze, Evaluate, and Create skills [8, 9]. This approach encourages students to engage deeply with the content, draw connections, and apply their knowledge practically, rather than relying solely on rote memorization.

Research Question:

How does the use of student-generated video enhance students’ understanding and meaning-making of biological concepts in A-level Biology?

Sub-questions:

1. How does creating student-generated videos affect students’ understanding of complex and abstract biological processes?
2. In what ways does student-generated video support students’ comprehension and use of biological terminology in English?
3. How does the use of student-generated video influence students’ engagement and motivation in Biology lessons?

Introduction

The acquisition of a foreign language includes not only knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, but also the ability to use the language effectively in spoken and written communication. Productive skills remain the most difficult for many students, as they require not only a language base but also a high degree of automaticity of skills, logical thinking and general knowledge (Nation & Newton, 2009). This in particular is important when students write essays where they have to develop their ideas by providing examples and details.

Interactive methods aimed at developing written argumentation are becoming increasingly popular in pedagogical practice. Among them are debates and discussions, which create conditions for communication, form critical thinking and develop the ability to express their opinions in a reasoned manner (Alasmari & Ahmed, 2013; Krieger, 2005). These forms of learning are especially important for 11th graders, as they develop their argumentation skills and correspond to their age and cognitive characteristics in the period of exam preparation.

The aim of the study is to analyse the effectiveness of using discussion methods (such as debates, Hot Seating, Philosophical Chairs, Claim-Evidence-Reasoning) in developing writing skills of 11th grade students in English classes.

Research Questions:

1. What changes in written argumentation are observed in students after participating in debates and discussions?

2. What conditions are necessary for successful implementation of these strategies in classroom to develop students’ written argumentation?

The theoretical basis of the study is based on the communicative approach in foreign language teaching (Littlewood, 2004), as well as on the principles of L. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, which emphasizes joint activity and language interaction as a means of thinking development.

This study examines the solution processes of Grade 4 students in TIMSS computer-based mathematics, focusing on problem-solving and inquiry-oriented (PSI) tasks administered only in a subset of test booklets (Mullis & Martin, 2017; Mullis, Martin, Fishbein, et al., 2021; von Davier et al., 2024). Computer-based large-scale assessments generate process (log/event) data that provide insights into how students engage with assessment tasks beyond final scores (Chen et al., 2024; Papanastasiou, 2023). We analyse a thematically coherent PSI task, Little Penguins, consisting of six interconnected items and an introductory motivational screen. The task was selected because it has been released and made available for research use and because it is complex, allowing students to solve different types of problems within a single context; most other TIMSS items do not offer such a context. However, our approach is also transferable to individual TIMSS items if needed.

The study adopts a combined macro–micro analytical perspective on students’ solution pathways. At the macro level, we analyse students’ pathways across the entire PSI task to capture navigation, action sequencing, and time allocation as they progress through the task set. This task-level analysis is complemented by a micro-level investigation of one focal item, using fine-grained event data to examine detailed interaction patterns during problem-solving. Students’ solution pathway profiles are modelled as data-driven types of behavioural sequences by combining process mining and sequence analysis of event streams with clustering of sequence variants and derived process indicators (e.g., screen visits, time on screens, action diversity and ordering, revisits and jumps, and timing metrics such as time-to-first-action and time-on-task).

The study addresses the following research questions:
(1) What solution pathway profiles can be identified in Grade 4 students’ interactions with the TIMSS computer-based PSI mathematics task Little Penguins, and which process indicators characterise these profiles?
(2) How are the identified solution pathway profiles associated with students’ performance outcomes and solution success?
(3) How does students’ digital self-efficacy predict membership in different solution pathway profiles?

Empirically, the analysis uses TIMSS Grade 4 computer-based mathematics data from nine European countries, purposefully selected to include the Czech Republic’s neighbouring countries and to cover a range of overall mathematics achievement relative to the Czech Republic (comparable as well as substantially higher performance). Cross-national analyses benchmark results against the Czech Republic and compare countries with one another. The study identifies educationally interpretable pathway profiles (e.g., efficient linear solvers, revisitors/checkers, and trial-and-error patterns) and examines whether profile–performance associations differ across outcome levels (focal item, whole-task success (0–10), and overall mathematics achievement). By integrating macro-level pathway analysis with micro-level event-based insights, the study advances methodological approaches to using process data from large-scale international assessments and highlights their potential to improve the interpretation and design of computer-based PSI tasks.

Abstract

This study investigates perceptions of internationalisation and institutional capacity, alongside the implementation of internationalisation strategies, within Azerbaijani Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It analyses the rationales, strategies, and challenges encountered by stakeholders in these institutions.

Although internationalisation is a significant global policy priority, most existing literature focuses on Western higher education systems. There is limited research on the rationales, strategies, and challenges of internationalisation at the institutional level in post-Soviet contexts such as Azerbaijan. The Bologna Process has been instrumental in increasing student mobility and advancing the internationalisation of Azerbaijan’s higher education system by supporting exchange programmes, fostering inter-university cooperation, and facilitating academic credit transfer.

This study adopts an interpretivist, multiple-case qualitative design. Data will be collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis to investigate how university stakeholders interpret internationalisation. Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis will be used to examine how internationalisation and institutional capacity are understood and implemented across Azerbaijani HEIs.

The study seeks to contribute to the higher education literature by incorporating the perspectives of university stakeholders. The findings are anticipated to inform and enhance internationalisation strategies and institutional capacity within Azerbaijani HEIs.

Research objectives

The following research objectives guide this study:

1. Examine the impact of internationalisation on institutional capacity development in Azerbaijani universities
2. Identify contextual factors and rationales for internationalisation in Azerbaijani HEIs
3. Analyse challenges in implementing internationalisation strategies in universities
4. Examine stakeholder perceptions of university management's role in shaping internationalisation policies.

Research questions

Main research question

How does internationalisation shape the development of institutional capacity in Azerbaijani HEIs?​

Sub-research questions​

1. What contextual factors influence internationalisation in Azerbaijani HEIs?​
2. What are the opportunities and challenges in the implementation of internationalisation in Azerbaijani HEIs?
3. How do key stakeholders in Azerbaijani HEIs perceive the relationship between internationalisation and institutional capacity development?