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Ayubayeva, N. (2018). Teacher collaboration for professional learning: Case studies of three schools in Kazakhstan [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cambridge].

In this study, the researcher focuses on investigating the nature of teacher collaboration in three case studies in Kazakhstani schools, identifying the key factors that enable or hinder teacher collaboration and their effect on the implications across sociocultural, organizational culture, and micropolitical perspectives. The author observed that top-down policies might hinder the link between individual and collective structure, and teachers may resist or promote change, which could be explained by multi-faceted factors. The study proposes three levels of practical implications to foster a culture of collaboration. The first level is macro-level policy formation, developing norms to deconstruct the existing belief and promote methods and ideas that fit with the new approach, instead of giving orders of rules to follow. The second one is meso-level policy interpretation and the educational policies that need to be interpreted and implemented within the school culture. At this level, teachers’ role is to collectively rethink and reshape school culture to align with constructivist educational goals. The third is micro-level policy enactment, empowering teachers through professional development to promote reflective practice and action research. At this level, teachers need to be supported to navigate the new challenges they face as agents of educational reform.

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