Issues and Perspectives on Teacher Education for Education for Sustainable Development in Kazakhstan

Education has a major role in creating changes necessary for society to achieve sustainable development. Studying the issues of sustainable development requires a holistic, multidisciplinary approach. It goes beyond just incorporating sustainable development into school subjects as an individual unit. Actually, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the Kazakhstan education system faces many challenges, especially in teacher education. ESD is not a new discipline or program, but a call for reorienting education. One of the main goals of ESD is to help teachers integrate the ideas and objectives of sustainable development into their curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Of course, this is a difficult task because ESD requires teachers to be motivated and interested, develop educational practices thoughtfully, and transform themselves to create a sustainable society. Further steps in implementing ESD in Kazakhstan require (1) to continuously ensure accessibility and inclusiveness of education; (2) to expand public-private partnerships and attractive private investment in education; (3) to digitalize education, create digital educational contents, and disseminate interactive and distance learning; (4) to revise approaches to attract and train future teachers and improve the qualifications of teacher educators with the prestige of their teaching profession; and (5) to create educational hubs and disseminate educational services and deliverables from there.