Educational policy in modern Mongolia: key stages and trends
Khishigdulam Namjidmaa1, Ichinkhorloo Shagjjav1, A. A. Izgarskaya2
1Mongolian State University of Education, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
Keywords: educational policy, education in Mongolia, goals and content of education, borrowing of educational models, Mongolian writing systems
Abstract
Introduction. The article is devoted to the main trends in the development of educational policy in Mongolia in the post-Soviet period. Based on a comparison of three documents, namely the «Concepts of Educational Development in the Mongolian People’s Republic (1991)», «Appendices to the Resolution of the Great Khural of Mongolia ¹. 36 of 1995», «Resolution ¹ 12 of the State Great Khural of Mongolia in 2015, “State Policy in the Field of Education” (2014-2024) », the reasons for changing trends in the educational policy of Mongolia are described. Critical assessments of the results of the implementation of its programs are presented. Methodology. The world-system approach (I. Wallerstein) is used as a methodological basis. Problems of education and the process of dissemination of educational patterns have been studied in the world-system paradigm since the 1980s. Discussion. Mongolia is actively integrating into the global system of division of labor and forming an education system in accordance with international standards after the collapse of the Soviet bloc. This gives rise to complex contradictions between the innovations being introduced and the desire to return traditional Mongolian culture as the basis of national identity. An analysis of the 1991 document showed that initially nation-building was planned in line with neo-traditionalism. However, difficult economic conditions and the existence of the danger of Chinese integration of Mongolia at the level of the external periphery did not allow these political ideas to be realized. In the 1995 document, the prevailing trend was orienting Mongolian education to international standards. As a result, the reform of Mongolian education in the next decade followed the model of countries with high incomes and sedentary populations, this did not correspond to the realities of Mongolia and caused increasing problems and contradictions. The 2015 document is based on the government’s attempt to involve initiatives «from below» in the development. As a result, the document is more focused on the interests of the local population, including the educational needs of children from pastoralist families. In general, however, the document has a clearly declarative character. Conclusions. The tendency observed in the educational policy of Mongolia to borrow educational patterns for the development of human capital is a forced compromise with the countries of the core of the world-system. The bias towards international models in the field of educational policy is recognized by the Mongolian scientific and pedagogical community. The question is raised about the upbringing of a person with a Mongolian identity.
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