LABOR EDUCATION IN KAZAKH PRIMARY SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS IN 1941–1960

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify the content features of labor education in Kazakh primary school textbooks in 1941–1960 by examining curricula, archival reports, and public education materials. The central idea is that labor education in primary school was broader than a separate topic or subject. It was shaped through reading texts, writing, arithmetic tasks, natural science and geography materials, drawing, physical education, public service work, and everyday school practice. The methodological framework combines source-based content research, comparative chronological systematization, and subject-content interpretation. The source base includes the 1940 and 1941 curricula, guiding materials of 1950–1960, annual school reports, and archival evidence on pupils’ participation in public service work. The findings show that labor education had an integrative character. It connected moral ideas about labor, practical learning skills, the rural and agricultural context, discipline, collective responsibility, and the policy of linking school with life beyond formal classroom practice.