ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Imagine starting a new education system that supports with disabilities. Now try to do that for an entire different country.
If you ever decide to do that in your life somehow, you would almost assuredly ask for help.
That's the situation Webster University now finds itself in. The school is working with educational leaders in Kazakhstan to improve education efforts for kids with disabilities in the country.
"Kazakhstan is a developing country and similar to the United States, it is undergoing a journey about how it provides education to all it students, including those with disabilities," said Stephanie Mahfood, Interim Dean of the School of Education at Webster University on Total Information A.M. Tuesday.
Kazakhstan is a huge country with a large mountainous terrain, it makes education efforts in the country very difficult for kids.
Mahfood said she and the university got seriously involved with helping improve education in the country after a 'collaborative partner' with the university who had business connections in the country and knew about Mahfood's background in inclusive education, help set up a meeting between them and Kazakhstan business woman whose goal is to bring international training opportunities to Kazakhstan educators.
"I remember when we started talking about inclusive education, even though we were talking through translators, it was like both of us were jumping through ZOOM screens across the world at each other," said Mahfood.
Among the efforts the university is helping with improve in the country includes getting four training cohorts coming through the country per year, with the delegation doing training sessions with educators in the country to model inclusive heterological practices. Along with that, the cohorts will travel to a variety of schools and advocacy groups in the country.
"I think one of the things we try to be deliberate about is to help them figure out where they are and to set those small incremental goals about how you then move forward in making spaces and curriculum accessible, training their teachers, etc." said Mahfood. "It is a process and a journey that we are still on in the United States.