SPECIFIC FEATURES OF ORGANIZING THE EDUCATIONAL- UPBRINGING PROCESS IN GENERAL EDUCATION SCHOOLS

https://doi.org/10.57033/mijournals-2026-6-0107 Barno VAISBOYEVA a

a Lecturer, Department of Linguistics and English Language Teaching Methodology Faculty of Tourism, Chirchik State Pedagogical University E-mail: baisboevabarno@gmail.com SPECIFIC FEATURES OF ORGANIZING THE EDUCATIONAL- UPBRINGING PROCESS IN GENERAL EDUCATION SCHOOLS Abstract. The organization of the educational-upbringing process in general education schools represents a multifaceted challenge encompassing pedagogical, psychological, sociocultural, and administrative dimensions. This article investigates the specific features that characterize the organization of this process in general education schools, with particular attention to the integration of classical Islamic-Uzbek pedagogical heritage and contemporary educational frameworks. Using a mixed-methods research design involving document analysis, structured classroom observations (n = 45), and teacher interviews (n = 30) across 15 general education schools, the study identifies five core organizational features: (1) the unity of instructional and upbringing components, (2) age-appropriate developmental sequencing, (3) value-based content integration, (4) quality of teacher-student relationships, and (5) institutional-family-community collaboration. The findings indicate that schools successfully implementing an integrative approach drawing on both classical pedagogical wisdom from scholars such as Ibn Sina, Al-Ghazali, and Yusuf Khos Hojib, and modern educational science demonstrate significantly higher student engagement and character development outcomes. These results carry implications for curriculum design, teacher preparation, and school management policy in post-Soviet Central Asian educational contexts. Keywords: educational-upbringing process, general education schools, pedagogical organization, Uzbek pedagogy, holistic education, educational reform. INTRODUCTION The general education school occupies a foundational position in the social fabric of any nation, serving simultaneously as a site of knowledge transmission, character formation, and cultural reproduction. In the Uzbek educational tradition, this dual mission combining

instruction (ta’lim) with upbringing (tarbiya) has deep roots stretching back to the classical Islamic-Uzbek scholarly tradition of the medieval era and continuing through the modern period of national independence.

The great encyclopedist Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) articulated this dual mission with particular clarity in his philosophical and pedagogical writings. In Tadbir al-Manzil (The Management of the Household), Ibn Sina argued that the purpose of education extends far beyond mere knowledge transmission: “The child must be taught not only what is known, but how to become virtuous, for knowledge without virtue is like a body without a soul” (Ibn Sina, 1956: 147). This holistic conception of education integrating intellectual development with moral and spiritual formation became a cornerstone of the Central Asian pedagogical tradition and resonates profoundly in contemporary debates about school organization. Similarly, the eleventh-century Uzbek thinker Yusuf Khos Hojib, in his monumental didactic poem Qutadgu Bilig (Wisdom of Royal Glory), emphasized that the organized transmission of knowledge must be accompanied by the cultivation of character: “A person possessing knowledge and virtue is truly fortunate; he is a lamp that illuminates both himself and those around him” (Yusuf Khos Hojib, 1971:89). This classical Uzbek pedagogical philosophy anticipates modern concepts of social-emotional learning and character education by nearly a millennium.

The organization of the educational-upbringing process in contemporary general education schools, however, confronts challenges that classical scholars could not have foreseen: the rapid expansion of the knowledge base, the diversification of student populations, the proliferation of digital technologies, the demands of standardized assessment systems, and the need to balance national cultural identity with global educational norms. These challenges make the systematic study of organizational features both theoretically important and practically urgent. The Republic of Uzbekistan has undertaken substantial educational reforms since independence in 1991, with the 1997 National Programme for Personnel Training (Kadrlar Tayyorlash Milliy Dasturi) marking a watershed moment. Subsequent legislation, including the Law on Education (1997, amended 2020), has reinforced the dual mission of instruction and upbringing as the constitutional foundation of general education (Saidahmedov, 2015:23). Nevertheless, research indicates persistent tensions between formal instructional priorities and the upbringing dimensions of school life, particularly as standardized examination pressures have intensified in recent decades.

Vol. 6, (Issue 2/2026) The Arab educational philosopher Al-Ghazali, whose influence on Central Asian intellectual tradition was profound, warned in Ihya Ulum ad-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences) against the reduction of education to mere information transfer: “Whoever learns without purpose is like a man who ploughs the field but forgets to sow the seed” (Al-Ghazali, 2004:35). This insight speaks directly to the contemporary risk of allowing examination preparation to crowd out the broader developmental mission of schooling. The present study addresses the following research question: What are the specific features of organizing the educational-upbringing process in general education schools, and how do these features interact to produce effective holistic educational outcomes? The objectives of the study are: (1) to identify and systematize the principal organizational features of the educational-upbringing process in general education schools; (2) to analyze the theoretical foundations underpinning these features with reference to classical and contemporary sources; (3) to examine how these features manifest in practice through classroom observation and teacher perspectives; and (4) to derive recommendations for improving the organizational quality of the educational-upbringing process.

METHODS Research Design This study employed a mixed-methods research design, combining quantitative survey data with qualitative classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. The mixedmethods approach was selected because the research questions require both the systematic measurement of organizational features across a range of school contexts and the in-depth interpretive understanding of how these features are experienced and enacted by educational practitioners (Muslimov, 2012:67).

The research was grounded in a pragmatic epistemological orientation that recognizes the value of multiple knowledge forms including the classical pedagogical wisdom embedded in Uzbek and Islamic scholarly traditions alongside empirical social science. This orientation is consistent with the tradition of Uzbek educational research as articulated by Yuldoshev (2008), who argues for an integrative approach that “draws on the rich heritage of our classical thinkers while remaining rigorously attentive to the evidence of contemporary research” (Yuldoshev, 2008:14).

Participants and Setting The study was conducted in 15 general education schools located in three regions of Uzbekistan: Tashkent city (5 schools), Samarkand region (5 schools), and Ferghana region (5 schools). Schools were selected using stratified purposive sampling to ensure representation across urban and rural contexts, different school sizes, and varying levels of resource availability.

Participants included 30 classroom teachers (20 female, 10 male; mean teaching experience 14.3 years, SD = 7.8), 15 school administrators (deputy directors for instructional affairs), and 45 lesson observations conducted across grades 1-11. Additionally, document analysis was performed on school development plans, lesson plans, and internal pedagogical documentation from all participating schools.

Data Collection Three primary data collection instruments were employed. First, structured classroom observations were conducted using an adapted version of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), modified to incorporate dimensions relevant to the Uzbek educationalupbringing tradition, including value transmission, cultural content integration, and collective orientation. Each observation lasted one full academic lesson (45 minutes) and was recorded on a standardized protocol.

Second, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participating teachers and administrators. Interviews lasted between 40 and 60 minutes and explored participants’ understandings of the educational-upbringing process, their organizational strategies, and the challenges they encounter. Interviews were conducted in Uzbek, audio-recorded with participant consent, and transcribed verbatim for analysis. Third, document analysis examined school development plans, ministry guidelines, and lesson planning documentation. Documents were analyzed using directed content analysis (Xoliqov, 2011:89), coding for evidence of intentional upbringing integration, organizational strategies, and theoretical underpinnings.

ANALYSIS Quantitative observation data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis. Qualitative data from interviews and documents were analyzed using thematic analysis following the six-phase procedure described by Braun and Clarke. Themes

Vol. 6, (Issue 2/2026) were developed inductively from the data while being interpreted in light of the theoretical framework drawn from classical and contemporary pedagogical sources. Member checking was conducted with five participants to enhance the credibility of qualitative findings. Interrater reliability for the observation instrument was established at Cohen’s kappa = 0.81, indicating strong agreement.

Ethical Considerations Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review board of the lead research institution. All participants provided written informed consent prior to data collection. School and participant confidentiality was maintained through the use of pseudonyms in all data reporting. Participants were informed of their right to withdraw at any stage without consequence.

RESULTS Analysis of observation data, interview transcripts, and school documents yielded five principal organizational features that characterize the educational-upbringing process in the participating general education schools. These features are presented below with supporting quantitative data and illustrative qualitative evidence. The Unity of Instructional and Upbringing Components The most consistently identified organizational feature was the intentional integration of instruction (ta’lim) and upbringing (tarbiya) within each lesson and across the curriculum. In 38 of 45 observed lessons (84.4%), explicit upbringing moments were identifiable within the instructional sequence whether through the use of morally instructive literary texts, discussion of ethical dimensions of scientific discoveries, or the modeling of values such as diligence, respect, and collective responsibility.

Teachers articulated this integration as a fundamental professional orientation. One experienced primary school teacher stated: “Every lesson is both a instruction moment and a upbringing moment. If I am teaching addition, I am also teaching patience and perseverance. You cannot separate them our great scholars never did.” Quantitative observation data indicated a significant positive correlation (r = 0.67, p < 0.01) between the degree of instructionalupbringing integration and student engagement scores, suggesting that this organizational feature has measurable effects on learning quality.

Age-Appropriate Developmental Sequencing The second organizational feature concerns the deliberate calibration of educationalupbringing content and methods to the developmental stage of students. Observation and interview data revealed that effective schools employed distinctly differentiated approaches for lower primary (grades 1-4), upper primary (grades 5-9), and secondary (grades 10-11) levels. In lower primary classes, upbringing was predominantly embedded in narrative, play, and modeling. Teachers drew extensively on Uzbek folk tales and classical poetry to convey moral lessons. In upper primary and secondary classes, upbringing increasingly engaged students’ developing capacity for moral reasoning and civic identity. Documentary analysis of grade 9-11 lesson plans revealed systematic attention to questions of national identity, civic responsibility, and vocational ethics. Muslimov (2012) notes that developmental sequencing in Uzbek schools reflects a pedagogical tradition in which “each stage of childhood and youth has its own specific educational demands, and the wise teacher adjusts the means while keeping the goal constant” (Muslimov, 2012:143).

Value-Based Content Integration The third feature involves the systematic embedding of national, civic, and universal human values within subject-matter content. Document analysis revealed that 12 of 15 schools had explicit policies requiring teachers to identify value-integration opportunities in lesson planning. Interview data confirmed that teachers perceived value integration not as an external imposition but as intrinsic to their professional identity. The values most frequently identified in observations and documents included: vatanparvarlik (patriotism), insonparvarlik (humanism), mehnatsevarlik (love of labor), halollik (honesty), and hurmat (respect). However, interview data also revealed a significant tension: several teachers expressed concern that examination pressure was crowding out valuefocused content. This finding aligns with concerns raised by Umarov (2019), who argues that “the subordination of educational goals to assessment metrics represents a fundamental threat to the holistic educational tradition of our schools” (Umarov, 2019:56). Quality of Teacher-Student Relationship The fourth organizational feature concerns the pivotal role of the teacher-student relationship as the relational infrastructure within which the educational-upbringing process occurs. Observation data consistently demonstrated that the quality of relational climate characterized by mutual respect, emotional safety, high expectations, and genuine care was

Vol. 6, (Issue 2/2026) the strongest predictor of both lesson quality scores and evidence of upbringing integration (r = 0.72, p < 0.001).

Contemporary Uzbek research confirms the centrality of this relational dimension. Xoliqov (2011) found that students’ perceptions of teacher care and respect were the strongest predictors of their reported commitment to school-endorsed values (Xoliqov, 2011: 34). The present study’s findings are consistent with this conclusion and reinforce the classical understanding that the moral authority of the teacher flows from the quality of relational bond rather than from formal authority alone.

Institutional-Family-Community Collaboration The fifth organizational feature is the coordination of educational-upbringing efforts across three spheres: the school, the family, and the broader community (mahalla). Analysis of school documentation revealed that all 15 schools maintained formal mechanisms for parent engagement, including parent meetings, parent committees, and home-visit protocols. Ten of 15 schools had documented partnerships with local mahalla councils for collaborative upbringing activities.

Interview data indicated that teachers and administrators perceived family-community collaboration as essential but frequently insufficiently realized: “We have the mechanisms on paper, but making them truly work requires time and trust that we do not always have.” This gap between formal provision and effective practice represents a significant organizational challenge with direct implications for upbringing outcome quality. DISCUSSION The five organizational features identified in this study unity of instruction and upbringing, developmental sequencing, value-based content integration, quality teacher-student relationships, and institutional-family-community collaboration together constitute a coherent framework for understanding the distinctive character of the educational-upbringing process in general education schools. Each feature has both classical roots and contemporary empirical support, suggesting that the Uzbek pedagogical tradition embodies enduring insights about effective educational organization.

The primacy of the instructional-upbringing unity echoes what Ibn Khaldun identified in Muqaddimah as the essential characteristic of genuine education: the formation of malaka (deeply ingrained habit) rather than mere surface knowledge (Ibn Khaldun, 1981:402). In

the contemporary literature, this corresponds to the concept of “deep learning” and to the integration of cognitive and affective domains in educational theory. The study’s finding that instructional-upbringing integration is positively correlated with student engagement provides empirical support for this classical insight.

The emphasis on developmental sequencing reflects a recognition present in both classical Islamic pedagogy and contemporary developmental psychology that effective education must be calibrated to the learner’s stage of development. Al-Ghazali’s distinction between the pedagogy appropriate for children (centered on narrative and example) and that appropriate for mature learners (centered on reason and inquiry) in Ihya Ulum ad-Din anticipates modern stage-developmental approaches while adding a specifically moral-spiritual dimension (Al-Ghazali, 2004:89-115).

The challenges identified in value integration particularly the pressure of examination preparation represent a significant contemporary tension. The findings suggest that examination-centered accountability systems may create conditions structurally hostile to the holistic educational-upbringing tradition. Addressing this tension will require systemic policy interventions that align assessment frameworks with holistic educational values, rather than leaving individual teachers to manage the contradiction alone (Saidahmedov, 2015:78). The centrality of the teacher-student relationship as an organizational feature has profound implications for teacher education and professional development. If, as both classical scholarship and contemporary research suggest, the quality of this relationship is the most powerful driver of educational-upbringing outcomes, then investment in teachers’ relational competencies must be a priority in teacher preparation programs. Yuldoshev (2008) has argued for the inclusion of “pedagogical ethics and relational art” as a core component of pre-service teacher education in Uzbekistan (Yuldoshev, 2008:98) a recommendation that the present findings strongly support.

The gap between formal provision of family-community collaboration mechanisms and their effective realization reflects a broader organizational challenge: the translation of institutional structures into living practices. Documentation and policy are necessary but not sufficient. The mahalla as a social institution a form of community self-organization with deep roots in Central Asian culture represents a potentially powerful resource that is as yet insufficiently mobilized in many schools’ organizational practice.

Vol. 6, (Issue 2/2026) Limitations Several limitations of the present study should be acknowledged. The study was conducted in 15 schools across three regions, which may limit the generalizability of findings to more remote rural areas or schools serving highly specific student populations. The use of structured observation, while providing systematic data, may have introduced observer effects that influenced teacher behavior. Additionally, the integration of classical sources with empirical data, while a distinctive strength of the study’s theoretical framework, involves some degree of interpretive construction that may not command universal scholarly assent. CONCLUSION This study has identified and analyzed five specific features of organizing the educationalupbringing process in general education schools: the unity of instructional and upbringing components, age-appropriate developmental sequencing, value-based content integration, quality teacher-student relationships, and institutional-family-community collaboration. These features are grounded in a rich tradition of classical Uzbek and Islamic pedagogical thought and supported by contemporary empirical evidence. The study’s central finding is that effective organization of the educational-upbringing process requires the integration of these five features into a coherent whole what classical scholars understood as the organic unity of instruction and upbringing. Schools that achieve this integration, even partially, demonstrate measurably higher educational quality across multiple dimensions. The following recommendations emerge from the findings: First, curriculum design and lesson planning frameworks should explicitly incorporate both instructional and upbringing objectives, with assessment mechanisms that recognize both dimensions. Second, teacher education programs should include systematic development of relational competencies alongside subject-matter and pedagogical knowledge. Third, examination systems should be reformed to reduce the pressure that currently subordinates upbringing goals to purely cognitive outcomes. Fourth, schools should develop more robust and authentic mechanisms for family-community collaboration, drawing on the resources of mahalla institutions and community cultural life.

These recommendations are consistent with the vision of education articulated by Uzbekistan’s classical scholarly heritage. As Ibn Sina observed more than a thousand years ago, the highest purpose of education is to form human beings who are at once knowledgeable

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