290

The Development of Moral Values of School Children 
with Visual Impairments Folk Music 

Assiya B. Darkembayeva1, Laura A. Butabayeva1, Moldir A. Urazaliyeva2, 
Maira S. Sultanova2, Elmira D. Konysbayeva2

1Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Republic of Kazakhstan
2Kazakh National Women’s Teacher Training University, Republic of Kazakhstan

Submitted: 2023-10-12. Revised: 2023-11-06. Accepted:  2023-12-03

Abstract

The relevance of the presented paper is conditioned upon the fact that today, the subject of the 
development of moral values in children with visual impairment through musical motifs of folk-
lore is a very understudied issue. However, based on the statistics of the World Health Organisa-
tion for 2021, about 2.2 billion people worldwide have visual impairments. The purpose of this 
paper is to study the features of the psychological and pedagogical characteristics of children 
with visual impairments, their moral development, and the development of ways of spiritual 
and moral education through folk music. To achieve this purpose, the following methods were 
used: analysis, synthesis, comparison, induction, statistical analysis, and deduction. In particu-
lar, the method of statistical analysis of sources of American, Kazakh, and Russian researchers 
within the boundaries of the subject was used. The practical basis was the statistical data of the 
WHO company for 2021. The result of the study was a complete analysis of the statistics of chil-
dren with visual impairment in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The study’s main 
conclusion is that modern methods of teaching children with visual impairment are based on the 
musical accompaniment of educational activities since the musical form allows the development 
of moral values. Visually impaired students are characterised by insufficient development of the 
visual-imaginative level of mental activity, which determines the uniqueness of specific concep-
tual thinking due to visual perception disorders and limited visual experience. The alienation of 
a child with visual impairments from others entails secrecy and lack of communication, which 
can be expressed in a large volume of complexes in the future. The applied value of this paper lies 
in the development of recommendations for improving the system of pedagogical education of 
children with visual impairment through folklore-applied developmental classes.

Keywords: folk music; pedagogy; teaching; visual impairment; moral value  

How to Cite: Darkembayeva, A. B., Butabayeva, L. A., Urazaliyeva, M. A., Sultanova, M. S., & Konysbayeva, E. D. (2023). 
The Development of Moral Values of School Children with Visual Impairments Folk Music. Harmonia: Journal of Arts 
Research and Education, 23(2), 290-300

Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 23 (2) (2023), 290-300
Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/harmonia
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/harmonia.v23i2.48118

dies of Kazakh scientists and in the works 
of American, Russian, German, and other 
researchers. The main developments in 
the issue of such children’s psychological 
portraits were made in the 90s. Today, the 
main task of pedagogy is to develop fun-

INTRODUCTION

Currently, the issue of teaching 
children with visual impairment in educa-
tional institutions is insufficiently studied 
in the scientific literature, both in the stu-

Corresponding author: 
 E-mail: assiya.darkembayeva@gmail.com 

p-ISSN 2541-1683|e-ISSN 2541-2426



Assiya B. Darkembayeva et al., The Development of Moral Values of School Children 291

damentally new approaches and concepts 
to the development of such a category of 
students’ attitudes to moral principles and 
ideals. To solve this issue, a comprehensi-
ve analysis of theoretical, statistical, and 
practical sources of Russian, American, 
Kazakh, and other researchers was carried 
out in the paper. 

Considering the WHO statistics for 
2021, it can be stated that visual defects 
are common among adults and children, 
leading to the correction of an educatio-
nal programme for teaching students who 
have faced this problem. 

Most accurately, the problem in 
this area was expressed by English scien-
tists who studied the communication of 
children with visual impairment in the 
educational process. Their work reflects 
that, to date, there are few studies devoted 
to the study of understanding skills of the 
surrounding world in visually impaired 
children. However, the studies conducted 
prove that this category of students lags 
behind their peers by this criterion (Sul-
livan and Oakhill, 2020). In addition to 
that, it is noted that the characteristics of 
a child other than children without visual 
impairment can play an important role du-
ring play and peer interaction and that in-
dividual variations should be considered 
when providing support in playing with 
peers (Verver et al., 2020; Schott et al., 2021). 

In this paper, arguments were gi-
ven stating the fact that children who are 
limited in the source of information have 
a distorted view of the world around 
them. A lack of emotional attachment to 
the object of cognition characterises these 
children. Notably, visual perception is cru-
cial for developing multisensory informa-
tion processing abilities. For this reason, 
early visual impairment may interfere with 
the transmission of various sensory infor-
mation during environmental exploration 
(Purpura et al., 2021). This fact is confirmed 
by studies conducted in 2018 and 2020. 
Notably, visually impaired students have 
lower discrimination thresholds for native 
speech and music (Arnaud et al., 2018; Ala-
mos and Williford, 2020). Thus, based on 

the position of this approach, the authors 
state that the obstacle to obtaining an ac-
cessible source of information is the main 
problem for the development of moral 
attitudes for children with visual impair-
ment.

In the subject under study, music is 
the main source of conveying information 
and teaching moral norms to children with 
visual impairment. Music can positively 
influence the development of a cogniti-
ve connection between the heard and the 
learned image. One of the proofs of this 
thesis is a study by German scientists who 
focused on comprehensive music lessons at 
school, which led to positive performance 
indicators for visually impaired students 
(Frisen et al., 2021). Since music lessons 
can positively influence learning, it should 
also be noted that without a meaningful 
part, music cannot form such emotions as 
responsiveness and goodwill in children. 
These concepts are formed in children 
with visual impairment in a specific form, 
so it is necessary to develop special met-
hods of interaction. One of these methods 
is the introduction of folklore into the te-
aching structure. Using folk songs, fairy 
tales, and instruments, the student will be 
able to form moral beliefs and categories. 
For example, the experience of Kazakhstan 
proves that folk instruments are a symbol 
of the history and culture of people, there-
fore, they can be used in lessons for educa-
tional purposes. 

The relevance of the study subject is 
conditioned upon the fact that in modern 
society, the development of value orienta-
tions in children is a very problematic is-
sue, especially in children with visual im-
pairment. In this paper, the main aspects of 
the development of such children’s psyche 
and the reaction of teachers to interactions 
with them were studied. 

The originality of the research lies in 
the comprehensive study of the approa-
ches of various authors to this issue. The 
research subject is considered from the 
perspective of global and national trends 
in educational programmes. The main ele-
ments of scientific originality consist of de-



Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 23 (2) (2023): 290-300292

veloping recommendations for improving 
approaches to developing children’s emo-
tional structure using folk music. 

METHOD

The work involved statistical and 
system analysis methods of data from 
the World Health Organisation, and data 
applied to the territory of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan. A comprehensive approach 
to the study of the material was applied. 
The logic of this study’s construction is to 
consider the psychological and pedagogi-
cal characteristics of children with visual 
impairments.

The first stage of the study allows 
understanding how the psyche of such a 
group of children perceives sources of in-
formation, what connections it can form, 
and how fundamental conclusions about 
the world are formed. At the first stage of 
the study, the following conclusions were 
made:

Firstly, the classification of visual im-
pairments was highlighted, which inclu-
des blind, visually impaired, and children 
with strabismus and amblyopia. Secondly, 
according to data for 2020, there are 161 156 
children with special educational needs in 
the territory of the Republic of Kazakhs-
tan, of which 8 312 are visually impaired 
children. Thirdly, the study established 
that children with visual impairment 
struggle to establish connections between 
objects depicted in the picture and classify 
objects. In the first stage, the main method 
of research was the method of statistical 
analysis. The first stage is characterised by 
the use of WHO statistics for 2021.

The second stage studied the featu-
res of the moral development of children 
with visual impairment. As a result, the 
following results were established: Firstly, 
it was identified that modern psychology 
distinguishes three main periods in the de-
velopment of universal values in a child: 
(1) infancy, (2) early childhood (from 1 to 3 
years), and (3) preschool childhood (from 
3 to 7 years).

Secondly, it was established that 

children with visual impairments have ne-
gative moral qualities to a greater extent, 
such as eccentricity, selfishness, and lack 
of a sense of duty and partnership due to 
the lack of sufficient information from vi-
sual receptors. 

Thirdly, it is concluded that inclu-
ding children of this category in musical 
activity is a necessary condition for deve-
loping moral values in visually impaired 
younger schoolchildren since music stimu-
lates the emotional experience of higher 
moral values. 

In this regard, recommendations for 
teachers on the education of these moral 
values through folk music are proposed. 
At this stage, the method of induction and 
comparison was used. The theoretical ba-
sis was the research of such scientists as A. 
Litvak, V. Varaksina, and others.

In the third stage, the experience 
of such countries as the United States of 
America (hereinafter referred to as the 
USA), Italy, France, and Germany was 
studied. Recommendations for improving 
the educational system of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan were proposed. At this stage, 
the induction method was used. In this 
paper, recommendations were proposed 
for the inclusion of the following stages in 
the learning process of children with visu-
al impairment: (1)  development of moral 
ideals, (2) implementation of a set of edu-
cational activities, and (3) development of 
children’s creative potential through the 
use of folk art in the form of music.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Features of psychological and pedagogi-
cal characteristics of children with visual 
impairments

Children with visual impairments 
represent a diverse category in terms of 
the characteristics of their visual functio-
ning and the origin of diseases and con-
ditions of social development. According 
to the well-known classification, there are 
the following categories of children with 
visual impairment: (1) The blind. This ca-
tegory of children should be taught with 



Assiya B. Darkembayeva et al., The Development of Moral Values of School Children 293

correction based on the Braille system 
(Plaksina, 2003), (2) Visually impaired. Vi-
sually impaired – a subcategory of people 
with visual disorders and visual acuity in 
the better-seeing eye from 0.05 to 0.2 (Plak-
sina, 2003), and (3) Children with strabis-
mus and amblyopia. Notably, visual im-
pairments cause deviations in all types of 
cognitive activity.

There are qualitative changes in the 
system of relationships between analysers; 
there are specific features in the process of 
forming images, concepts, speech, the ra-
tio of figurative and conceptual thinking, 
and orientation in space (Polepkina, 2014). 
Consequently, a peculiar psychological 
system is formed in the child. According to 
the World Health Organisation, for 2021, 
about 2.2 billion people worldwide have 
near or far vision impairment. This group 
includes people suffering from the follo-
wing diseases (Figure 1):

Figure 1. Analysis of data on indicators of vi-
sual impairment according to WHO statistics 

for 2021

There are 161 156 children with spe-
cial educational needs on the territory of 
the Republic of Kazakhstan (Inform. kz, 
2020). This statistic includes children with 
the following diseases (Figure 2).

Based on statistical analysis, the aut-
hors state that in the Republic of Kazakhs-
tan, children with visual impairment do 
not occupy the last place in terms of the 
number of this disease. Therefore, it is ne-
cessary to develop a special psychological 
and pedagogical approach to the educati-
on of these children. Notably, speech is not 
impaired in most children with visual im-
pairments, but the sphere of active commu-

nication, cognitive activity, and imitation is 
narrowed. Therefore, it is necessary to pay 
attention to this and use visibility more of-
ten when possible to teach the practical use 
of knowledge and skills (Dubrovina, 2004). 
The difficulties of establishing logical links 
between the objects in the picture and clas-
sifying objects should also be noted. 

Visually impaired older preschoolers 
are characterised by the underdevelop-
ment of visual-figurative and visual-effec-
tive levels of mental activity, which deter-
mines the originality of specific conceptual 
thinking, which leads to visual perception 
impairment (Dubrovina, 1998). Therefore, 
children with visual impairment should be 
provided with unique educational needs, 
which are best addressed at an early age. 
For example, one of the concepts of intro-
ducing children with visual impairment 
into the educational programme is inclu-
sive education. It is recognised worldwide 
as a philosophy of achieving equality, jus-
tice, and quality education for all children, 
especially those who have conventionally 
been excluded from basic education due to 
disability and other characteristics. Inclu-
sive education has become a well-known 
form of education in the USA and France.

Figure 2. Analysis of disease indicators in the 
Republic of Kazakhstan for 2020

Thus, based on statistical data analy-
sis and psychologists’ research, it is noted 
that visual diseases in school-age children 



Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 23 (2) (2023): 290-300294

are quite common in the Republic of Ka-
zakhstan. This circumstance affects the 
cognitive activity of children. Therefore, 
in pedagogical activity, it is necessary to 
implement new approaches in teaching 
this group of students.

Features of the moral development of 
children with visual impairment

To determine the range of work for 
teachers with such a group of children, it is 
necessary to understand the mechanism of 
functioning of moral beliefs and ideas. Mo-
dern psychology identifies three main peri-
ods in the development of universal values 
of a child: (1)  Infancy (the first year of life), 
(2) Early childhood (from 1 to 3 years). By 
age 2-3, children are kind-hearted, attenti-
ve to the elders, and care about nature. In 
addition, they greet and say goodbye (at 
the reminder of an adult), and calmly state 
personal wishes using the words “thank 
you” and “please” (Dobrovolskaya, 2011). 
(3) Preschool childhood (from 3 to 7 years). 
In this category, it is necessary to highlight 
the periods: at the age of 3-4, the child has 
an image of “I”, that is, self-awareness. At 
this age, children correctly evaluate good 
and bad actions; at the age of 4-5 years, the 
child has a personal attitude to the obser-
vance (and violation) of moral norms. At 
this age, the child has such qualities as 
modesty, responsiveness, and the desire 
to be fair, strong, and brave. By the age of 
6-7, children desire to know their people’s 
culture (through fairy tales, proverbs, say-
ings), show a caring attitude towards it, 
and respect the culture of other peoples 
(Litvak, 1998). At this stage of the child’s 
development, the fundamental principles 
of morality must be laid. 

The topic of educating children with 
visual impairments is very relevant for 
modern pedagogy since the moral deve-
lopment of children with visual impair-
ments is qualitatively different from the 
moral development of normally develo-
ping peers (Dobrovolskaya, 2011). In turn, 
the consequences of visual impairment are 
insufficient information about the world 
around them, which reduces cognitive 

interest, which is why there is a violation 
in the emotional and behavioural attitude 
of children to various fields of activity, re-
latively narrow contacts of the child with 
others, which entails secrecy, lack of com-
munication, the desire to retire into their 
own world. In this regard, modern peda-
gogy should be focused on the needs of 
this category of children.

The spiritual and moral education of chil-
dren with visual impairments using mu-
sic

Musical activity promotes emotional 
responsiveness and creative self-expres-
sion of children with visual impairments. 
Musical activity includes three compo-
nents: 1. Listening to music involves the 
student’s perception of its general con-
cept. The teacher in this situation should 
help the student with visual impairment to 
describe the perceived sensory indicator; 
2. Musical and performing activities. At 
this stage, the child must divide emotions 
from the perceived into categories to sepa-
rate positive feelings from negative ones; 
3. Musical and creative activity. At this 
stage, it is necessary to move on to more 
complex concepts of understanding the 
moral actions of the characters. It is neces-
sary to diversify the repertoire with tales 
and complex, multifaceted works (Varak-
sina, 2013). Within the framework of this 
training, the teacher must necessarily cont-
rol the material’s acquisition process. First, 
folk art is connected with national and cul-
tural characteristics that require additional 
interpretation.

According to the Murager program-
me, compiled by scientists, teachers, and 
musicians, children are taught to play not 
only a traditional musical instrument but 
also improvisation. The main purpose of 
the programme is to teach schoolchildren 
the skills of performing kui on dombra and 
combining playing dombra and singing 
(Dzherdimalieva, 2007). Children, along 
with acquiring the musical tradition of the 
Kazakh people, get acquainted with myths 
and legends. Thus, along with music, nati-
ve history, and poetic folklore, the fate of 



Assiya B. Darkembayeva et al., The Development of Moral Values of School Children 295

folk musicians penetrates into children’s 
souls (Amanov and Mukhambetova, 2002).

Thus, based on research on the in-
fluence of folk music on the development 
of moral ideals in children with visual 
impairment, it should be noted that edu-
cation through musical instruments and 
specialised classes should be introduced 
into educational institutions and correctio-
nal classes (Dzherdimalieva, 2007). Since a 
child with a visual impairment perceives 
information worse than children without 
visual defects. Folk music will help convey 
fundamental principles such as love for 
the motherland, courage, honour, and dig-
nity. In addition, there is a huge amount of 
folklore and fairy tales in the folk music of 
Kazakhstan. It will be easier for children to 
associate themselves with understandable 
characters that are used in folklore.

Works of literature and folklore 
contribute to the development of speech, 
give samples of the Russian literary langu-
age, and enrich the vocabulary with new 
words, poetic vocabulary, and figurative 
expressions (Alekseev, 2006). It is known 
that younger preschoolers are characteri-
zed by a craving for a rhythmically or-
ganised constitution of speech, sonorous 
major rhymes, so they are happy to listen 
to folk songs, jokes, nursery rhymes, and 
fairy tales (Alekseev, 2006). Using small 
folklore genres in their work, children get 
acquainted with the colourfulness and 
imagery of their native language. As a me-
ans of expression, music is inevitably wo-
ven into the fabric of human thoughts and 
actions. Music can deeply reduce sensitivi-
ty, influence, condition, and inspire the au-
dience. Throughout history, theorists have 
agreed that music can profoundly influen-
ce human character and shape morality. 
Music awakens feelings and tells stories 
through the listener’s musical perception. 
Thus, music is a powerful source of human 
virtues, character, and emotions.

Thus, Italian scientists’ research 
identified that early visual impairment can 
interfere with the transmission of various 
sensory information during the study and 
recognition of the environment. Russian 

scientists also noted this fact and confir-
med the development of unfavourable 
emotions in children with visual impair-
ment, as opposed to children without vi-
sual impairment. Visual-tactile transfer for 
object recognition occurs early in typically 
developing children but slowly matures 
during school age. Subsequently, it was 
found that the object recognition proces-
ses were studied in 11 visually impaired 
children and compared with the results of 
22 control children. The participants were 
tested using a clinical protocol that inclu-
des visual examination of black-and-white 
photographs of ordinary objects, tactile 
examination of real objects, and visual-tac-
tile transmission of these two types of in-
formation. The results show the normal de-
velopment of tactile unisensory processing 
in children with poor sight and a conside-
rable difference in multisensory transmis-
sion between the two groups. In children 
with visual impairment, multisensory pro-
cesses do not contribute to the recognition 
of common objects as in ordinary children, 
probably because early visual impair-
ment can affect cross-sensory calibration 
of vision and touch (Purpura et al., 2021). 
This study shows that children with visu-
al impairment need a special attitude and 
a qualified approach. The development 
of adequate educational programmes for 
blind children provides a stimulating op-
portunity for those who wish to creatively 
act in a specialised field of a wide area of 
education. There is always an incentive to 
combine the knowledge and methods used 
in general education with thoughtful ex-
perience and best practices introduced by 
qualified specialists and apply this combi-
nation to the education of blind children. 

In another work by German scien-
tists, it was discovered that although the 
development of motor images has been 
widely studied in sighted children, it is un-
clear how children with varying degrees of 
visual impairment represent motor actions 
through motor representations constructed 
using the remaining intact sensory organs, 
especially touch (Schott et al., 2021).

There are few studies devoted to the 



Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 23 (2) (2023): 290-300296

study of reading comprehension skills in 
visually impaired children, despite evi-
dence indicating that they lag behind their 
typically sighted peers in reading com-
prehension. Comparing the performance 
of children with visual impairments with 
peers without visual impairment corres-
ponds to chronological age during the 
performance of a task that requires them 
to make emotional, temporal, and spatial 
conclusions from short texts. The data 
obtained show that children with visual 
impairment demonstrate a certain deficit 
in conclusions about spatial information 
in narratives, as opposed to emotional or 
temporal information. The results are dis-
cussed concerning the role of visual acui-
ty in image skills and how this affects the 
construction of a mental model of a text 
(Sullivan and Oakhill, 2020). Hearing or 
visual impairments can negatively affect 
a child’s development and involvement. 
However, there is not enough literature on 
the involvement of children with hearing 
or visual impairments.

In one of the studies of the causal 
relationship between music learning and 
emotions in children with visual impair-
ment, it was established that musical ac-
companiment improves some components 
of emotional intelligence in children from 
6 to 7 years old (Frisen et al., 2021). This 
study shows that children in this age ca-
tegory are most active in forming spatial 
thinking and attitudes to events in the out-
side world. Thus, music influences the de-
velopment of fundamental values.

Visual impairment in childhood of-
ten has lifelong consequences. To strive 
for the highest level of functioning, invol-
vement, and quality of life and to ensure 
children’s well-being, children should 
have the right to the most effective rehabi-
litation programmes (Elsman et al., 2019). 
Children with visual impairment have lo-
wer discrimination thresholds for native 
speech and music (Arnaud et al., 2018). The 
impact of the impairment on learning will 
vary considerably depending on the natu-
re and degree of vision loss: some students 
will be born without vision, others will 

lose it gradually; some will have no vision 
at all; others will have some vision, they 
will be photosensitive or will have limited 
peripheral vision. It is also possible that vi-
sion and photosensitivity will change day 
after day.

The role of music in the lives of vi-
sually impaired people can be expanded 
to provide more opportunities for groups 
through practical experience, outdoor ac-
tivities, and psychosocial survival strate-
gies. Group music programmes should be 
considered to enhance interpersonal and 
collective experiences for both visually im-
paired and sighted people. Learning music 
can not only improve the intelligence and 
morality of children, which contributes to 
the development of their personality, but 
also can improve their aesthetic abilities. 
Music education for children is an impor-
tant step in promoting universal educati-
on. For example, the experience of teach-
ing children with visual impairment in 
Germany shows that the country has cre-
ated integrative classes for children with 
and without visual impairment, in which 
a special teacher is invited for 4 hours a 
week: 2 hours for teaching a child and 2 
hours for teacher consultations (Chvanova 
and Dubrovina, 2018). 

In France, the system of school in-
clusion with a special teacher is actively 
used (Dzherdimalieva, 2007). In the USA, 
a team of specialists is formed to work 
with a blind child, consisting of teachers 
for children with visual impairment (Ame-
rican..., 2021). Living with a visual impair-
ment leads to such problems as impaired 
ability to read, write, understand non-
verbal signals, and understand a langu-
age with a large number of visual images. 
Working in the classroom can also cause 
psychological stress. This may expose the 
child to isolation. 

Some researchers consider these 
emotions as learned social behaviour. 
Moreover, the appearance of desolate be-
haviour depends on higher levels of the 
cognitive process. It is known that this be-
haviour is the result of incomplete or ina-
ccurate modelling due to inadequate and 



Assiya B. Darkembayeva et al., The Development of Moral Values of School Children 297

poor communication with others. People 
with disabilities, especially the blind, are 
at a higher risk of acquiring inappropriate 
and ineffective behaviours. Children with 
disabilities often cannot take part in so-
cial interaction with peers and adults, and 
their social and emotional adaptation to 
future interactions is difficult. According 
to WHO, blindness in school-age children 
is less common than in adults, and its 
prevalence increases with increasing age. 
Visually impaired children remain more 
detached and isolated and may exhibit 
immature and inappropriate behaviour. 
Blind teenagers worry more about their fu-
ture, are less able to suppress their anger 
and aggression, have a negative attitude 
toward themselves, and suffer from “ac-
quired helplessness”, which exacerbates 
frustration.

Many studies show that music has a 
large positive effect on people’s behaviour. 
Music therapy is used to treat some phy-
sical, emotional, and psychological disor-
ders. Pain, anxiety, grief, and relationship 
problems are the most common problems 
that people try to solve using music. Play-
ing and listening to music can release en-
dorphins, modulate emotions, and relieve 
pain. In addition, music changes the fun-
ctions of the nervous, hormonal, and ve-
getative nervous system, which positively 
affects stress, satisfaction, and self-confi-
dence.

As the research of Kazakh, Ame-
rican, and Italian scientists in this field 
shows, music is a tool for conveying a 
certain information message to children. 
Psychologists note the relationship bet-
ween a child’s spiritual development and 
his emotions and feelings (Tribushnaya, 
2006). Due to the fact that today children 
with visual impairment are the most vul-
nerable category of students, in addition 
to musical instruments, new progressive 
technologies have been introduced into 
the teaching methodology in the Republic 
of Kazakhstan (Tribushnaya, 2006). 

Thus, within the framework of 
the project “Special Books for Special 
Children”, which is being collectively 

implemented by the Open World Youth 
Volunteer House and the Samruk-Kazyna 
Trust Social Project Development Fund, 
tactile books for blind and visually impai-
red preschool children have been develo-
ped. In accordance with the State Program-
me for the Development of Education and 
Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 
2016–2019, it plans to develop textbooks for 
children with visual impairment (in Brail-
le) and children with intellectual disabili-
ties (Social Projects ..., 2021). Many creators 
of progressive musical and pedagogical 
systems based on folk musical traditions 
paid great attention to children’s musical 
creativity, represented in such forms as 
instrumental performance (Chvanova and 
Dubrovina, 2018). 

The analysis of numerous existing 
programmes on the musical education of 
children has shown that in recent years, 
music pedagogy has increasingly turned 
to children’s performance as one of the 
leading methods of teaching and upbrin-
ging, and the development of musical and 
creative abilities of children is currently one 
of the important musical and pedagogical 
tasks. Children’s musical creativity has be-
come much more widely represented in 
various programmes, and methodological 
recommendations for secondary schools 
and in Kazakhstan. Consistent introducti-
on to the world of national musical culture 
in such an area as playing national musi-
cal instruments available for an untrained 
child contributes to the development of 
respect for the historical past (Chvanova 
and Dubrovina, 2018). 

In the conditions of increasing natio-
nal consciousness, a music teacher should 
skilfully introduce all children to the mu-
sical culture of Kazakhstan, thereby imp-
lanting love for its people and folk cultural 
traditions.

Thus, teachers need to work with 
this category of children in a following 
way: (1) to form highly moral ideas in 
children about the rules and norms of be-
haviour in society, (2) to prepare a comp-
lex of direct educational activities focused 
on the establishment of moral principles 



Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 23 (2) (2023): 290-300298

by introducing children to the folklore of 
the Republic of Kazakhstan, and (3) to use 
this set of activities in the creative activities 
of children.

Based on this analysis, the authors 
of the paper state that the development 
of moral ideas is considered in pedagogy 
as a system of moral principles, norms, 
and rules that a student is obliged to learn 
through folklore methods of conveying in-
formation. 

CONCLUSIONS

This study is primarily aimed at a 
complete and comprehensive study of the 
subject of the development of moral be-
liefs in children with visual impairment 
through folk music. The following conclu-
sions were made based on the obtained 
statistical and practical results. Firstly, in 
this study, the features of the psycholo-
gical and pedagogical characteristics of 
children with visual impairments were 
identified. Based on the limited sources of 
perception of information, the psychologi-
cal portrait of students is built based on an 
indifferent attitude to what is happening, 
thereby forming such qualities as secrecy 
and indifference. Thus, the main point of 
the development of a closed personality 
type in children with visual impairment 
is the absence of an emotional-figurative 
connection with the surrounding reality. 
Secondly, modern research in the field of 
psychology has shown that the main age 
of development of moral beliefs and ideals 
falls on the category of children aged 6-7 
years old. Therefore, teachers need to 
implant the basic principles of morality in 
children starting from the first grade. Folk 
music is most suitable for this since one 
can easily convey the fundamental catego-
ries of good and evil, love and hate, and 
good and bad deeds through simple cate-
gories of songs and fairy tales. 

Thirdly, the spiritual development of 
a child with visual impairment can be car-
ried out using a music programme in the 
classroom. To do this, the teacher must in-
clude Kazakh folk instruments in the edu-

cational process, play simple and complex 
works, and focus the student’s attention 
on the emotional and sensual component 
of the image. A necessary element of the 
student’s involvement in this educational 
process will be musical improvisation, 
when the child independently tries to ex-
press feelings through playing a traditio-
nal instrument. Folk music promotes un-
derstanding and reflection of the mentality 
of Kazakhs in the personality of the child, 
as well as the development of such a deep-
ly emotional feeling as love for the mot-
herland. This learning process should be 
clearly structured since children without 
visual impairment also take part in educa-
tional activities. Therefore, it is necessary 
to make the following recommendations 
for improvement in pedagogical activity: 
(1) to explain complex moral categories 
to children through folk music using fairy 
tales and songs, 2) to use traditional Ka-
zakh tools in the process of studying the 
history of the Republic of Kazakhstan, (3) 
to promote the popularisation of historical 
literacy of schoolchildren in the Republic 
of Kazakhstan through the folk epic and 
folklore. 

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