The purpose of this article is to analyze the experience of reforming the education systems of Russia and Kazakhstan over the past three decades to identify appropriate areas of development of the education system in the face of the confrontation of globalization and the preservation of national interests of our countries. The following tasks are solved: to analyze the experience of the development of state educational standards; to evaluate the results of international research in the field of education; to assess the role of schools in the development of the state and the role of the state in the development of education in the face of the confrontation of globalization ideas and the preservation of national interests of our countries. The following methods were used: content analysis, statistical analysis, hermeneutic approach, method of historical and cultural research. Reforming the education system has led to fundamental changes in both the field itself and the public consciousness of our citizens. As a result, a part of the population approves of reforms, and another part does not accept them, referring to the fact that the former education system was one of the best in the world. The standards of general education, and then the standards of pedagogical education were largely modernized. This led to changes in their content. As a result, various educational systems emerged and the terms “competence” and “competence approach” were consolidated, which became the main components of the content of education, both general and professional pedagogical. The school itself is changing and the role of the teacher in it. However, to date society does not have an answer to the main question - what positive results did our entry into the world educational space give us. The authors propose to comprehensively analyze the carried out modernization in the field, draw conclusions and, if necessary, make corrections to the essence and content of the ongoing reforms in the system of both general secondary and higher pedagogical education.