Comparative Education for the 21st Century: Retrospect and prospect

During the 19th and 20th centuries modern Western education systems have become so globally embedded that alternative forms of educational provision-and goals-have become almost inconceivable. The article argues the likely need for a substantial reconceptualisation in the content, organisation and evaluation of contemporary education systems in response to the profound changes currently impacting on society. Comparative education, it is argued, has a unique capacity 'to make the familiar strange' but so far, despite the advent of exciting new methodologies and the rapidly increasing prominence of comparative studies as a tool for policy-making, comparative education has largely worked within the conventional 'delivery model' conception of education. By so doing, it has arguably helped to reinforce the status quo. Thus the second half of the article offers a prospective vision for the mode, purpose and context of comparative education studies which is in tune with the emerging new educational aspirations of the 21st century and the acknowledged shortcomings of conventional forms of educational provision. Such a 'neo-comparative education', it is argued, would focus on learning and its relationship with culture; would become perhaps better conceptualised as Wa 'comparative learnology' as the means of understanding how individuals can be encouraged to engage successfully with the many new forms of learning opportunity that are likely to characterise the third millennium.     

The Feminisation of a School? Women Teachers in a Boys' School

This article analyses the experiences of women teachers in boys' schools by examining a case-study school. It is argued that whilst there had been a large numerical increase in women at the school, partly as the unanticipated consequence of recent government reforms, the degree of 'feminisation' was much smaller. Teaching style and negative pupils' reactions, undermining by colleagues, exclusion from staff meetings and sexual harassment emerged as important dimensions of these women's experience. The women were not a homogeneous group, however, and two ideal type groupings emerged which offered different interpretations of their situation, contrasting conceptions of what a feminised school would look like and different strategies for feminising the school. It is argued that for many of the women the women's group played an important role in enabling them to redefine their situation collectively.     

From City Technology Colleges to Sponsored Grant-maintained Schools

During the 18 years of Conservative government in Britain, only two attempts were made to stimulate the 'supply side' of the quasi-market of schools. These were the introduction of City Technology Colleges and sponsored grant-maintained schools. This paper draws comparisons between the two initiatives. It is shown that, while the CTCs were largely a 'top down' policy, and the sponsored grant-maintained schools might be seen as the result of 'grass roots' pressure group activity, there were many similarities between the two programmes. In practice, both initiatives stalled at just 15 schools, but it is argued that their significance is far greater than their numerical strength would indicate. Both can be seen as examples of increased privatisation and selection, and it is shown that what may develop from them is a greatly changed education system.     

Comparative Research in Education: a mode of governance or a historical journey?

This text is not a research paper, nor an epistemological reflection about the field of comparative education. It is an essay in the literal meaning of the word—‘an attempt, trial, that needs to be put to test in order to understand if it is able to fulfil the expectations’—in which we introduce an interpretation of the current condition of the field of comparative education. In the introduction to this essay we discuss the current phenomenon of a regained popularity of comparative educational research. We believe that this situation has both positive and negative consequences: it can contribute to the renewal of the field or it may be no more than a brief fashion. Our reflections focus on the uses of comparative research in education, not on any precise research question. Even so, only for illustrative purposes, we present some examples related to the European Union. We then go on to discuss current comparative practices, arguing that comparative educational studies are used as a political tool creating educational policy, rather than a research method or an intellectual inquiry. In the two main sections of this text we define two extreme positions: comparison as a mode of governance and comparison as a historical journey. We do recognise that between these two extremes there is room enough to imagine different positions and dispositions. But our intention is to separate very different traditions of the comparative field analytically. Throughout the article we build a case in favour of a comparative-historical approach. Nevertheless, we argue that the reconciliation between ‘history’ and ‘comparison’ will only be possible if we adopt new conceptions of space and time, and of space-time relationship. This is a condition required for the understanding of comparative research in education as a historical journey.     

The Women's Movement in Canadian and Australian Education: From liberation and sexism to boys and social justice

This article provides a comparative analysis of the ways in which the women's movement was able to effect change in educational policy and practice in Australia and Canada between 1970 and 2000, drawing on interviews and document analysis in both countries. While the movement in both countries drew on similar international texts and conversations, it had more sustained state support in education in Australia. Despite the different degrees of institutionalisation, similar trends emerged in both countries. There was more public visibility for the movement in the 1970s and 1980s than in the 1990s, and a shift in discourse from 'women's liberation' and 'sexism' to boys and social justice. It is argued that the movement continues to be a creative source of ideas and change even when it is less visible and less formally represented, and that differences in outcomes are not easily linked to differences in institutionalisation. In both countries, major change has occurred, although the demands of the movement have not been realised.     

The Cult of Efficiency in Education: Comparative reflections on the reality and the rhetoric

What is argued in this article is that the rising tide of 'efficiency' in contemporary education often masks a reduction in both the quality of education provided and attempts to reduce levels of resources invested in education, particularly in the public sector. Historical and comparative examples of reform movements in education in the US, UK and Australia, the methodology of comparative education and the ongoing reforms in higher education in both the UK and Australia reveal that arguments about efficiency, not least in the current era of worldwide economic stringency, often consist of little more than arguments about economics or economism. In particular, efficiency movements can be argued to be predicated upon the idea that both individual worth and the worth of education can be reduced to economic terms. Equally, individuals and societies are also seen as rational, in so far as they invest in education only to the extent that education delivers a better economic rate of return than other forms of investment.     

Feminist Knowledge and the Ivory Tower: A case study

This article is a historical look at the struggle to integrate feminist knowledge into the mainstream higher education curriculum in the UK. The research presented is based on interviews with academics and students of an 'old' university during the late 1960s to the mid-1980s. It forms part of a larger research project on the history of women's studies in higher education in the UK, and is a case study of one institution which resisted the integration of feminist knowledge into the mainstream curriculum. Through an examination of the social relations of the University and the structure of the curriculum, it is argued that feminist knowledge was 'silenced' to a certain extent. The factors which contributed to the resistance of feminist interventions serve to illuminate various aspects of the culture of higher education in the UK, which has historically viewed feminist knowledge, and women's studies, with a degree of ambivalence.     

Modular Vocational Education and Training in Scotland and The Netherlands: Between specificity and coherence

Modularisation has frequently been advocated as a means to reform and modernise vocational education and training, to make it more flexible and responsive to economic, technological and social change, to take more account of individual differences and needs, and to improve its coherence and efficiency as a system. In this article developments in modularising vocational education and training in two countries-Scotland and The Netherlands-are compared. The analysis is restricted to modular initiatives within initial vocational education and training at a non-advanced level (that is at craft/technician level). Features and developments of the modular system in both countries seem to be closely related to strategies chosen to deal with the need to offer customised vocational (that is specific) training for various client groups, which at the same time does not limit opportunities for progression and transfer-the coherence of the system. In confronting the modular systems and strategies with these somewhat contradictory needs this comparative analysis draws on two perspectives: a sociological and a psychological, educationallearning theory. From these perspectives it might be argued that collaboration and/or certain characteristicsof modular vocational training offer a way out of the quandary of 'specificity' versus 'coherence'.     

Globalisation,Post-modernity and the State: Comparative education facing the third millennium

In this article, the implications for globalisation and Post-modernity are assessed in terms of the self-understanding and practice of comparative education, particularly in relation to contemporary theories of the state, and civil society. It is argued that, while globalisation and post-modernity are usually seen as discrete phenomena, each raises complex questions of difference and hybridity, power and collective action, which can no longer be seen in relation to the nation-state alone. Different meanings of globalisation are canvassed, based in part on Sklair's taxonomy, while examples of the impact of globalisation, especially on higher education, are given. The implications of post-modern thought are also analysed, particularly for research and understanding in comparative education. Referring to Putnam's work on civil society, it is argued that both globalisation and post-modernity are linked to changes in the nature of late capitalism, and crises in the modern state. It is finally argued that neither offers much in practice to the much needed renewal of democracy, including in education; indeed that both arguably contribute to a trend towards individualism, and a retreat from democratic engagement and visions of the social good.     

Topographies of power: a critical historical geography of schooling in Tanzania

This article builds a case for critical historical geography in comparative education to examine how, over time, the social production of space contributes to educational disparity. It draws on Gupta and Ferguson's contrasting concepts of the ‘power of topography’ and the ‘topography of power’ and Lefebvre's tripartite theory of space to explore space–time relationships at multiple scales in Tanzania. Data come from primary and secondary historical texts about the Kilimanjaro Region as well as a longitudinal study carried out between 2000 and 2012 in two districts in the region. The analysis shows how advantage and disadvantage are differentially distributed over time and space, revealing the enduring interconnections of geography, history, and political power in postcolonial states and the importance of multi-scalar comparative research in comparative education.     

Constructions of Anti-racist Education in Britain and Canada

The aim of this paper is to compare constructions of anti-racist education in Canada and Britain. Particular attention is given to developments in the province of Ontario and in England and Wales. It is argued that the ideological characteristics of anti-racism in each country have been shaped by particular national and local discourses of 'racial', national and political identity. We show that while the impact of anti-racism on educational policy making in England and Wales has declined significantly since the 1980s, this has not occurred in Ontario (where anti-racism remains a potent influence). Some of the key dilemmas faced by both British and Canadian anti-racist practitioners, grass-roots activists and scholars are identified and the emergence and growth of anti-racist education in both societies assessed. We conclude by reflecting upon the value of comparative studies of anti-racist education.     

Educational Studies and Teacher Education

This article discusses the historical relationship between educational studies and British teacher education. Following a brief introduction it provides an overview of initial teacher training (ITT) developments since 1952, the launch date of the BJES, before tracing the rise of educational studies and its so-called 'foundation disciplines'. The fourth section discusses a range of criticisms levelled against the teach-ing of educational studies within ITT programmes. Examples of discon-tent voiced by student teachers, higher education personnel and the New Right are considered in the light of changing attitudes and policies towards British ITT. It is argued that the attack upon the theoretical aspects of educational studies has been more sustained - and has had more impact - in England than in other parts of the UK. The article draws conclusions in respect of education as an academic subject, the current state of the foundation disciplines, the place of educational studies within teacher education programmes and comparative dimensions.     

Post-16 Education,Semi-dependent Youth and the Privatisation of Inter-age Transfers: Re-theorising youth transition

This paper critically reviews historical and contemporary debates around the study of youth transitions and social change in the sociology of education and elsewhere. It argues that current accounts of recent social change of the 'post' variety tend to both over state and simplify the character of these changes. The paper suggests that it is more appropriate to think of change in terms of the reconfiguration of relationships between 'inflexibility' and 'flexibility', independence and dependency, and the public and the private. Substantively, these things can be studied through the 'intergenerational transfer' of 'assets' of various kinds within kin networks. On this basis, the paper argues for a shift away from a narrower focus upon parents that has been the basis for some recent useful and relevant work on educational decision-making in sociology of education in the UK. These issues about decision-making are related to the developing debate around Rational Action Theory and culturalist vs structural approaches. It is suggested that recent work in the areas of stratification and class formation theory would prove of value to these, and other, concerns in the sociology of education.     

Intercultural teaching and learning strategies for global citizens: a Chinese EFL perspective

External quality monitoring of higher education is explored and analysed. The different types of external bodies and their modus operandi are reviewed. The reasons for undertaking the evaluation are also examined in detail. It is argued that external evaluation legitimates the status quo and fails to ask substantial questions about the nature of learning. External quality monitoring is preoccupied with method and has almost entirely ignored a quarter of a century of research into learning theory, the nature and styles of learning, and classroom innovations. It is suggested that higher education monitoring agencies need to adopt an explicit 'transformation' approach to quality and to address the implications of that for student learning. Only then will they shift from accountability- and compliance-orientated agencies to ones that raise substantial questions about improving student learning.     

文化素质教育与通识教育关系的再认识

目前,大学生文化素质教育与通识教育在中国高等学校同时展开,两者是否一致?有什么差别?应当如何对待?本文在对这两种教育进行历史回顾的基础上,对这些问题提出了自己的看法。作者认为,从"名正言顺"的角度,在高等学校本专科教育的整体层面上,无论在教育理念、模式和内容上,"通识教育"的名称都是不合适的。而文化素质教育则是统贯本科教育的全过程的,它既是一种新的教育思想观念,也可以成为一种教育模式,具有可操作的运行方式。但是,作为高等学校本专科教育的一部分或一个阶段,通识教育从理念、模式和内容上都是有意义的,其目标是为了培养负责任的公民和有教养的人。这与文化素质教育是相通的。通识教育可以作为文化素质教育的一种实施方式,与养成教育共同构筑起文化素质教育的实施方式。作者提出了包含通识教育的文化素质教育架构图,并对不同类型高校提出了多样化的通识教育与文化素质教育的实施意见。     

THE “NEW” SOCIAL HISTORY AND THE HISTORY OF MORAL EDUCATION

The rise of mass education systems in 19th‐century Europe and North America was often followed by establishment of programmes of compulsory moral/civic instruction. Few of the “new” social history's techniques have been applied to the latter phenomenon, although those techniques have produced broad reassessments of public education.

Using the example of France at the turn of the twentieth century, this paper offers such an application. It shows how a social history of moral/civic education would lend itself to comparative historical research, help our understanding of the roots of public social policy, throw new light on the question of social class, and invite reformulation of traditional administrative and intellectual history of education. The closing section outlines possible avenues of research, and offers bibliographical guidance on the development of moral/civic education in France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States.     

What remains of history? Historical epistemology and historical understanding in Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence

This paper critically examines the framing of historical knowledge in the primary and ‘broad general education’ phases (ages 4–14) of Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence. The paper focuses on curriculum documentation, particularly the curriculum's aims and ‘Experiences and Outcomes’ and evaluates these in light of recent research on children's historical understanding. It is argued that the decision to frame historical understanding as ‘People, Past Events and Societies’ within the context of a ‘social studies’ curriculum area has been motivated by a misunderstanding of history's unique disciplinary identity. It is argued that history curricula must take account of the unique ontological and epistemological challenges posed by investigating the past and that by failing to do this, ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ offers children in Scotland a problematic representation of what it means to study the past. The paper challenges the curriculum in both epistemic and pedagogical terms, before suggesting that a rigorous study of history as a discipline can make a valuable contribution to children's personal and social development.     

'To trust or not to trust,…'-pupils' ways of judging information encountered in a socio-scientific issue

This article reports from a qualitative study of how 16-year-old Norwegian pupils dealt with a socioscientific issue. The pupils were interviewed on aspects of their decision-making concerning a local version of the well-known controversial issue: whether or not power transmission lines increase the risk for childhood leukaemia. The part of the study reported here has focused on their views on the trustworthiness of knowledge claims, arguments and opinions given to them prior to interview. It was found that many aspects of trustworthiness were experienced as problematic by the pupils. Using inductive analysis, four main kinds of 'resolution strategies' were identified that were used by the pupils to decide who and what to trust: 1) Acceptance of knowledge claim, 2) Evaluation of statements using 'reliability indicators' and through explicitly 'thinking for themselves', 3) Acceptance of researchers or other sources of information as authoritative, 4) Evaluation of sources of information in terms of 'interests', 'neutrality' or 'competence'. Some pupils used all these strategies, others used only one or two. The pupils' evaluations were nuanced and based partly on empirical evidence, but mostly on rather superficial contextual information. It is argued that some of the resolution strategies imply that autonomous evaluations were made. One main conclusion is that knowledge of different sources of scientific information needs to be more emphasized in science education for citizenship.     

Europe,Continental philosophy and the philosophy of education

On what might a comparative discussion of philosophy of education that takes Europe as one of its terms be based? This paper begins by addressing the complexity that attaches to the name 'Europe' in this context in order to lay the way for a more detailed consideration of so-called 'Continental' philosophy--specifically of poststructuralism. It makes reference to the ways in which the work of poststructuralist thinkers has often been interpreted in 'postmodern' educational theory and seeks to reveal certain errors in this regard. Distinctions are drawn between postmodernity, postmodernism and poststructuralism, illustrating the last of these in terms of two influential strands of thought drawn from Levinas and Nietzsche, and indicating their value for education. In conclusion, some brief remarks are offered regarding the institutionalization of philosophy of education in Europe.     

A Comparative Analysis of Preschool Education in Korea and England

This article is a comparative analysis of preschool education in Korea and England. The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast preschool educational systems in Korea and England, including their contextual development and trends, the frameworks of the national preschool curriculum, and early childhood educators' perceptions and practices. This article examines how early childhood education in the two countries has been affected by different historical, philosophical and government policies.