Wallerstein’s world-systems analysis in comparative education: A case study

Since the 1970s, using his world-systems analysis, Immanuel Wallerstein has developed a wide-ranging framework for the social sciences, with potential applications for comparative educational research. In this paper we outline key aspects of Wallerstein’s theorising, and then analyse the uptake, understandings, and applications of his analysis in the field of comparative and international education, through a case study of the Comparative Education Review (CER) journal from 1980 to 2008. This paper examines how, and how widely, his analysis has been adopted and interpreted. Our analysis highlights significant and—given the broader emphasis in comparative education on questions of education and development—surprising absences in the application of this approach. We conclude by arguing for the use and development of three critical features of his analysis in comparative work, as relevant and timely interventions in the field.     

A bird in trap——the analysis of Tess

This essay will analyze the heroine of 《Tess of the D'Urbervilles》 Tess by referring to the image"a bird in trap", First, two features of the bird, namely"a daughter of nature"and"to fly"are used to describe Tess' characteristics. Then, it is reasoned that how the bird falls into the trap, and what the trap refers to.     

Fairness in education – a normative analysis of OECD policy documents

Educational policy depends on assumptions about fairness in education, whether they are made explicit or kept implicit. Without a view of fairness, one would be in the dark as to what should be done about the reproduction of social inequality through education, or whether or not anything should be done at all. The aim of this paper is to uncover the view of fairness in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) education policy. It is based on an analysis of the normative argumentation concerning educational fairness in a set of policy documents from the last seven years, with special emphasis on the association between social background and educational achievement. The main result of the analysis is that the OECD explicitly operate with a loose idea of equal opportunity, compatible with even a merely formal equality, but implicitly with a meritocratic variant of fair equality of opportunity. In the final section, I argue that the OECD approach to fairness suffers from a limitation in that it considers educational justice in isolation from social justice in general.     

Teachers’ identities in second chance schools: A comparative analysis of Buenos Aires and Barcelona

Second Chance Schools (SCS) aim to provide excluded young people with new opportunities for educational success. However, there is scarce research on teachers’ identities as a crucial factor in understanding how these schools operate as sites of educational inclusion. Based on a comparison between SCS in Buenos Aires and Barcelona, this article argues that this modality of schooling contributes to the configuration of a dominant teacher identity, distant from that forged during the emergence of modern secondary schooling. Three elements feature this identity: the ethics of care, the personalization of teaching and the conception of teaching as a collective endeavour.     

A comparative study of culture-loaded Words in teaching

people' perception,evaluation and attitude are different among races,so there is cultural--difference.And vocabulary,especially culture-loaded words,can reflect this kind of difference when it relates to values,religions,life styles and stereotypes,while the ordinary words,such as “book,pen” etc,always only have the perceptive meaning.For example,when a child from the Anglo-American world learns the word “dog”,he will normally learns the cultural meaning of it: the dog is “man's best friend”,and he will like dogs,as the saying “love me,love my dog”.But a child brought up in the Chinese culture would be taught that the dog is a dirty and dangerous animal.So people who have been initiated into the culture which is associated with their mother tongue,are naturally inclined to interpret things with their own culture fervencies.As with teaching,teachers should not just make students master language points and grammars,but also irrigate the culture background of English and Chinese words.     

Educational historiographical meta‐analysis: rethinking methodology in the 1990s

Relations among literary discourse constructed during oral storybook reading, current theories of reader response to literature, and research in classroom storybook reading are explored in this paper. Pursuing a Bakhtinian analysis of five readings of one picture storybook, the meaning‐making strategies used by kindergarten students and their teacher to appropriate literary discourse and, thereby, to define the situation in these storybook events is discussed. The paper is framed by a symbolic interactionist approach to the social negatiation of meaning, especially as meaning is negotiated in context through language.     

How is cultural diversity positioned in teacher professional standards? an international analysis

Unprecedented levels of global mobility mean that culturally homogenous classrooms are now increasingly rare. This brings with it challenges for teachers and raises issues about what constitutes quality teaching and teachers. Professional standards are commonly seen as a key policy instrument through which teacher quality can be enhanced. This article presents an analysis of teacher professional standards from five of the most culturally diverse nations in the English-speaking world. Using critical discourse analysis, we examine how culturally and linguistically diverse learners and culturally responsive pedagogy are positioned, and what the standards stipulate teachers should know, and be able to do, in fulfilling their professional obligations. We conclude by raising concerns about how the official representations of teaching in particular national contexts fail to position culturally diverse learners and culturally responsive teaching as a priority.     

The Jewish Educational System—A Plea for Organic Unity

This article analyzes the career commitments and retention patterns among graduates of the DeLeT program (Day School Leadership Through Teaching) who were prepared for day-school teaching at Brandeis University and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Employing t-tests to analyze survey responses, we identify factors that shape and support teachers' career commitments to Jewish day schools. Our findings suggest that those who stay in Jewish day school teaching are likely to do so because of more commitment to the Jewish community, greater perception of effective teacher preparation experience, and better school support in comparison to those who leave teaching in this setting. These findings are consistent with a multi-layered understanding of teachers' lives and career commitments, which is illustrated in the interaction between person, program, and setting.     

Teacher evaluation standards in practice: A standards‐based assessment tool for diversity‐responsive teaching

Abstract

Although there is no question about the need for preservice and inservice teachers to have the skills to meet the diverse needs of students in todays classrooms, the issue of how to assess those same skills has proved to be problematic. This article reports on a joint effort by faculty from an urban university and a large public school district to create an observation tool that will assess and mentor preservice and inservice teachers’ abilities to address issues of diversity in their classrooms meaningfully. The authors will first report on missions and background information representing both the university and the school district and then on the development of a standards‐based assessment tool. Lastly, suggestions that compliment a comprehensive body of evidence of teacher evaluation will be discussed.     

Are we using Friedman's roadmap? A comparative analysis of stimuli of private school enrolments in post-Soviet countries

There have been extensive scholarly debates on the role the private sector in the provision of schooling across the world. The former Soviet states have been largely excluded from these debates. This exploratory study examines the role the private sector in the formal provision of primary and secondary education in post-Soviet countries to demonstrate comparative trends and to provide a framework for the analysis of stimuli for private enrolments in the region. On the basis of the analysis of secondary data, documentary evidence and relevant literature, this paper shows that across the former Soviet countries, neoliberal ideas of education marketisation have not found fertile soil for development.     

A regression discontinuity analysis of graduation standards and their impact on students’ academic trajectories

In 2006, North Carolina put in place high school exit standards requiring students to pass a series of high-stakes exams across several years. I use a regression discontinuity (RD) approach to analyze whether passing or failing one of these exams (Algebra I) impacts a student's decision between choosing a more rigorous college-preparatory math curriculum and an easier ‘career’ track math curriculum. I find a 5 percentage point gap in the probability of selecting the rigorous curriculum between 9th grade students who just passed and those who just failed the exam. RD results across two years (one year in which the graduation standards were not in place) suggest that the discontinuity arose due to fewer students opting into the college track as a result of the exam results.     

A Chat Room—Educational Psychologists but No Curriculum Methodologists?

Although educational psychologists once were tied in with teachers in solving instructional problems, the progression of the science of psychology has led them away from the practical aspects of teaching. Instead, educational psychologists find themselves talking about theories—in their own language—to each other, and not to their colleagues in the curriculum areas. To this end they are not a continuing source of productive information for solving practical problems in classroom practice. Suggestions are made for improving communication between educational psychologists and on-line educators.     

Educational reforms — Women's life patterns: A Swedish case study

This article focuses on reforms in Swedish higher education since the 1970s. It asks whether and, if so, how, these reforms affected women. Though the reform movement succeeded in bringing more of them into the university, women are still segregated into predominantly female fields. This segregation in higher education translates into occupational segregation in the workforce. The second half of the study asks why the reforms have failed to equalize men's and women's education and life-chances. Through the life history approach, the author finds that Swedish reforms proceeded on the basis of rational efficiency models which have little to do with how women make educational and work decisions. The author argues that in order for equalization to occur, the task will be to reform higher education in a way that matches rational efficiency with human sensibility.     

A Philosophic Idea of Being “ALIVE” in Living Educational Theory——Talking about the Character Education in the New Curriculum

D istinctive characteristics of a Living Educa-tionalTheory ApproachJack W hitehead,who hasworked atthe University ofBath in England forthirty yearshasdeveloped a distinctiveform ofAction Research,which we callLiving EducationalTheoryAction Research. Thisform wasfirstwritten aboutin 1985 [1], and hasnow been internationally accepted asvery helpful in both practical and theoretical studies.[2]The processesweare using,and the work we areestablish-ing,arereferred toin W hitehead (2004).[3]…     

Contributing conditions: A qualitative comparative analysis of teachers’ instructional responses to data

Despite the press for data-informed decision making, there is still much to learn about when and under what conditions data promote changes in instruction and when they may contribute to other outcomes. The study uses qualitative comparative analysis to examine 245 cases of teachers’ data use in five middle schools from a year-long study in the United States. Analysis points to the important influence that certain types of data, the involvement of a coach or peer group, and the school culture can have on teachers’ instructional responses to data.     

International Migration for Educational Purposes——A Study of Chinese Students Studying for a Master Degree in the UK

This study was initiated by dramatic increase of international migration for educational purpose. The paper aims to investigate the reasons behind Chinesel students’ choice of studying in the UK from two different aspects of ’push’ factors and ’pull’ factors.The study was carried out among Chinese students studying in the university of Bristol, Cardiff University the University of Edinburgh. Both questionnaire and interview were used in data collection. The general findings showed that students’ study destination choice was influenced by ’push’ factors from students’ home country and ’pull’ factors from the host country.     

Inclusive education in Sweden? A critical analysis

When it comes to pupils in need of special support and pupils with disabilities, Sweden’s compulsory school system is sometimes considered a one‐track system. This article analyses and critically discusses current policy and practices at various levels of Sweden’s compulsory school system for these pupils. The analysis traces three themes at the national and municipal levels: (1) values and goals; (2) organisation and placement of pupils; and (3) importance of categories in obtaining support. A rather complex picture emerges from this analysis. Several conclusions are made: (1) state policies leave a lot of room for interpretation at the municipal and school levels, and this results in an extensive variation; (2) Swedish state policy is not as inclusive as is often stated; (3) celebration of difference seems to be hard to achieve; (4) learning goals can be a double‐edged sword with regard to inclusion; and (5) most pupils appear to enjoy participation in school, and in an international perspective, Swedish classrooms seem to be largely democratic.     

William Wordsworth and Tao Yuanming——A comparative study of their poetry

As pastoral poets, William Wordsworth and Tao Yuanming had a lot in common both in the style of their words and their attitudes towards life. This paper focuses on the analysis of the differences between their works.