Comparative education in Spain in the 21st century

ABSTRACT

The current process of globalisation has led to a convergence of international and Spanish concerns regarding teaching and research issues in the area of comparative education. Both in their teaching and their research work, the academics within the Spanish comparative community display a notable – and typically Hispanic – heterogeneity. This includes their use of epistemologically diverse frameworks and paradigms as well as their penchant for intellectual and teaching traditions built upon a wide-ranging, diverse gnoseological foundation. Along with research agendas focused on topics well within the orthodoxy and tradition of the field, Spanish comparative work has also tackled subjects long advocated by the late-modern agenda such as post-colonialism, the world ‘disorder’ and refugees and hospitality pedagogy. The community's engagement with and analysis of the cultural reality of Latin America stands out as a specific feature of Spanish comparative studies. While the works published in the Revista Española de Educación Comparada (REEC) (Spanish Journal of Comparative Education) attest to the theorisation and markedly interdisciplinary nature of the analyses carried out by many of our academics, the authors of this essay argue for the inclusion of teleological perspectives. Only by incorporating the viewpoints offered by these teleological disciplines will we be able to stand up to the sterile, eminently relativist tendencies of post-modern epistemology.     

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.     

比较教育学的现实境遇与发展前景

比较教育学是因为研究他国教育经验,推动本国教育发展而出现在教育学科这个庞大的学科族群之中的,它以国际教育发展为核心的知识领域形成其独特的学科地位。但20世纪60年代以后,随着比较教育研究朝着学校教育微观层面的不断拓展,比较教育学的知识领域与教育学其他学科的研究领域相交叉,比较教育学的学科身份和存在理由受到质疑,比较教育学面临新的挑战。从当前来看,比较教育学要获得真正长久的可持续发展,就必须进一步明确特定的知识领域,进一步构筑学术共同体,进一步开展方法论研究。     

美国比较教育研究的新发展:主题、方法与地域分析

以《比较教育评论》在1998—2007年间所发表的学术论文为研究对象,分析这些论文的研究主题和研究方法以及在研究地域上的差异,发现:在研究主题上,《比较教育评论》重视宏观教育制度研究,关注各国教育改革与发展;紧跟时代发展,研究当前热点问题;微观教育实践领域的研究日益升温;比较教育学科建设探讨起伏不定。在研究方法上,文献研究仍然是《比较教育评论》最重要的研究手段,不同研究方法的的综合运用成为当前《比较教育评论》的一大特色,定性与定量研究呈均衡态势,两者的结合更能体现未来的发展趋势。在研究地域上,单一国别研究是《比较教育评论》的主体,对发展中国家的教育尤其关注,大规模的跨国比较研究引人注目,全球趋势和区域研究渐渐增多。我国比较教育研究应明确比较教育的研究主题,提升比较教育研究方法的科学水平,拓展比较教育的研究地域,创建立体化的研究对象,加强比较教育学术群体的自身建设,深化学科基础理论研究。     

从危机中走来，在危机中发展——纪念朱利安《比较教育研究计划和初步意见》发表190周年

1817年法国巴黎人朱利安撰写的《比较教育研究计划和初步意见》的发表标志着比较教育的诞生。摆脱当时欧洲的教育学危机,克服陈腐的思维方式,引进科学的方法,适应现代化的需要,建设一个科学的教育学或曰教育科学,是比较教育产生的原初目的。全球化时代出现了普遍的学科危机,比较教育亦面临着深刻的危机。重新理解比较教育中"比较"的意义,充分吸收各种文明的优秀思想,认真借鉴当代哲学的新成果,面向教育改革与发展的实践,加强方法论建设,是比较教育在危机中获得发展的必由之路。     

2010中国比较教育学科建设研究年度报告

本报告以2010年全国教育类权威刊物《教育研究》和比较教育学专门期刊《比较教育研究》、《外国教育研究》、《全球教育展望》刊载的比较教育学科建设方面的论文为依据,通过分析其中的重要理论与方法问题,对2010年我国比较教育学科建设研究的一系列重要研究论题进行述评。2010年,中国比较教育学者在对比较教育学的宏观审视、中外比较教育思想、当今比较教育的时代背景、比较教育的理论基础、比较教育研究范式与方法论、比较教育研究的展开等方面的研究取得了卓越成果。     

Economic growth and the international trade in educational reform

Summary The decline in foreign assistance for eduacation can be considered a tragedy. On the other hand, the elevation of education in domestic debate and the increase in trade of professional ideas on educational reform might be considered a benefit. The adjustment to these new functions on the part of development assistance agencies and international agencies familiar with the traditional rationales for educational investment will be difficult, however, in the end, their successful adjustment will be good for the field of education. Original language: English Stephen P. Heyneman (United States of America) Lead Education Specialist serving countries in the Europe and Central Asia region of the World Bank. After teaching and research in Africa, he completed a doctorate degree at the University of Chicago. He has been president of the Comparative and International Education Society, a member of the board on International Comparative Studies in Education of the United States National Academy of Sciences, and a lecturer at American University and the University of Maryland. On behalf of the World Bank, he has advised senior educational officials in many different countries and other international institutions on educational programmes.     

Latin American Universities: From an Original Revolution to an Uncertain Transition

The aim of this paper is to discuss the prospects of Latin American public universities. Its main assertion is that universities could become important actors of development in Latin America, but prevailing trends point in another direction. The paper focuses on the interactions between, on the one hand, specific traditions and social contexts, and, on the other hand, global trends concerning the role of knowledge and academic changes. The specific traits of the evolution of Higher Education in Latin America are discussed, in order to describe the emergence of an original ‘idea of University’. Changes and continuities during the last decades of the 20th century are summarized. Similarities and differences between developed countries and Latin America concerning current trends in Higher Education are analyzed. Particular attention is given to the interactions between what is happening in Latin American universities and the new insertion of the continent in the global economy. A prospective analysis is attempted, focusing on the social commitment of universities.     

全球化视野下重庆市比较教育学科发展的回顾与展望

比较教育学科的发展大致可以划分为三个阶段。我国比较教育学科的发展时期主要是改革开放以来的30年。30年来,我国比较教育在多方面重现生机,在教育思想引介和国家教育改革等方面取得了巨大的成绩。重庆市比较教育学学科主要集中在西南大学。经过长期的发展,西南大学比较教育学科在比较教育的理论与方法、跨文化教育比较、各国教育制度比较、当代西方教育思潮等方面形成了一定的学科优势与特色。今后重庆市比较教育学科发展思路应包括发展学科特色、突出实用功效、加强人才队伍建设、增强学术合作与交流、提高研究生培养质量、推出高水平研究成果等方面。     

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 spread of targeted educational policies in Latin America: global thesis and local impacts

This article analyses the new educational mandate for Latin America, exploring its repercussions on the design and development of certain educational policies. In particular, it concentrates both on the anti‐poverty educational agenda (at a global level) and on targeted educational policies (at a regional, national and local level), analyzing, on one hand, their interaction and, on the other, their limits, opportunities and omissions. Within this framework, the article is organised as follows. First, it presents the current anti‐poverty educational agenda, analysing its thesis and foundations. Second, it discusses the repercussions of this agenda on Latin America, explaining the emergence, spread and logic of action of targeted educational policies. The third and fourth sections focus on a particular model of educational targeting, initially explaining the features of the programme (called Bolsa Escola) and then presenting an assessment of its impacts from an educational standpoint. Finally, to conclude, it analyses the shortcomings and omissions of both targeted educational policies and the global anti‐poverty agenda.     

Gender and Education: a view from Latin America

Gender and Education publishes articles that are considered as key references in the field, but at present the journal has limited connection with Gender Studies in Latin America. To understand this, all the titles and abstracts of the issues published between 2011 and 2013 were read. In this period, Gender and Education published 141 original articles, and among them only four were about Latin America. Altering this situation demands specific actions, including those that the Editorial Board is already planning. However, such reading brought to light many other questions that might be analysed in the context of the North/South division of intellectual labour. This essay discusses only one of them: the fact that articles about countries in the global South often identify their location in their titles, while this is rare among papers about metropolitan countries. An apparently simple change is suggested: that the authors question themselves about how far their ideas are understandable to readers from other parts of the world.     

Poverty and educational inequality in sub-Saharan Africa

Conclusion In the last two decades of the twentieth century, many Africans have experienced decline or stagnation in the quality of their lives. The continued high rates of poverty and declining educational enrolments in the region are outcomes of multiple factors, including escalating debt and declining development assistance on the global level and fiscal mismanagement, weak governance and continued population growth within African countries. One realization that has come from the experiences of recent decades is that poverty is both a cause and an outcome of low educational enrolments. Breaking the cycle requires great effort on two fronts simultaneously: (a) a targeted attack on poverty through policies that promote sustainable and equitable development; and (b) an unwavering long-term investment in basic education (Psacharopoulos, 1995). The question remains whether international organizations, African governments and local communities will heed the lessons learned from past missteps and apply them to future educational initiatives. Both the international community's renewed awareness of the importance of basic education and the recent educational efforts of African-based NGOs suggest that the answer to this question is a tentative ‘yes’. Perhaps the first decade of the new millennium will bring a more definitive answer. Original language: English Claudia Buchmann (United States of America) Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Duke University. Her research interests include educational inequality in the international context with a special focus on educational problems and prospects in Africa. Her recent publications include ‘The debt crisis, structural adjustment and women's education: implications for status and social development’ (1996,International journal of comparative sociology) and ‘The State and schooling in Kenya: historical developments and current challenges’ (1999,Africa today).     

Teacher Education and Development Policies: Critical Discourse Analysis from a Comparative Perspective

The purpose of this study is to explore teacher education policies in different countries of Latin America and North America through the comparison of policy documents. The training of teachers, a key component of education, faces educational challenges as a result of various reform policies in different countries. Critical discourse analysis offers the possibility of illuminating certain aspects of educational policies in specific historic moments. A comparative perspective allows researchers to explore similarities and differences between political statements from a number of governments and agencies, in order to characterize general elements and particularities of teacher education policies in the context of late capitalism. The corpus of this study consists of a selection of recent educational policy documents at national and international levels. This study continues a line of previous studies which apply critical discourse analysis to the research of educational policies.     

Educational research in Latin America

Educational planning specialist at Unesco's Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC). Former staff member of the World Bank and Coordinator of the Latin American educational research exchange network (REDUC), he was also Head of the Chilean Educational Planning Office (1965–70). Co-author of Development of Educational Planning Modelsand of Eight Years of their Lives.     

中国大陆比较教育学科体系研究的内容分析

通过检索"CNKI",分析了1979年至2006年28年来有关比较教育学科体系研究的文献。从研究文献量、研究内容和研究机构三个维度对有关比较教育学科体系的文章进行了内容分析。结果发现:比较教育学科体系研究的文献量增幅大,研究内容依旧是围绕研究范式与比较教育学科建设,比较教育学科体系的本土化研究日益受到关注,对比较教育学科体系进行研究的机构主要集中于高等师范院校、国际与比较教育研究所。     

A historical overview of educational psychology

A historical review of educational psychology might improve understanding of current status and problems. Before American development of the field, the Greeks, Juan Vives in the 16th century, and Pestalozzi and Herbart in the 19th century applied psychological views to educational problems. Despite the absence of scientific psychology in 19th century America, normal schools offered courses purporting to be psychological in content; these courses were supported by textbooks on the subject. James began, and Thorndike developed, the discipline that by the mid-1920s had assumed much of its current form. Journals and academic departments appeared in the first quarter of the century also. The continuing search through the middle of the century for a satisfying professional organization reflected educational psychology's difficulties in establishing an identity. It is not clear even today that the field has “crystallized,” as one writer described it in the 1920s.     

跨界对话:比较教育的未来走向——基于第14届世界比较教育大会主题的分析

每一次世界比较教育大会的会议主题都集中反映了比较教育领域所关注的问题以及未来的发展方向。本文通过对今年6月召开的第14届世界比较教育大会会议主题的分析,揭示出比较教育未来的理论建设方向将从无边界到为学科划定边界进而超越学科边界,而比较教育的永恒价值在于跨越教育和社会中的各种边界,通过对话达成理解。