Exploring the interweaving of contrary currents: transnational policy enactment and path-dependent policy implementation in Australia and Japan

This article explores the neo-institutional theory of global policy convergence, or ‘isomorphism’, by comparatively examining one of its most recent manifestations – the global diffusion of national standardised testing – in Australia and Japan. By understanding the particular configurations of national testing as being conditioned by both nations' institutional frameworks and historical legacies of education policy development, this study illuminates how the conditioning effects of these frameworks and legacies resulted in the divergent ways in which a policy model circulating at the transnational level became translated into assessment policies that are ‘simultaneously similar and different’. These findings are related to the concept of ‘path dependency’, emphasised in particular by political science and historical institutionalism. The theoretical conclusions drawn on this basis indicate a promising direction of comparative education research, one that recognises global convergence and national divergence as processes that simultaneously shape the globalisation of education policy. In so doing, they summarise the implications of the study for the ongoing debate on the neo-institutionalist theory in comparative education.     

Researching race/ethnicity and educational inequality in the Netherlands: A critical review of the research literature between 1980 and 2008

This article describes and critically analyzes how educational sociologists in the Netherlands have studied the relationship between race/ethnicity and educational inequality between 1980 and 2008. Five major research traditions are identified: (1) political arithmetic; (2) racism and ethnic discrimination; (3) school characteristics; (4) school choice; and (5) family background. The development of particular research traditions is explained by pointing to more general developments in terms of social policy and intellectual climate in the Netherlands. This study builds on a similar, recently published literature review that focuses on the UK context by critically comparing the development and findings from these different bodies of research literature. The conclusions suggest that the Netherlands, like England, developed strong research traditions in this area of research since the 1980s and that both countries can learn from each other and advance future research in this area by developing more comprehensive research agendas. More generally, this review illustrates the usefulness of conducting nationally comparative literature reviews in assessing the development of particular bodies of research and in bringing together knowledge produced in different national settings.     

TEACHING RESEARCH IN GERONTOLOGY: TOWARD A CUMULATIVE MODEL

In this article, we consider different approaches to teaching research methods in gerontology across a continuum of educational program levels. Our goal is to offer a conceptual framework and stimulate productive discussion of key issues and challenges in teaching research in gerontology. It is our belief that education in gerontology should include some level of training in research methodologies across all levels of gerontology instruction. Therefore, we have sought to identify those components of research training most appropriate for each level of gerontological education. Thus, basic understanding of research methods is appropriate at the associate's degree level and introductory exposure to basic issues involved in conducting research with elders provides a necessary backdrop to undergraduate programs. More in-depth understanding of gerontological research methods, particularly those involved in applied research, is a component of quality master's level programs. Finally, in-depth knowledge and the ability to apply distinctively gerontological research methods are necessary for conducting advanced original research at the doctoral level.     

Bridging Cultures and Traditions in the Reconceptualisation of Comparative and International Education

If the field of comparative education is to be reconceptualised in ways that articulate and demonstrate its continued relevance for the 21st century, it is argued that its history and traditions deserve both celebration and challenge. The field's multi-disciplinary origins and nature, for example, position it well for further advancement in a future in which the socio-cultural analysis of global trends and developments will require concerted attention. On the other hand, some fundamental, and long-evident, characteristics require critical re-consideration. In the light of this, the article focuses upon ways in which bridges can be built or strengthened across disciplinary boundaries and between theoretical and applied studies, policy and practice, micro and macro levels of analysis and studies of the North and the South. Implications of this are considered for all engaged in comparative and international research and related educational policy and practice.     

MacIntyre,rival traditions and education

This paper critically discusses MacIntyre's thesis that education is essentially a contested concept. In order to contextualise my discussion, I discuss both whether rival educational traditions of education found in MacIntyre's work – which I refer to as instrumental and non-instrumental justifications of education – can be rationally resolved using MacIntyre's framework, and whether a shared meaning of education is possible as a result. I conclude that MacIntyre's synthesis account is problematic because the whole notion that there are rationally negotiable ways in which to compromise or harmonise opposing justifications of education found in instrumental and non-instrumental forms of education is troubling – the reason being that these are cultural disagreements about human flourishing that are not neutral-free, and due to a lack of care distinguishing between the common uses of the term ‘education’, and its looser usages to mean something like school learning that embraces a range of aims and goals that are often incompatible. In this light, it is argued that the contestability card has been unnecessarily overemphasised, and brings to our attention the complex ways in which we interpret education and what it means to be educated.     

‘Knowledge Must Be Contextual’: Some possible implications of complexity and dynamic systems theories for educational research

It is now widely accepted that qualitative and quantitative research traditions, rather than being seen as opposed to or in competition with each other ( ; ) should be used, where appropriate, in some kind of combination (; ). How this combining is to be understood ontologically, and therefore epistemologically, however, is not always clear. Rather than endlessly discussing the relationship between different approaches, this paper explores some of the assumptions of the ontologies that underpin such apparent differences, arguing that approaches which declare themselves to be distinct theoretically are often surprisingly similar methodologically. It is argued that dominant ontologies and epistemologies struggle with the conceptualisation and representation of particularity, difference, process, interactions through time, multiple and de‐centred forms of causation, and dynamic structure. Complexity/dynamic systems theory is then introduced and examined for its potential to offer the basis of a different kind of ontology: one which is able not only to accommodate these things, but which is itself based upon them. In conclusion, the implications of this perspective are discussed in relation to the problems that have been identified, particularly in relation to the conceptualisation of ‘context’.     

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.     

Research paradigms and adult education

Those who see research as structured by ‘paradigms’ of inquiry are often unclear about the precise nature of these paradigms due to the complexity of the concept. It is argued that there are competing understandings of paradigm, not simply different substantive paradigms. A ‘strong’ or socio‐historical account associated with Kuhn's work is contrasted with a ‘weak’ or philosophical account of paradigm that has become influential in educational circles. This analysis is applied to adult education as an academic field, which in terms of the ‘strong’ account of paradigm is not a unified scholarly enterprise but one animated by divergent, institutionalised research traditions. Three traditions are discussed in detail: participation studies, adult learning theory and participatory research. It is concluded that the field will be advanced by recognising the paradigmatic depth of its scholarly conflicts, and relating these differences to developments in other fields of human inquiry.     

Including pupils' faith background in primary religious education

In this article, Julia Ipgrave takes the idea of inclusion beyond the field of special educational needs to incorporate the needs of children with different faith backgrounds in the religious education (RE) class. She recommends that teachers respect the integrity of their pupils' faith backgrounds by making room for the children's own experiences and perspectives on the traditions to which they belong. Suggestions are made as to how to give equal value to the different faith and non‐faith backgrounds of children in Religious Education lessons. As well as feeling valued, pupils also need to feel safe. The article argues that the children's interests are best served, not by avoiding sensitive and controversial areas of religion, but by establishing a framework of openness and respect within which children can express their views with confidence, differences can meet and pupils and teachers listen to and learn from each other.     

Straight Roads and Winding Tracks: Swedish educational policy from a gender equality perspective

A review of Swedish educational policy and educational research indicates that labour market considerations have had a high visibility. Straight routes through the educational system have been laid out in order to equalise and make the system more efficient. Empirical studies show that women's strategies to combine education, work and family often resulted in ‘winding tracks’ through education. Predominant research models tend to adjust to the ‘straight roads’ of educational policy while women's winding routes have been set aside. The current Swedish goal of equality between men and women gives work and parenthood the same weight for both sexes. This article discusses whether this goal could set a challenging framework for a research agenda where more gender‐sensitive methodologies are developed as well as gender‐sensitive concepts, upgrading women's knowledge, experiences and values.     

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.     

Explanatory accounts in international and comparative higher education research

Developing plausible explanations rooted in theory and supported by evidence is a challenge for comparative higher education studies. The purpose of this article is to consider how comparative studies in higher education might develop accounts that allow the research community to enhance explanatory power. Higher education studies can advance explanations about what is happening and why, as well as interpret the meaning of occurrences by drawing broadly on realist scholarly traditions. Rather than prioritising a methodology, the field should prioritise essential questions and address them with all appropriate empirical tools. Avenues for explanatory research include bounded case studies, multi‐method investigations into specific phenomena, mechanism‐based approaches and macro‐social analysis.     

School is for Meeting Friends: Secondary school as lived and remembered

The present article discusses young people's manifold and ambivalent feelings towards school as an institution, and towards their own school in particular. The questions are explored using different kinds of data: associations and metaphors that students provided on 'school', their reflections on an ideal school and their own school, as well as memories of secondary school a few years later. It draws on an ethnographic research in secondary schools and on a longitudinal life-history study in which the transitions of the same young people to post-16 education are traced. The empirical conclusions concerning students' perceptions on school are presented with four interlikned themes: students' lack of autonomy, the importance of informal relations, the importance of space and time in school, and the complexities of gender patterns. The article also raises a methodological question on nostalgia in memories - especially in ethnographers' memories.     

Border Crossings: Towards a comparative pedagogy

This article uses the Comparative Education millennium special issue and the author's recently published five-nation comparative study of primary education to argue the case for a new comparative pedagogy. Pedagogy is defined as both the act of teaching and the discourse in which it is embedded. The comparative analysis of pedagogy requires that we have a viable framework for the empirical study of classroom transactions and that we locate these transactions historically and culturally at the levels of classroom, school and system. The postulated analytical framework maps the key elements in the act of teaching and links them with the processes of curriculum transformation from state to classroom. Comparative pedagogy reveals, alongside each country's unique mix of values, ideas and practices, powerful continuities in these which transcend time and space. In so doing, it helps us to pinpoint those universals in teaching and learning to which, in any context, we need most closely to attend if we are to improve the quality of education.     

Parents' representations of their children's mathematics learning in multiethnic primary schools

There is a growing concern that governmental calls for parental involvement in children's school mathematics learning have not been underpinned by research. In this article the authors aim to offer a contribution to this debate. Links between children's home and school mathematical practices have been researched in sociocultural studies, but the origins of differences within the same cultural group are not well understood. The authors have explored the notion that parents' representations of school mathematics and associated practices at home may play a part in the development of these differences. This article reports an analysis of interviews with parents of 24 children of Pakistani and White origin enrolled in primary schools in England, including high and low achievers in school mathematics. The extent to which the parents represented their own school mathematics and their child's school mathematics as the ‘same’ or ‘different’ are examined. In addition, ways in which these representations influenced how they tried to support their children's learning of school mathematics are examined. The article concludes with reflections on the implications of the study for education policy.     

The dilemmas and complexities of implementing language-in-education policies: Perspectives from urban and rural contexts in Uganda

Language-in-education policies are a highly debated topic in Africa and at the root of understanding inequalities in Africa's education systems. This article explores the implementation of Uganda's recent local language education policy; how it has been received and practiced in urban and rural contexts, and the major challenges and implications addressed by education stakeholders in each context. The study confirms that the use of local languages as the language of instruction has contributed to the improvement of literacy skills, children's participation in lessons, and their understanding of content. Nevertheless, the local language policy was fiercely disputed by teachers, parents and various authorities at district and national levels, as many appeared to be concerned with the policy constraining children's academic success at upper primary levels and limiting their transition to secondary education. Through the study, the authors highlight critical misconceptions and assumptions in language-in-education within both policy development and in local education practices and perceptions. The article points to a review of language-in-education in its entirety; across mediums of instruction and assessment for lower and upper primary levels; across teaching methodologies for second language acquisition in multilingual environments; and across socio-economic divides in rural and urban regions of the country.     

German and UK higher education and graduate employment: the interface between systemic tradition and graduate views

This article presents a comparative analysis of the German and UK higher education systems and their relationship to graduate employment. It scrutinizes the complex interconnections between (1) higher education systems and traditions; (2) the role of higher education in the state, society and the economy; and (3) the views of graduates as expressed in interviews. We explore how far and in what ways opinions, expectations and experiences are shaped by (1) national traditions and culture and (2) current economic, social, political and educational developments. We find that today’s student expectations and perceptions are shaped and transformed by economic, political and social factors, including potent higher education beliefs dating back to earlier centuries, as illustrated by the reflections of graduates five years after graduation. The analysis explores the commonalities within each country grouping which lead to striking differences between the countries that transcend the mostly country‐independent disciplinary differences. The analysis has possible implications for the Bologna protocol and issues of European comparability.     

A response to Scott's concerns about the relevance of environmental education research: applying social–ecological systems thinking and consilience to defining research goals

In William Scott's plenary address at the World Environmental Education Conference, he expressed concerns about the relevance of environmental education research in a world facing global environmental and demographic change. In responding to Scott's concerns, I argue that addressing challenges related to development and the environment requires examining EE goals at multiple levels as well as bridging diverse disciplines. I further suggest that integrating social‐ecological systems and other approaches in environmental education research may provide a means for consilience among potentially divisive environmental education practice and research traditions. In so doing, I hope to spark debate about possibilities for an environmental education research agenda and learning organisation that spurs action relevant to concerns about the environment, individuals, and their communities.