Postcolonialism And Comparative Education

The article considers the relevance of recent developments in postcolonial theory for comparative education research. The article starts with an account of these developments. This account is then used as a basis for a critical discussion of previous theoretical frameworks that have been used by comparative researchers to explain the colonial legacy. The implications of adopting a postcolonial approach in comparative education are discussed in relation to issues of race, culture, language and the curriculum. The article concludes by arguing that a consideration of the postcolonial condition is necessary for developing a more holistic and less eurocentric understanding of the relationship between globalisation and education.     

Beyond Orientalism in comparative education: challenging the binary opposition between Japanese and American education

This article challenges the common-sense observation that Japanese and American education have been moving in “opposite directions” in recent times. Drawing on postcolonial discourse studies and cultural studies, the article extracts from this observation an Orientalist binary epistemology that continues to set discursive limits on the way Japanese and American observers make sense of each other's education. It is argued that the predominance of this Orientalist binary paradigm in comparative discussions of Japanese and Anglo-American education has resulted in the unfortunate lack of scholarly efforts to take full account of the common global structural changes in education driven by neo-liberal and neo-conservative impulses. As a crucial step towards the critical, reflexive engagement with the continuing colonial legacy, this article proposes a structurally oriented research paradigm that enables us to discuss localised and nationalised differences in education changes within the common frame of global structural changes in economy, state and education.     

教育:全球化、本土化与本土生长——从比较教育学的角度观照

民族主义和世界主义是比较教育学研究中的一对观念上的基本矛盾 ,在全球化的后殖民时代背景下 ,这对矛盾又有新的表现。本土化无法成为弱势文化有效的解殖出路 ,在“和”的模式中寻求多元发展 ,第三世界的教育和文化才有可能在本土生长中逐步解殖     

Globalisation and Education in the Postcolonial World: Towards a conceptual framework

The article examines the relevance of existing accounts of globalisation and education for low income, postcolonial countries, with special reference to the education systems of sub-Saharan Africa. Using recent developments in globalisation theory, existing accounts are analysed in relation to their view of the origins, nature and future trajectory of globalisation and the implications for education. It is argued that most of the recent literature deals with Western industrialised countries and the newly industrialised countries of the Pacific Rim and therefore has limited relevance for low income countries. The literature that is concerned with low income countries often lacks a firm theoretical basis and has been limited to a discussion of the impact of economic globalisation on education. Drawing on recent work on the political economy of development and the state in Africa, the article sets out a conceptual framework for understanding various aspects of the education/globalisation relationship in low income, postcolonial countries including economic, political and cultural aspects.     

Reconceptualizing kindergarten education in South Korea: a postcolonial approach

This article examines the relevance of postcolonialism in early childhood education, with special reference to the kindergarten education system of South Korea. Most of the research on Korean kindergarten education has conceptualized it as preparing children for their later schooling and helping them learn the moral and social values most desired by society. In order to problematize such a monolithic conceptualization of kindergarten education, this article intends to reconceptualize it by analysing Korean kindergarten education in the context of its postcolonial condition. Using a postcolonial framework and Foucault's concepts of power and discourse, this article provides significant insights into reclaiming kindergarten education as a historical, cultural, and discursive product. With a specific focus on different conceptions of “readiness” as an example, how kindergarten education in Korea has become hybrid through postcolonial experiences is further elaborated.     

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.     

Comparative studies in education in Italy. Heritage and transformation

ABSTRACT

The aim of the article is to investigate the profile of comparative education in Italy, highlighting those elements that have characterised its development in relation to the cultural and political features of the country. This approach inevitably involves the comparison of Italy's specific particularities to those of other countries in the north and the south of Europe, in order to understand whether there are certain features that may place Italian comparative education within the wider framework of the Mediterranean area. What is involved in making a comparative analysis of the profile of a discipline and, more particularly, of comparative education in Italy, concentrating principally on the geopolitical context of its development? What is it that typifies the feature or features that make Italian comparative education quintessentially Italian? What are the main sources of comparative education in Italy, and what are the disciplines with which it continues to interact today? The article argues that in the wider framework of Western comparative education, Italy's voice, rooted in a plural tradition and open to new developments, is an original and important contribution for thinking critically this field of study.     

Religious education and the pandemic: postcolonial perspectives

ABSTRACT

This article provides a critical, historical analysis of religious education and the pandemic through the perspective of postcolonial theory. Showing through an interdisciplinary lens how colonialism and contagion have conjointly configured cultural and civilisational change, it shows how sources from religious and literary history can illuminate the current critical landscape of decolonisation. The article opens with some general contextual remarks about decolonising the curriculum at the interface of postcolonial theory and education. Demonstrating, then, the political-theological currency of contagion, the article frames contemporary church closures during the pandemic as presenting contrasting lessons in theology from the pandemic present and world history. Revisiting the colonial on this basis, the article shows how religion and education have also been at the epicentre of empires. Thus, the spread of Biblical literacy had the unforeseen historical consequence of interconnecting erudition and the eradication of peoples. The article outlines here how and why, therefore, the role of religion and education is integral to the critical contours of postcolonial theory. These analyses provide, it is argued, potentially liberating disciplinary frameworks for religious education itself; and lessons, too, to which postcolonial theory could also well attend, that is the abiding importance of religion in education.     

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'.     

A comparativist’s predicaments of writing about ‘other’ education: a self-reflective,critical review of studies of Japanese education

This self-reflexive essay teases out the predicaments that I have encountered through my past publishing experience, while situating them in a critical review of the existing English-language studies of Japanese education. Drawing on postcolonial theoretical insights and recent critical sociology of academic knowledge production, I use my personal experience as a starting point to identify the particular discursive structure of comparative education that constrains the articulation of ‘other’ education in the field. My critical review of comparative studies of Japanese education demonstrates that many of them, including my own, unreflexively accept the subject positions offered by this discursive condition and thus further constrain space for those who write in English about ‘other’ education and Japanese education in particular. In conclusion, I discuss recent studies of Japanese education that partially address the dilemmas raised in this paper and the wider implications of this study for the field of comparative education.     

A Comparative Exploration of Learning Pathways and Transition Systems in Denmark and Australia

In the area of education and training, different configurations of government with different institutional structures may produce similar or quite different educational and employment outcomes. Other factors come into play in assessing outcomes. For example, young people's transitions from education to work are shaped by a variety of structural and institutional relations in education and the labour market. We argue that analysis of developments in approaches to education and training benefits from including these perspectives. This article explores these differences and similarities in a comparative transnational context across two continents. The article suggests that it not useful, whether from a policy or scholarly perspective, to link education and employment without examining the role and type of the welfare state, including the role and type of capitalism within that state, and the relationship of the welfare state to transition systems. With these concerns as our focus, the article has two objectives. The first is to establish some links between comparative research on transition systems and the literatures on welfare state regimes and varieties of capitalism. The second is to draw out some of these links with two concrete and contrasting examples in a comparative manner, focussing on Denmark and Australia.     

The IE A preprimary project in Ireland

Despite great changes in the level and type of early childhood services in Ireland over the last decade, relatively little research has been carried out on this topic. We know little about the types of services used, the reason for particular choices, the numbers of children attending different settings and the experiences such children are having. In an effort to broaden the research base and learn more about the lives of our young children the authors undertook to take part in an international comparative study investigating the early experiences of children—the IEA Preprimary Project. This article provides an account of the recent developments in early education in Ireland, addresses the question of quality in service provision and describes Ireland's participation in the research project.     

Comparative education as a field in Asia: retrospect and prospect

Comparative education in Asia is witnessing changing discourses, structural opportunities, and invigorated leadership. This article will review the institutionalization of comparative education in Asia from a sociological perspective, drawing on Bourdieu’s theory on the logic of social practice. After giving an overview of the historical roots of Asian comparative education, I will describe broadly its landscape noting developments in the last two decades since 1995, the foundational year of the Comparative Education Society of Asia (CESA). Four main themes are explored: comparative education teaching, professional societies, research centres, and specialist publications. With a baseline understanding of the infrastructures of the field in Asia and the power dynamics that shape them, I will propose an agenda for Asian comparative education to offer meaningful contributions to multipolar knowledge production in the field. Priority themes and directions will be highlighted to articulate a stronger Asian voice and leadership in an increasingly diverse and uncertain world.     

Let the captives speak for themselves! More dialogue between religious education in England and Germany

This article offers a German response to John Hull's recent article on ‘religious education in Germany and England’ (in BJRE, volume 27, issue 1). The author claims that recent developments have brought religious education in both countries much closer together than in the past and that the differences between the respective systems should be understood contextually. In his view, more complex approaches to comparative research in religious education are needed. Agreement should be sought in terms of criteria for quality religious education rather than in terms of a unitary model because religious education in different countries needs a pluralism of different models.     

Developments in religious studies: towards a dialogue with religious education

The early days of non-confessional, multi-faith religious education in Britain benefitted from close collaboration between academics in universities, teacher educators and teachers. This article attempts to initiate a revival of such a dialogue, by summarizing some developments in religious studies at university level and suggesting possible implications for religious education in schools. After a brief retrospective of phenomenological and ethnographic approaches in religious studies and religious education, it examines feminist, queer and postcolonial theory as well as the changing religious landscape in contemporary Britain and the wider world. Themes emerging from this analysis prompt the following proposals: to take an anti-essentialist approach to ‘religion’ and ‘religions’; to stress diversity within and between traditions; to recognise complexity and change in religion and society; to acknowledge both local and global contexts; to focus on real people and seldom-heard voices; and to criticize dominant discourses, whether as patriarchal, heteronormative or colonialist.     

Andreas Goes to Africa: A Comparative Historical Study of the Teachers for East Africa Programs

This article uses a comparative historical approach to examine the Teachers for East Africa (TEA) and the Teacher Education in East Africa (TEEA) programs, an influential educational development effort that involved U.S. and British college graduates in East African schools and colleges during the decade of 1961–1971. Drawing on postcolonial theory and Andreas Kazamias’s humanistic view of education, the “Paideia of the soul,” it explores how U.S. teachers interpreted the education system they encountered in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda at the end of the colonial era, seeking to made sense of a radically different system of schooling. The comparison of U.S. and British teachers’ views on pedagogy in this critical historical period as discerned in the TEA and TEAA archive illustrates deep fissures in the putative edifice of “Western” education.     

Mathematics education in the United States: past to present

This article presents a historical review of mathematics education since the late 1950s in the United States. Three themes are used to organize the literature reviewed in the article: (a) broad sociopolitical forces, particularly highly publicized educational policy statements; (b) trends in mathematics research; and (c) theories of learning and instruction. At times, these themes coincide, as was the case in the 1990s. In other cases, such as the recent push for educational accountability, these themes conflict. Nonetheless, the themes go a long way to explain the serpentine nature of reform in the United States over the last 45 years. This article also attempts to account for developments in special education as well as general education research, something that does not appear in most historical presentations of mathematics education.     

The Challenges of Revitalizing an Indigenous and Afrocentric Moral Theory in Postcolonial Education in Zimbabwe

This work contributes to the philosophical debate on the normative dimension of postcolonial education in Zimbabwe. The work is a reaction to revelations made by the Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training of 1999 and its concomitant recommendations. Among its many observations, the Commission noted that there was a worrisome development concerning the normative dimension of the country's education, which needed to be addressed by the introduction and strengthening of an indigenous moral theory of unhu/ubuntu in the education system. The work examines this recommendation in the light of developments brought about by modernity and their effects on value theory in modern education. It cautions, though without being pessimistic, that while the desire for what is one's own is indeed understandable, the changes in social ontology brought about by modernity render a successful revitalization of the traditional African values difficult. This work argues that the moral problem facing Zimbabwe could have very little, if anything, to do with the purported lack of an indigenous value theory in the education system, but is simply a manifestation of the effects of the ideological weight of Western modernity on the African communalistic value system.     

Towards a postcolonial and decolonising educational administration history

This article examines the increasing postcolonial and decolonising literature as it relates to non-Western countries and the history of their educational systems undergoing internationalisation and globalisation. The first section reviews a number of historiographical developments in the twentieth century that laid a foundation for a more cultural and global view and to include marginalised populations. The second section examines the critiques of educational history from postcolonial and decolonising perspectives, and the colonisation of mind critiques, including the recent indigenous research methodology movement. The third section explores two main challenges for the field of educational administration history are discussed: developing ways of understanding countries that operate under very different paradigms than Western states, and which are undergoing societal changes and stresses that Western states are not experiencing; and a revised research and methodology that captures problems of recolonisation/neoimperialism, the subaltern personality, and struggles to maintain indigenous cultures and roles. In order to respond to these conditions, educational administration, like other fields has to generate new models, theories, and modes of practice that derive from the conditions that postcolonial developing states face including identity formation, values, role construction and institutional arrangements.     

Homi Bhabha

Homi K. Bhabha is not only a major postcolonial theorist, but he has also become an important thinker for education. This article reviews the major themes of Bhabha’s work as it applies to education. The article also cautions us that the pressures in scholarship are to “reify” thinkers and their concepts and then “spend” those concepts like currency in the academic marketplace. This form of commodification is antithetical to progressive scholarly work. The article encourages a resistance to this form of commodification through a more complex engagement with the theories developed by Bhabha and an appreciation of the contradictions in the process of that engagement.