Showing papers by "Susan L. Robertson published in 2009"

Beyond Methodological 'Isms' in Comparative Education in an Era of Globalisation

Abstract: Gavin Smith’s pithy insight takes us straight to the heart of the methodological – but also the substantive – problems posed to comparative education by ‘globalisation’. We do not need to defi ne globalisation very precisely to recognise that it has brought about major challenges to comparative education’s objects of study, and the terms and concepts it uses – and this means, we will argue, that it has also brought about changes in the meaning of comparative education itself. In this chapter we will be suggesting that recognising the nature and extent of this problem is one of the most important requirements of being comparative in education in an era of globalisation, for a major consequence of globalisation, not just for comparative education but more generally, is that while it has profound effects on the key features of the economic political and social worlds we inhabit, we remain tied to the concepts with which we described and understood the world prior to globalisation. We will focus here on both the changes brought about by globalisation in the core objects of study of comparative education, ‘national’ ‘education’ ‘systems’ and their consequences for the area of study, both methodological and ‘political’. In terms of the fi rst, we will suggest that the three central elements of the fi eld of comparative education, respectively directly related to those three core objects of study, are in danger of becoming somewhat ossifi ed and of thereby restricting, or even obstructing, rather than expanding, our opportunities to come to terms with globalisation and the ways in which institutional and everyday life has been transformed. We will suggest that the danger can be summed up by suggesting that the ways of approaching the central elements of comparative studies of education, national systems, state-run, of education, are in severe danger of becoming ‘isms’. We may be confronted by, or reliant on, not just methodological nationalism, but methodological statism and methodological educationism. In each case the ‘ism’ is used to suggest

O processo de Bolonha da Europa torna-se global: modelo, mercado, mobilidade, força intelectual ou estratégia para construção do Estado?

Abstract: O artigo examina a interligacao progressiva dos espacos da politica de educacao superior no mundo, focalizando em particular a Europa e o seu projeto de globalizacao da educacao superior, assim como as implicacoes do mesmo para outras economias nacionais e regionais. O trabalho comeca com o Espaco Europeu de Educacao Superior, esbocando as principais caracteristicas do competitivo projeto europeu na educacao superior. Apresenta-se como o Processo Multilateral de Bolonha, projetado para criar uma arquitetura unificada de educacao superior na Europa, foi remodelado e dirigido pela estrategia Lisboa 2000 da Uniao Europeia para a competitividade e pelo relancamento da Agenda Lisboa 2005. Essa agenda tem permitido a utilizacao da educacao superior como uma plataforma para amplas estrategias de regionalizacao e globalizacao da Uniao Europeia para criar tanto "mentes" quanto "mercados" para a economia europeia de conhecimento, levando a emergencia de um sistema global mais integrado e relacional de educacao superior. As acoes da Europa tambem sao moldadas por seu proprio projeto de construcao do Estado, que tende a favorecer a colaboracao com as regioes e promover o inter-regionalismo como uma plataforma para a negociacao global.

Aliens in the Classroom 2': When technology meets classroom life

Abstract: On-Line Papers – Copyright This online paper may be cited or briefly quoted in line with the usual academic conventions, and for personal use. However, this paper must not be published elsewhere (such as mailing lists, bulletin boards etc.) without the author’s explicit permission. If you copy this paper, you must: • include this copyright note. • not use the paper for commercial purposes or gain in any way. • observe the conventions of academic citation in a version of the following: Robertson, Susan L., Aliens in the Classroom 2: When Technology Meets Classroom Life, published by the Centre for Globalisation, Education and Societies, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1JA, UK, available: http://susanleerobertson.com/publications/