Showing papers in "Comparative Education in 2006"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe how lifelong learning has emerged as the central strategy in EU education and training policy, and provide a closer look at the EU's underlying concept of lifelong learning and its objectives.
Abstract: Lifelong learning has become a (still) increasingly popular slogan in the field of EU educational policy. Embedded in an international and historical account of the discourse on lifelong learning since the 1970s, this paper describes how lifelong learning has emerged as the central strategy in EU education and training policy, and provides a closer look at the EU’s underlying concept of lifelong learning and its objectives. Based on these illustrations, it provides some critical thoughts on the EU’s use of the term lifelong learning and its lifelong learning principles. Within this context, it calls for cautiousness: is lifelong learning just used as a powerful label, i.e. an elastic concept tailorable to any needs, or is it underpinned by a solid, comprehensive concept and strategy of lifelong learning? Following this line of argumentation, this paper also sets the EU’s lifelong learning policies in the broader light of the highly debated EU convergence policy in the field of education and training.
289 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the ways in which EU education and training policies have developed over time, focusing on their legal basis, underlying principles, main forms of implementation and their impact on national education systems.
Abstract: This paper investigates European Union (EU) education and training policies in the light of the evolving Lisbon agenda on improving the competitiveness of the EU. It examines the ways in which EU policies have developed over time, focusing on their legal basis, underlying principles, main forms of implementation and their impact on national education and training systems. The paper argues that, in the wake of the Lisbon agenda, the legal basis for EU activities has been substantially extended by intergovernmental agreements. The discourse on the concept of economic competitiveness has changed the formulation of new EU policies in education and training, exemplified by a strong emphasis on educational indicators, benchmarks and quality controls. This has resulted in a new wave of EU initiatives in the field, sometimes updating or recycling activities that had not been successful in the past. The slow progress regarding the Lisbon goals for education and training seems to indicate, however, that the impact ...
125 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the analysis of student mobility in the EU as a means to stimulate convergence of diverse higher education systems and argue that promoting student mobility was not an act of a limited ambition, but on the contrary, an initiative aiming at the foundation of a system of higher education institutions at a European level.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the analysis of student mobility in the EU as a means to stimulate convergence of diverse higher education systems. The argument is based on official texts and other texts of political communication of the European Commission. The following discussion is placed within the current context of the Bologna process and its aim to introduce system‐level changes towards convergence and harmonization that were not achieved through EU schemes of student mobility. Without disregarding the tension between popularity and limited impact of EU mobility programmes, I argue that promoting student mobility was not an act of a limited ambition, but on the contrary, an initiative aiming at the foundation of a system of higher education institutions at a European level.
125 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored how teachers and pupils face the challenge of accomplishing teaching and learning using a language which is not their own using observations and audio-recordings of classroom language use in two postcolonial societies, the Republic of Botswana and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam in south-east Asia.
Abstract: Drawing on observations and audio‐recordings of classroom language use in two postcolonial societies, the Republic of Botswana in Africa and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam in south‐east Asia, this study seeks to explore how teachers and pupils face the challenge of accomplishing teaching and learning using a language which is not their own. In both Botswana and Brunei Darussalam, English is the official language of instruction for some subjects from mid‐primary school level. Unlike many comparative studies which concentrate on the macro or national level, the focus of this study is the micro‐level of classroom interaction. The study shows that there are both similarities and differences across the two contexts in the ways teachers and pupils engage with language(s) through a range of monolingual and bilingual strategies. In comparing the discourses of primary‐level classrooms in Botswana and Brunei Darussalam, the study demonstrates the tensions in the language policies and practices in the two postco...
111 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an empirical study explores Ghanaian teachers' understandings of teaching, learning and assessment, concluding that given the right circumstances, teachers can reflect on their experiences and produce a more sophisticated account of teaching and learning, recommending further attention to the discursive frames of teachers' professional reflections within dialogue and active engagement through school-based coaching.
Abstract: This article reports on an empirical study exploring Ghanaian teachers' understandings of teaching, learning and assessment. It argues that received views of poorly trained teachers with untheorized and badly reasoned professional practices may mask a more complex situation. In defining learning, teachers in the study reproduced models consistent with transmission or behaviouristic theories. However, when asked to describe their most successful experiences, teachers' understandings were more in accord with social constructivism. Also, their aspiration towards interactive models of classroom assessment was circumscribed by the normal context of assessment discourse and by bureaucratic requirements. The article concludes that, given the right circumstances, teachers can reflect on their experiences and produce a more sophisticated account of teaching and learning. It suggests ways in which in-service work might make use of these insights, recommending further attention to the discursive frames of teachers' professional reflections within dialogue and active engagement through school-based coaching.
106 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors start from the observed fact that equality of opportunities of educational achievement is higher in integrated school systems than in differentiated school systems, and they offer three analyses based on a comparative analysis of international databases measuring educational achievement, which lend credence to the hypothesis that the structure of the school system has a specific effect on the extent of inequalities.
Abstract: In this study the authors start from the observed fact that equality of opportunities of educational achievement is higher in integrated school systems than in differentiated school systems. In other words, in integrated school systems, a pupil's school achievement depends less than elsewhere on the social and cultural resources of his or her family. However, before concluding that school structure has a significant influence on inequalities at school, it is important to distinguish between the influence of the socio-economic context underlying each school system, and the specific influence of the structure or organisation of the school system itself. The fact is that not only do the most egalitarian countries with regard to schooling have in common an integrated structure, but also these schools are set within the context of countries which are more egalitarian in other ways, particularly with regard to income distribution. To distinguish between the influence of this social environment and that of school structure, the authors offer three analyses based on a comparative analysis of international databases measuring educational achievement. The results of these three analyses lend credence to the hypothesis that the structure of the school system has a specific effect on the extent of inequalities.
87 citations
TL;DR: Social Network Analysis (SNA) has been widely used in the social sciences and comparative research as mentioned in this paper, where the authors present a basic summary of the theoretical and methodological assumptions of SNA followed by a succinct overview of its application to diverse fields of study.
Abstract: This essay describes the pertinence of Social Network Analysis (SNA) for the social sciences in general, and discusses its methodological and conceptual implications for comparative research in particular. The authors first present a basic summary of the theoretical and methodological assumptions of SNA, followed by a succinct overview of its application to diverse fields of study. They then exemplify in greater detail one of the possible uses of SNA in comparative research, namely in studies on the transnational diffusion of innovations. In so doing, they draw on a case taken from their own research work, i.e. the introduction and dissemination of the so‐called monitorial system of education in early nineteenth‐century Hispanic America. The authors conclude with an assessment of the impact, possibilities, and weaknesses of SNA in the current conjuncture of comparative social and historical research.
54 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace some of the fundamental problems that comparative social and cultural sciences have had to cope with since their emergence and gradual consolidation, in the course of the nineteenth century, and adopt a historical line of analysis, which is meant to throw into relief the very succession of constitutive problems, alternative problem solutions, resultant follow-up problems, and the corresponding present-day debates.
Abstract: The article—which also serves as Editorial—seeks to trace some of the fundamental problems that the comparative social and cultural sciences have had to cope with since their emergence and gradual consolidation, in the course of the nineteenth century. To this end, the article adopts a historical line of analysis, which is meant to throw into relief the very succession of constitutive problems, alternative problem solutions, resultant follow‐up problems, and the corresponding present‐day debates, as reflected in the articles of this issue. Two lines of problem developments are highlighted in greater detail. These include, on the one hand, the issue of how to break down analytically a socio‐historical information base that may be expanded to virtually global dimensions so as to yield systematic knowledge, i.e. knowledge pertinent to theory building and explanation, as is generally expected from the comparative approach. On the other hand, the analysis focuses on the research‐framing issue of whether the un...
49 citations
TL;DR: The authors compared the concept of mixed faith/cultural education in Northern Ireland and Israel and concluded that attention needs to be paid to both the policy context and the culture if contact initiatives are to be successful.
Abstract: This paper compares the concept of mixed faith/cultural education in Northern Ireland and Israel. It is primarily concerned with the processes that these ‘integrated’ schools adopt in their quest to improve relations between divided ethnic groups. Drawing on qualitative data collected in two mixed religion primary schools in each jurisdiction the paper shows that the schools' existing cultural norms act as important mediating influences on the way that inter‐group relationships are constructed. The paper concludes that attention needs to be paid to both the policy context and the culture if contact initiatives are to be successful.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the changing logic of citizenship and its "terms of inclusion" implications for schooling and examine the rise of valorized diversity and its influence on the changing charac...
Abstract: Studies of academic achievement and educational and occupational mobility constitute mainstream educational sociology. The key questions and main findings within these research traditions are identified, emphasizing both stable cross‐national generalizations as well as cross‐national contexts which lead to variable outcomes. To illustrate, family background is clearly related to academic achievement cross‐nationally, but there is much cross‐national variation in the relationship between achievement and aspirations. A comparative cross‐national perspective adds to our understanding of how and why standard educational variables are related to one another. To revitalize the sociology of education, however, requires going beyond its established research traditions. In this spirit the second part of this paper explores questions about the changing logic of citizenship and its ‘terms of inclusion’ implications for schooling. I also examine the rise of valorized diversity and its influence on the changing charac...
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the possibilities and challenges for global history in an age in which universalism and Eurocentrism have long come under attack from many different directions.
Abstract: The article discusses the parameters of the expanding field of global history and its wider methodological implications. In a first step the author outlines the rising interest in transcultural and global history that can be observed in many parts of the world. In this context different approaches to global history as well as alternative methodologies and periodizations are discussed. In a second step the author reflects upon the possibilities and challenges for global history in an age in which universalism and Eurocentrism have long come under attack from many different directions. The article discusses dependency theory and subaltern studies as two very different precursors to the current critiques of Eurocentrism. The impact and legacy of such schools, the author argues, cannot be ignored by global historians, even though they do not need to get directly involved in these academic discourses. The piece ends with scenarios for multipolar and pluralistic perspectives on the past.
TL;DR: The European School at Culham as mentioned in this paper tried to encourage pupils to develop a sense of European identity through the many opportunities the school provided for children from diverse European backgrounds to integrate and interact with one another.
Abstract: Encouraging pupils to develop a sense of European identity is one of the implicit aims of the ‘European Schools’. This paper reports on a small case study that was carried out in 2004 that investigated how the European School at Culham attempts to develop in its pupils a sense of European identity. In particular, the study looked at the secondary school’s organizational features, its curriculum, extra‐curricular activities and teachers’ conceptions of European identity. The research findings reveal that above all else, pupils’ sense of European identity is encouraged indirectly through the many opportunities the school provides for these children from diverse European backgrounds to integrate and interact with one another. Teachers at the school believe that it is through such interactions, which take place both in the classroom and through extra‐curricular activities, that pupils learn about each others’ cultures and languages and develop a feeling of being European.
TL;DR: This article reviewed the policies for disadvantaged children in western countries since the mid-sixties and discussed the differences and similarities in approach and the disappointing results, and explored some of the alternatives such as pre-schooling, reducing class size, restructuring the school year, and teacher incentives.
Abstract: This article reviews the policies for disadvantaged children in western countries since the mid‐sixties. First, it analyses the design and results of the ‘classic programmes’ of positive discrimination such as the American Title I programme, and the English, Dutch, Flemish and French priority areas policies. It discusses the differences and similarities in approach and the disappointing results. Second, the article explores some of the ‘alternatives’ such as pre‐schooling, reducing class size, restructuring the school year, and teacher incentives.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the policy cycle and vernacular globalization in the context of higher education reform in Vietnam and reveal the dynamic tension between these local and global influences on higher education policy and practice, and more specifically, the dilemmas associated with top-down policy implementation when a new organization consists of older organizations with powerful provenance and reputations.
Abstract: This article examines the policy cycle and vernacular globalization in the context of higher education reform in Vietnam. Through an analysis of the development of the Vietnam National University - Hochiminh City as part of the post-1986 reconstruction of Vietnamese higher education, the article considers the complex interrelationship between globalized policy discourses, national interests and history in Vietnam, and the specific politics of policy implementation within one institution. Vietnam National University - Hochiminh City was created through an amalgamation of a number of smaller universities, and against the backdrop of social and economic restructuring aimed at promoting industrialization and a market orientation within socialist governance. The article reveals the dynamic tension between these local and global influences on higher education policy and practice, and more specifically, the dilemmas associated with top-down policy implementation when a new organization consists of older organizations with powerful provenance and reputations. In so doing the article demonstrates the necessity to globalize policy theory.
TL;DR: Despite broad agreement on professional mobility, there has been little movement towards consensus across the European Union on what constitutes the good teacher and therefore on common features in training and qualification as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Despite broad agreements on professional mobility, there has been little movement towards consensus across the European Union on what constitutes the good teacher and therefore on common features in training and qualification Political declarations have not led to significant action by national politicians Impetus towards a European dimension in the training of teachers has diminished in the last decade Explanations may be sought in different historical contexts, situations and understandings Recognition of differences may be a better foundation for professional mobility than a quest for communality, and case studies of experiences of teaching in other European contexts may lead to improvements in training for transfer Whilst there are still rhetorical gestures towards convergence, a case study of the regulation of professional mobility to England, now more transparently controlled by the new General Teaching Council, illustrates achievable problem solving as a way forward
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe an EU-funded project under the Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) Programme, with a particular emphasis on the Oxford-based part, concerned with the tensions between standardization and tradition in education.
Abstract: This paper describes an EU‐funded project under the Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) Programme, with a particular emphasis on the Oxford‐based part. Involving six European universities, the overarching investigation was concerned with the tensions between standardization and tradition in education. In Oxford the focus was on aspects of EU education and training policy in four Member States: the United Kingdom, German, Sweden, and France. The paper describes the research undertaken and its outcomes, using the project as an example of EU funding programmes.
TL;DR: The authors examines interactions between the global and the local in the context of Japanese mainstream schooling, by focusing on the development of local government policies to manage diversity in schools, revealing how local governments developed education policies in interaction with grassroots professional groups, activists and schools, and by selectively incorporating national policies.
Abstract: This paper examines interactions between the global and the local in the context of Japanese mainstream schooling, by focusing on the development of local government policies to manage diversity in schools. This paper reveals how local governments developed education policies in interaction with grassroots professional groups, activists and schools, and by selectively incorporating national policies. These local policies are multicultural education policies but differ in two significant ways. The first is their predominant concern with human rights education, leaving celebration of cultural diversity as a marginal consideration, and the other is the official use of the term ‘foreigners’ in the title of these policies; both of which reflect the pre‐existing local context. The paper demonstrates that new immigrants do not unilaterally impact on supposedly ethnically homogeneous Japanese classrooms, but that the pre‐existing local contexts (national, local and institutional) have mediated global forces in ef...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined what school autonomy meant in Argentina and how it was adopted at the provincial and school levels using qualitative data on school districts of the Greater Buenos Aires.
Abstract: This article provides empirical evidence of policy adoption, outcomes and consequences of decentralization and school autonomy initiatives enacted in Argentina during the 1990s. The study examines what school autonomy meant in Argentina and how it was adopted at the provincial and school levels. Using qualitative data on school districts of the Greater Buenos Aires, the study analyzes the role that organizational and political factors play in the implementation of school autonomy reform. Given that previous studies showed that reform praxis varies across environments, this research looks comparatively at the outcomes of the reform process across organizational systems (i.e. provincial and former national) and diverse local sociopolitical environments.
TL;DR: The authors argued that the opportunity in Phase I of the IEA's Civic Education Study to include the new democracies' experiences of citizenship education have not been sufficiently exploited. But they also pointed out some of the circumstances that seem to have had an impact on which problems were analysed in the study and which problems are largely ignored.
Abstract: This article argues that the opportunity in Phase I of the IEA’s Civic Education Study to include the new democracies’ experiences of citizenship education have not been sufficiently exploited. ‘Borrowing’ citizenship education from abroad and citizenship education for ‘civil society’ have been chosen as examples of problems in the new democracies which have not been exploited. The final section focuses on the question of why new and recurring problems in citizenship education, which occurred in post‐communist Europe, have not been identified, described or analysed in the IEA’s publication New paradigms and new recurring paradoxes in education for citizenship: an international comparison. The paper also points to some of the circumstances that seem to have had an impact on which problems were analysed in the study and which problems were largely ignored.
TL;DR: The role of comparative history in macro-social inquiry was explored by Theda Skocpol as mentioned in this paper, who argued that historical sociology aimed to derive causal regularities in history without assuming a preconceived general model.
Abstract: Exploring the role of comparative history in macro‐social inquiry, Theda Skocpol suggested, in the early 1980s, that historical sociology aimed to derive causal regularities in history without assuming a ‘preconceived general model’. This triggered off a debate on the foundations of historical sociology. Starting from a sketch of the historical and theoretical background, this essay analyses the various positions that evolved in this debate. The analysis relies on an analytical framework that maps various understandings of theory in the social sciences. Three positions are discussed: standard, social‐philosophical and pragmatist conceptions of social science theory. We conclude that both standard scholars (the early functionalists and the later rational choice theorists) and social philosophers fail to overcome the fear of comparisons and context. Pragmatists, in contrast, have no such fear, since they avoid high‐level notions of theory and allow only internal analogies when they analyse historical develo...
TL;DR: The key element in comparative history is the problem of cultural and social differentiation and difference on the one hand, assimilation and similarity on the other. as discussed by the authors presents an outline of comparative historical science and discusses its epistemological basis, research topics, main concepts and methods.
Abstract: The key element in comparative history is the problem of cultural and social differentiation and difference on the one hand, assimilation and similarity on the other. Comparative historical science relativizes local, national and regional conceptions of history and interpretations of self and other by systematically linking historical experiences, paths of development and socialization processes. The historical comparison of societies and cultures is a specific, multi‐perspective and interactive way of reconstructing and representing the past. The article presents an outline of the history of comparative historical science and discusses its epistemological basis, research topics, main concepts and methods. It analyses the shift from cross‐societal analysis to the study of intercultural interdependence and shows why comparative social history became a pioneer of cultural and international history in Europe. The author concludes that comparative historical science should concentrate on the problems of spati...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the proposals and concluded that, like past initiatives, they were largely ideologically driven, focusing on the structures of schooling rather than teaching and learning, and pointed out that the proposed reform efforts were largely focused on the structure of schooling, rather than on the learning process.
Abstract: Despite concerns regarding Italy’s high levels of early school‐leaving, regional differences in educational outcomes and persistent inequalities, efforts to reform the country’s complex system of senior secondary schooling have been repeatedly frustrated Regarded by the left as contributing to the reproduction of social inequalities, Italy’s dual‐track system of academic and vocational secondary schools has been the focus of many reform efforts, for the most part unsuccessful Recent proposals for reform, initiated by the recently deposed right‐wing Government coalition, reflected a very different approach to change, reinforcing the division between the academic and the vocational in Italy’s schools and largely devolving responsibility for vocational education and training to the regions This article examines the proposals and concludes that, like past initiatives, they were largely ideologically driven, focusing on the structures of schooling rather than teaching and learning The article points to the
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the objectives, benefits and difficulties in the implementation of school partnerships under the optional European educational programme Comenius in the context of a policy promoting the European Dimension in the education systems of Europe and particularly in Greek education.
Abstract: This article examines the objectives, the benefits and the difficulties in the implementation of school partnerships under the optional European educational programme Comenius in the context of a policy promoting the European Dimension in the education systems of Europe and particularly in Greek education. A sample of Greek teachers having run such a partnership project and promoters of the programme were interviewed in depth for the purpose of this study. It was argued that through the European Dimension, the Community’s objective is to promote a common attitude of European countries towards topics of social interest through the incorporation of similar features into the curricula of different education systems across Europe. In this context, all the interviewees underlined that by participating in Comenius, pupils and teachers had the opportunity to meet people from different European countries and education systems, learned foreign languages and made use of new technologies. However, the Greek responde...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on the findings of the ENCOMPASS project to illustrate the concepts of quality as expressed by the pupils themselves, and look at what pupils in England, France and Denmark had to tell us about motivation, engagement and the conditions necessary for effective teaching and learning.
Abstract: In many countries around the world there is a current focus on the restructuring of education systems in a bid to increase the quality of the educational experience for pupils in order to raise their academic achievement. However, the defiition of quality as expressed through policy may not always accord with the aims and aspirations of individual teachers or, perhaps more importantly, match the constructions given to the concept of quality by pupils. The rhetoric and intent expressed in policy texts may even have the potential to restrict the quality of what teachers do and what pupils experience. This paper draws on the findings of the ENCOMPASS project to illustrate the concepts of quality as expressed by the pupils themselves. It looks at what pupils in England, France and Denmark had to tell us about motivation, engagement and the conditions necessary for effective teaching and learning. It proposes some reflections on questions such as: What do young people see as the purpose of schooling? What moti...
TL;DR: In this paper, Weber's model of singular causal explanation is reinterpreted in the light of more recent epistemological debates and illustrated by examples taken from the literature of social sciences.
Abstract: Since the classical authors of the nineteenth century, the explanation of macro‐social phenomena has been considered as the essential epistemic achievement, hence the raison d’etre, of comparative analysis in the social sciences. In practice, however, the claims of comparative social enquiry for providing convincing explanations are not easily kept. Their realization depends upon quasi‐ontological understandings of causation, and on varying conceptions of social theory. The article resumes and tackles these issues while trying to avoid the pitfalls of both positivist orthodoxy and historicist methodology. In so doing, the essay draws heavily on Max Weber’s model of ‘singular causal explanation’. It is based on a dynamic and triadic scheme of causal relationships—and of causal analysis—that deals in courses of events, and in divergences between alternative paths and outcomes. The model is both reinterpreted in the light of more recent epistemological debates and illustrated by examples taken from the autho...
TL;DR: In this paper, applied comparative education: the International Baccalaureate, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 77-80, with a focus on the application of the international standard.
Abstract: (1977). Applied Comparative Education: the International Baccalaureate. Comparative Education: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 77-80.
TL;DR: In this article, an analysis of how education appears in the future European Constitution that will be the reference point for European Union actions on education issues in coming years, even though it has been questioned by the negative results of the referendums in France and Holland.
Abstract: This article will deal with an analysis of how education appears in the future European Constitution that will be the reference point for European Union actions on education issues in coming years, even though it has been questioned by the negative results of the referendums in France and Holland. Subsequently, there will be a comparative reflection upon the progression and retrogression of the way the right to education is represented in the European Constitution as opposed to the approaches on this matter which other legal international instruments present.