Showing papers in "Compare in 1999"
TL;DR: The field of comparative and international education must be fundamentally reconceptualised and redeveloped in ways that better demonstrate its potential to contribute to: (I) the improvement of educational policy and practice world wide; and (II) advances in theoretical work relating specifically to education and to the social sciences more generally as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: It is argued that the field of comparative and international education must be fundamentally reconceptualised and redeveloped in ways that better demonstrate its potential to contribute to: (I) the improvement of educational policy and practice world‐wide; and (2) advances in theoretical work relating specifically to education and to the social sciences more generally. Traditional strengths of the field upon which we can build are identified, but the discussion focuses upon the nature, significance and potential of emergent trends and new possibilities. This meta‐analysis is presented to stimulate and widen discussion and to help generate further avenues for future research and development. Particular attention is given to the research orientation and potential of our multidisciplinary field; to the implications of globalisation; to the challenges of post‐modern and post‐colonial perspectives; to new frames of reference and units of analysis; to the significance of culture and context; to new for...
94 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that educational decentralisation in the South African context may result in greater educational inequities along the lines of class rather than race, and cautions against unqualified commitment to educateati...
Abstract: The policy of educational decentralisation has in recent times become a key aspect of educational restructuring in the international arena. The decentralisation of educational control and decision‐making is also evident in discussions surrounding educational restructuring in South Africa and has been expressed in the call for greater community and parental participation in schooling. This move towards greater devolution and participation in schooling increased in momentum after the elections of 1994 and was sanctioned with the passing of the South African Schools Act (SASA) in November 1996. In an attempt to understand the move towards educational decentralisation, this paper examines the rationale and likely implications behind such a policy in the South African context. The paper argues that educational decentralisation in the South African context may result in greater educational inequities along the lines of class rather than race. The paper cautions against unqualified commitment to educati...
84 citations
TL;DR: This article proposed an eight-point model by which to compare systems: values, rights, system structures, school processes, learning content, balance, training and outcomes, and identified indicators of democracy and adherence to human rights in school structures and processes.
Abstract: The growth of democratisation reveals tensions associated with the concept and practice of democracy, particularly as applied to education. Such tensions include either suspicions of Western imperialism or—at the other end of the spectrum—the enthusiastic embracing of neo‐liberal market versions. There can be associations both with equity and with anarchy, or the assumption that democracy is only about majority rule. This paper proposes an eight‐point model by which to compare systems: this looks at values, rights, system structures, school processes, learning content, balance, training and outcomes. The paper goes on to outline ways to identify indicators of democracy and adherence to human rights in school structures and processes. Examples are given of the different ways democracy can be interpreted at different levels in a country. The argument is that such comparisons and understandings of language and process are essential if international collaboration towards democracy and development is ...
64 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical analysis of the EU's current understanding of lifelong learning as manifested in the 1995 White Paper on education and training entitled Teaching and Learning-Towards the Learning Society is presented.
Abstract: This article is concerned with an exploration of some of the policy and research implications of lifelong learning. It is devoted to the description and critical analysis of the emergence of lifelong learning as the central strategy in the EU's policies towards education and training. The article is organized in three sections. The first section explores the incremental development of the EU's policies towards education and training and the policy‐making process up to the mid‐1990s. The second section looks more closely at the emergence of lifelong learning on the policy agenda of the EU since 1990. In the third section, attention is focused on a critical analysis of the EU's current understanding of lifelong learning as manifested in the 1995 White Paper on education and training entitled Teaching and Learning—Towards the Learning Society.
62 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the conditions of teachers' work under apartheid, the challenge to these by the South African Democratic Teachers' Union and the struggles in schools over changing relations of authority and teachers’ work in the crucial transition years of 1990•1997.
Abstract: As the South African state begins to democratize, so questions are raised about how this process might be mediated by schools and teachers or how schools’ and teachers’ practices might inform the wider process of social change. This paper explores these issues through an examination of how teachers sought to alter relations of authority and the nature of their work within schools, and how these have interacted with new managerial and state initiatives. It examines the conditions of teachers’ work under apartheid, the challenge to these by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union and the struggles in schools over changing relations of authority and teachers’ work in the crucial transition years of 1990‐1997. It argues that alternative conceptions and practices were developed and institutionalized. This paper uses the results of both a 3 year longitudinal study and research conducted on teacher appraisal with the teachers’ union.
62 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the two approaches and conclude that training is likely to be more effective if mentoring is a central component of the process and concludes that the mentoring component is more effective than the non-mentoring component.
Abstract: The links between educational development and economic capability are widely recognised and have provided part of the rationale for the shift to market concepts of education in many countries. As more functions have been devolved to school level, it has become increasingly evident that principals require training and development to carry out their new responsibilities and to lead improvement in their schools. In Singapore, aspiring principals take a 1‐year training course which includes mentoring by an established principal. In England and Wales, the new National Professional Qualification for Headship is undertaken on a part‐time basis and adopts a quasi competence model without a mentoring dimension. This article compares the two approaches and concludes that training is likely to be more effective if mentoring is a central component of the process.
57 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the challenges and changes facing education systems world wide offer a unique opportunity for compara-tivists to help to shape future policies, and provide six justifications or needs for a reconceptualisation.
Abstract: This paper argues that a century after Michael Sadler's famous speech on ‘How far can we learn anything of practical value from the study of foreign systems of education?’ the turn of a new century/millennium provides a useful opportunity to think afresh about comparative and international education as a field of study. It provides six justifications, or needs, for a reconceptualisation, arguing that the challenges and changes facing education systems world‐wide offer a unique opportunity for compara‐tivists to help to shape future policies.
49 citations
TL;DR: In this article, preliminary investigations into the uses which national (as distinct from expatriate) students make of international school-level qualifications are presented and discussed, with examples of data obtained from various schools offering these qualifications in different countries.
Abstract: This paper is a report on preliminary investigations into the uses which national (as distinct from expatriate) students make of international school‐level qualifications. It reviews some of the qualifications that are available and the organisations that market them. Representative examples of data obtained from various schools offering these qualifications in different countries are presented and then discussed. Patterns from these examples indicate that those taking these examinations are invariably national elites, but their reasons for taking them do vary. While access to overseas universities is a reason for some, this is by no means universal and other reasons relate to perceptions of the educational quality of both the schools and the curricula and to the access that international qualifications may give to the international community. The need for a theoretical framework before further data collection and analysis is carried out is discussed and some possibilities are mentioned.
42 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated how a sample of female Singaporean secondary school principals perceived their leadership styles and compared their responses to a similar study carried out recently of female English head teachers.
Abstract: This paper investigates how a sample of female Singaporean secondary school principals perceived their leadership styles and compares their responses to a similar study carried out recently of female English head teachers. The education systems of England and Singapore are quite different. The English environment allows schools significant autonomy in personnel management and the majority of head teachers and senior managers are male. In contrast, the Singaporean educational environment is quite centralized, including the management of career paths, and the proportion of female senior managers is much higher. Interviews were conducted with 11 female Singaporean principals to identify their styles of management, leadership perspectives, and attitudes. The discussion first focuses on whether or not the styles of the principals in relation to ‘masculine’ or feminine’ stereotypes of leadership were similar to those of the English head teachers. Further comparison is made of the leadership attributes ...
40 citations
TL;DR: This article reviewed the tension within the history of comparative education between qualitative, culturally focused studies and more positivist approaches, and outlined the desirable characteristics of a "neo-comparative" education, of a comparative "learnology" which integrates a range of different social science perspectives, and is both rigorous and radical.
Abstract: This is a revised version of the 1998 Presidential address to the newly‐inaugurated British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE). The paper reviews the tension within the history of comparative education between qualitative, culturally‐focused studies and more positivist approaches. It explores the dangers, as well as the possibilities, inherent in the rapidly‐growing interest in comparative studies. It argues that the advent of postmodernism presents a new challenge for comparativists that requires culture to be accorded a central place in efforts to understand educational organisations and practices. Finally, the paper outlines the desirable characteristics of a ‘neo‐comparative’ education, of a comparative ‘learnology’ which integrates a range of different social science perspectives, and is both rigorous and radical.
37 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the relationship between history teaching and the construction of national identity, and provided a comprohensive analysis of important developments within the history curricula oin England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, and also explained why history has become politicised in Britain over the past few decades.
Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between history teaching and the construction of national identity. Drawing upon recent theoretical and historical work in the field, it provides a comprohensive analysis of important developments within the history curricula oin England, Wales, Northern ireland and Scotland, and also explains why history has become politicised in Britain over the past few decades. The paper speculates about the implications of these developments within history education by considering the capacity of history to influence pupils' collective identity alongside other potentially more powerful factors.
TL;DR: The authors argue that too little attention has been paid to the linguistic diversity of many poor countries by international donor agencies, given that the most plurilingual societies are also amongst the poorest, and that decisions about language choice depend upon a mixture of politics, power relationships and cost.
Abstract: This article argues that too little attention has been paid to the linguistic diversity of many poor countries by international donor agencies, given that the most plurilingual societies are also amongst the poorest. Now that recognition has been belatedly given to the language issue geopolitical changes are leading to conflicting pressures on governments. On the one hand there has been a steady decline in the number of global languages over the years. This process is likely to increase, especially given the pressures for globalisation and the growth of English. On the other hand there are also pressures to develop local languages. Ultimately decisions about language choice depend upon a mixture of politics, power relationships and cost. The choices facing governments in the poorer countries are becoming more difficult not less, but unless positive action is taken to develop local languages many, along with their communities, will decline.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors directly address a fundamental issue concerning comparative education research: is it feasible to do comparative education while focusing on a single society? From the outset, the answer is seen to be affirmative and based clearly on the belief that comparisons over time are at least as interesting and instructive as comparisons over place.
Abstract: This paper directly addresses a fundamental issue concerning comparative education research: is it feasible to do comparative education research while focusing on a single society? From the outset, the answer is seen to be affirmative and based clearly on the belief that comparisons over time are at least as interesting and instructive as comparisons over place. With Hong Kong as the focal point and with particularities given credence, conceptual and methodological problems gain clarity. They include difficulties connected with periodization, the identification of agency in policy‐making, the accessibility and reliability of sources, and the generation and/or deliberate dissemination of myths. The same focus and approach facilitates discussion of themes and issues. These include the historic and current role of colonialism in education and the status it has been accorded by some generalists as conceptual skeleton‐key or, alternatively, as possibly a neo‐colonial myth. Current fashions in favour o...
TL;DR: The authors compared and analyzed the views of English and French trainees in the final months of their respective courses and identified key areas of similarity and difference between the two systems and identified the key differences between them.
Abstract: Courses of initial teacher training have recently undergone profound changes in England and France In both countries, radical reform has swept away traditional models of practice, replacing them by systems in which schools play an increased role in the training and assessment of students and in which a new emphasis has been placed on the practicalities of teaching In the turbulent aftermath of these reforms, how do trainees see the new programmes that aim to equip them with the necessary skills and attributes to become successful entrants to the teaching profession? This article compares and analyses the views of English and French trainees in the final months of their respective courses and identifies key areas of similarity and difference between the two systems
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider how case study approaches may be used cross-nationally and outline five key stages in the process of conducting case study research and of learning from it: selection, verification, cumulation, generalisation, and application.
Abstract: This paper considers how case study approaches may be used cross‐nationally. It outlines five key stages in the process of conducting case study research and of learning from it: selection, verification, cumulation, generalisation, and application. The research used to illustrate these principles is a study of teachers’ experiences of changes in education in post‐communist Russia and post‐apartheid South Africa.
TL;DR: In this paper, the evolution and historical transformation of the concept of equality of opportunity as applied to educational policies in Japan from the end of World War II to the present day is discussed.
Abstract: This paper aims to throw light on the evolution and historical transformation of the concept of equality of opportunity as applied to educational policies in Japan from the end of World War II to the present day. It analyses the Central Council for Education's (CCE) reform proposals in the 1990s, and places them in the context of developing the concept of equality of educational opportunity in the years since 1945, when the post‐war education system was established in Japan. More specifically it addresses the following questions: What kinds of equality of educational opportunity have the central administrative bodies (Monbusho or the CCE), the political parties and teachers aimed to achieve since the war? How have they applied equality of opportunity to educational policies? What kinds of criteria are used by them to measure equality of educational opportunity? To do so, it looks in detail at the main agenda in relation to the issue of equal opportunity in the reports by the CCE on both the state...
TL;DR: In this article, a new project funded by the European Commission within its Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) programme is described, which is now beginning, and a comparative study was already being undertaken in Oxford on the implementation of the European Dimension in education in England, Scotland and Wales.
Abstract: This paper has several purposes. It introduces a new project funded by the European Commission within its Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) programme; it describes the research design of the Oxford part of that project, which is now beginning, and of a comparative study which was already being undertaken in Oxford on the implementation of the ‘European Dimension’ in education in England, Scotland and Wales; and it describes a number of theoretical and methodological problems we anticipate having to address as the studies proceed.
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between the national context and national educational values as these are translated into the school context, teacher beliefs, classroom processes and pupil perspectives on learning and schooling, and found that although pupils in different European countries share many common concerns, they also come to school with significantly different attitudes towards themselves as learners, towards school and towards achie...
Abstract: The paper reports on the findings of a major research project which examines the relationship between the national context and national educational values as these are translated into the school context, teacher beliefs, classroom processes and pupil perspectives on learning and schooling. The theoretical rationale for such research is examined and evidence is drawn from questionnaires administered to approximately 1,800 pupils in secondary schools in England, France and Denmark, individual and group interviews with pupils, discussions with teachers and headteachers, and classroom observation. The paper explores the significance of the cultural context in which learning occurs by examining pupil perspectives on the purposes of schooling and on the teaching they receive. Our findings suggest that although pupils in different European countries share many common concerns, they also come to school with significantly different attitudes towards themselves as learners, towards school and towards achie...
TL;DR: The development and scope of comparative education is traced from a scrutiny of the origins of CESE and BCIES to the merger of BCIES with the new BACIE.
Abstract: The development of the concept and scope of comparative education is traced from a scrutiny of the origins of CESE and BCIES to the merger of BCIES with the new BACIE. A succession of editors of Compare, all of these being significant contributors to the practice of comparative education, have modified and shaped the concept into a recognised university discipline. The notion of ‘applied comparative education’ is considered in reviewing the suggestion that comparative education is research based, whereas international education makes practical use of comparative data. An illustration is given of how a new school was brought into being in which ‘applied comparative education’ was a pioneer feature through the six house units linked with different areas of the world.
TL;DR: In this paper, Egyptian science teachers who have visited science classes in London are reported here, reporting that the professionalism and the good interpersonal relationships that they see in the UK that the Egyptian teachers come to appreciate even more on their return to Egypt.
Abstract: Small differences in working patterns and social relationships can be indicators of deeper cultural differences. It is these non‐educational issues which point to the serious difficulty of making cross‐cultural comparisons. Data collected from Egyptian science teachers who have visited science classes in London are reported here. UK teachers may be habituated, or unaware of features of school life that are quite striking to the Egyptians as new observers. These include well resourced laboratories, considerable practical work done in small groups and a wide variety of classroom activities. However, it is the professionalism and the good interpersonal relationships that they see in the UK that the Egyptian teachers come to appreciate even more on their return to Egypt. Such a feature of UK teachers’ work cannot be identified by international test score comparisons.
TL;DR: This article review the major features of participatory development and ask how far similar processes have been or might be applied in promoting the use of local languages for such development in selected African contexts.
Abstract: Development models have moved away from the simple export or imitation of western patterns towards local ownership and participatory approaches. This movement has brought with it increasing attention to the place of culture, ethnicity and language in development. In situations of high linguistic diversity, debate has concentrated largely on language choice and use in the formal educational system without reference to wider participatory processes of development in the community. Questions of language choice in both education and development are, however, crucial where local community languages have little written tradition and may have been considered of too little significance to develop. This article will review the major features of participatory development and ask how far similar processes have been or might be applied in promoting the use of local languages for such development. These questions will be explored in selected African contexts. How does intervention for language development dov...