Current Issues in Comparative Education 

About: Current Issues in Comparative Education is an academic journal published by Teachers College. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Comparative education & Higher education. It has an ISSN identifier of 1523-1615. Over the lifetime, 198 publications have been published receiving 3596 citations. The journal is also known as: CICE.

What's 'new' in New Literacy Studies? Critical approaches to literacy in theory and practice

Abstract: What has come to be termed the "New Literacy Studies" (NLS) (Gee, 1991; Street, 1996) represents a new tradition in considering the nature of literacy, focusing not so much on acquisition of skills, as in dominant approaches, but rather on what it means to think of literacy as a social practice (Street, 1985). This entails the recognition of multiple literacies, varying according to time and space, but also contested in relations of power. NLS, then, takes nothing for granted with respect to literacy and the social practices with which it becomes associated, problematizing what counts as literacy at any time and place and asking "whose literacies" are dominant and whose are marginalized or resistant.

Comparatively Knowing: Making a Case for the Vertical Case Study.

Abstract: This article enters into contemporary debates regarding methodology and training in comparative and international education by addressing epistemological questions about what can be known of the world and how it can be known through comparative research. We contend that debates over qualitative versus quantitative methods or area studies versus cross-national studies miss the mark as they address only superficial differences in the field when much deeper divisions exist over the nature of comparative knowledge. Based on our view of comparative knowledge, we propose the vertical case study as a means of comparing knowledge claims among actors with different social locations in an attempt to situate local action and interpretation within a broader cultural, historical, and political investigation. We also put forth a program of study that would enable students of comparative and international education to conduct research promoting full and thorough knowledge of multiple levels of comparison within a single vertically-bounded case. Comparative and international education: Fifty years of debate The 50th anniversary of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) provides an ideal opportunity for students and scholars of comparative and international education to reflect on the debates that have shaped the field and continue to define its contours. These debates come to life in the recently-completed oral history of the field, Comparatively Speaking, a documentary in which past presidents of CIES discuss the origins of the Society, the tensions among its members, and their visions of the future for comparative and international education. Some of the most memorable footage comes in response to questions about the principal divisions in the field for many decades: the distinction between comparative education and international education; the theory/practice divide; and the meaning of “comparative methods.” From our vantage point at Teachers College, the latter issue constitutes the most contentious contemporary debate. Cast as deliberations over qualitative versus quantitative methods or as case studies versus cross-national studies, we believe these debates over methods miss the mark as they address only superficial differences in the field when much deeper divisions exist over the nature of comparative knowledge. In this article, we seek to move several issues of current debate from the more common terrain of methodology and methodological training to the less familiar landscape of epistemology. We contend that students and scholars of comparative and international education need to pay greater attention to epistemological issues related to what can be known about the world and how it can be known through comparative research before attending to the rules and procedures—the methods—used to gain such knowledge. As Masemann argued in her 1990 presidential address, “… our conceptions of ways of

Whose Theory of Participation? School Governance Policy and Practice in South Africa.

Abstract: This article analyzes South Africa's efforts to promote broader participation in educational decision-making through local school governance structures in which parents serve as majority members. We utilize the "theory of action" framework to understand both government policy and school-level actors' meanings of two dimensions of governance: participation and representation. The analysis considers policy statements, government efforts to monitor implementation, and extensive data from parents, principals, teaches and learners in six diverse schools in two provinces. The "theory-in-use" among most of the school-level actors reflects the policy signals and dominates governance discourse. School governance and participation is being defined in very narrow terms that emphasize participation for efficiency reasons, rather than for democratic purposes. Parents' participation is framed by what principals view as appropriate within the boundaries of supporting the efficient running of the school. Truly re-defining roles of school level actors will require addressing power structures and conventions if it is to allow for the authentic participation of communities in the governance of schools.

Defining Islamic Education: Differentiation and Applications.

Abstract: This article explores use of several terms that signify Islam, and provides guidelines to clarify their use in internal and external discourses. Building on this foundation, the article delineates a typology of Islamic education and their associated institutions. This enhances understanding of important conceptual differences that hinge upon subtle variations of language as in the distinction between education of Muslims and for Muslims, and between teaching Islam and teaching about Islam. The article then seeks to elucidate a theoretical conception of "Islamic education," that takes into consideration Islamic scripture and Prophetic statements, along with commonly-held approaches to education in Muslim history. The article concludes that key motivations and characteristics of a holistic and purposeful education program are shared between Islamic and Western traditions, a phenomenon partially explained by the shared and cumulative transmission of educational values and methods from classical times until the present.

Chilean Student Movements: Sustained Struggle to Transform a Market-Oriented Educational System.

Abstract: During the last decade, Chilean society was shaken by sharply critical and powerful student movements: secondary students led the 2006 “Penguin Revolution” and university students led the 2011 “Chilean Winter.” This article describes and analyzes these student movements to illustrate how students can be highly relevant political actors in the educational debate. First, we explain the main features of the Chilean educational system, including its extreme degree of marketization, which provided the institutional context of the movements. Next, we analyze the key components and characteristics of the 2006 and 2011 student movements to describe basic features of the two movements and identify common elements of these movements, especially from an education policy perspective. We mainly focus on the link between students’ demands and discourses and the market-oriented institutions that prevail in Chilean education. Finally, we identify students’ impact on educational debates in Chile and examine general implications for policy-making processes in the educational arena.