Comparative Education in the Era of Globalisation: Evolution, Missions and Roles

Abstract

The field of comparative education is arguably more closely related to globalisation than most other fields of academic enquiry. Comparative education is naturally concerned with cross-national analyses, and the field encourages its participants to be outward-looking. At the same time, the field responds to globalisation. Cross-national forces of change are reflected in dominant paradigms, methodological approaches, and foci of study.In order to provide a context for subsequent discussion, this paper begins by considering some of the meanings of globalisation. The paper then turns to the nature of the field of comparative education, noting dimensions of evolution over the decades and centuries. Moving to relatively recent times, the paper focuses on the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES), which was created in 1970 and currently has 30 constituent societies. As its name suggests, the WCCES is a global body -with all the positive features and tensions that that implies. The paper notes the some characteristics of the global field of comparative education, while also commenting on distinctive features in some countries and regions. The paper highlights some specific domains in which globalisation has changed the agenda in which comparativists can and should work.

Review of the Review: Constructing the Identity of Comparative Education

“…These articles were not included in calculating the percentage distribution of the levels. The country or nation-state or national education system, traditionally the focus of comparative education (see Bray & Kai, 2007, p. 123) tenaciously remains the principal level of focus of articles, notwithstanding a widely held contention that the force and age of globalisation requires a fundamental reconceptualisation and focus for comparative education (see Bray, 2003) -also evident in a spate of recent special editions of Comparative Education Review, such as the on the meaning of globalisation for educational change ( While the national state remains a noteworthy shaping force of education, its centrality as a level of analysis in comparative education has rightfully been criticized. Some of this criticism revolves around the slippery concept of 'national character' (used with the nation-state as the shaping force of education), the problem of assuming the nation-state to be a uniform and isomorphic plane and the negation of transnational forces shaping education (e.g.…”

“…As mentioned, globalisation has caused some comparativists to suggest a shift to higher levels of analyses (e.g. Jarvis, 2000;Bray, 2003).…”

Mapping the Purposes of Comparative and International Education Research: A Comparative Study of Four Leading Journals

“…In Manzon's 2011 discussion of comparative education's teleology, she refines Arnove's framework, synthesising it with views from Martínez (2003( , in Manzon 2011, eventually creating three dimensionsthe theoretical, pragmatic, and critical/emancipatorywhich also "echo the three cognitive interests of Habermas", albeit with a slightly different interpretation than Arnove (Habermas, 1971;Manzon, 2011, p. 173).…”

Sociedad del conocimiento y globalización : nuevos retos para la educación comparada

“…Los diagnósticos acerca de las repercusiones de la globalización y de la posmodernidad en la investigación educativa y, en particular, en la educación comparada han proliferado en la última década (WELCH, 2001;BRAY, 2002;COWEN, 2006;MARTÍNEZ USARRALDE, 2006;ASTIZ, 2011). Si bien esconden conceptos que remiten a aspectos bien distintos de la sociedad actual, las nociones de globalización y de posmodernidad se usan como pareja indisociable para expresar un cierto estado de estupefacción y de vigilancia, tanto epistemológica como de método, que nos obliga a revisar los fundamentos y procedimientos, pero también la agenda de investigación y los enfoques de trabajo.…”