Comparative studies in education in Southern Europe

Abstract

This special issue offers a critical overview of the Southern Europe construction of comparative education and the different sets of philosophical and historical framings, including university cultures, in which it is embedded and developed. One of the main aims is to examine the contribution to theorisation which comes from a comparison of 'comparative educations' from an historical, cultural, linguistic point of view, and to show how this analysis may illuminate the underlining links between comparative studies in education and political and power issues. The special issue, focusing on an area loosely indicated as 'Southern Europe', including Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece 1 , fills a somewhat paradoxical 'void'. This is an area with a peculiar geopolitical position: not really 'peripheral' in relation to European cultural tradition (rather, in a sense, it is its 'cradle'), but pushed towards the periphery politically and economically, as well as in the main international debate, from the twentieth century on, not least for language reasons. This obviously applies in differing degrees to the different countries in the area, that have some cultural affinities and long-lasting historical and cultural interactions between them, but very different positions in 'world dynamics', which have an obvious influence on comparative education and other fields of study and on the dialectics that individual traditions have maintained with the prevailing international discourse. In this framework, important questions arise: what have been and are the cultural consequences of this position? Can we identify one or more characteristics of this position in the comparative education(s) developed up to now in these countries? And what developments are foreseeable under present conditions, giving a new, albeit at times dramatic, centrality to South and Mediterranean countries in Europe, involving alsoindeed perhaps mainlythe cultural and educational aspect? One of the aims of the issue is to discuss the ratio 2 of the 'south' with the intertwining of similar traits and country-specific aspects among the countries considered. Whatever criterion one may choose, there never is a perfect overlapping: Italy, Spain and Portugal are Latin, but Greece is not; Greece is Mediterranean, but not Latin; and of course Portugal is not Mediterranean. It has recently been suggested, however, that one significant point of affinity between all of these countries (and France as well) is the role of the state in its relationship with the administrative system, which influences at least the formal systems of education (Argyropoulou 2015); while at the same time significant affinities can also be found regarding the approach to less formal educational provisions (Guimaraes, Villeguas, and Mayo 2018). More generally, however problematic the issue, identifying Southern Europe as one of the European regions is well supported by recent research, as will be discussed later. Discussing the ratio of the South implies also putting under examination the notionto...

Isomorphism, polymorphism, or hybridization? South-European educational inequalities at check

“…This does not mean that we cannot or should not intensify the comparative analysis between the countries of Southern Europe and between them and the rest of Europe. This kind of research is essential and valuable as it contributes to deconstruct the concept of the block of Southern Europe (Palomba, Cappa, 2018) and to highlight the differences and analytical similarities that each of these countries may have with other European countries.…”

“…While there is a robust consensus on the existence of a South European welfare regime (Ferrera, 1996) and several researches have been consolidating that perspective while underlying national specificities (Rhodes, 1996), researches on cross-country comparisons of educational systems and performances have not been focussed enough to provide a solid framework to identify a common or different educational patterning among countries such as Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain (Madeira, 2018;Nóvoa, 2018;Palomba, Cappa, 2018). In this brief paper, we aim at understanding whether a South-European educational space exist in relation to structural internal features and educational inequalities and whether single national education systems tend toward isomorphism, polymorphism or hybridization.…”

The European Conference on Education 2022: Official Conference Proceedings

“…Their different positions in world dynamics influences the comparative education section (Palomba & Capa, 2018). The Southern-European countries are seen as eternally attempting to bridge the various types of gaps that divide them from the Western-European countries which are considered more 'advanced' (Palomba & Cappa, 2018).…”

Adult Education and lifelong learning in Southern European societies

“…Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Southern European Societies may overcome the distance that separates them from the rest of Western Europe. According to Boaventura de Sousa Santos (cit in Palomba & Cappa, 2018), there is a marginalisation of the South easily identifiable in policy reports, and other documents that seems to reveal a kind of internal colonisation within Europe, guided by the idea of the existence of only one Europe and only one western modernity, which has become more visible during the recent economic crisis that particularly affected these countries.…”

“…In Spain, compulsory education is also 9/10 years, starts at age 6 and ends at age 15/16 and also corresponds to ISCED 3. It should be noted that although three of these countries have compulsory education corresponding to ISCED 3, 2 The option not to include France in this set comes in alignment with the option of some of the most recent comparative studies in Southern European education (Palomba & Cappa, 2018), which considers it to be an exception country that has been trying to find its own place in Europe. 3 OECD (2020) https://gpseducation.oecd.org/.…”