Comparative education is a discipline in the social sciences which entails the scrutiny and evaluation of different educational systems, such as those in various countries. Professionals in this area of endeavor are absorbed in advancing evocative terminologies and guidelines for education worldwide, enhancing educational structures and producing a context to which the success and effectivity of education programs and initiatives can be assessed.
Objectives and Scope
According to Harold Noah, and Farooq Joubish, comparative education has five purposes:
To describe educational systems, processes, or outcomes.
To highlight the relationships between education and society.
To establish generalized statements about education that are valid in more than one country.
To help the current generation, understand the now a days education systems, with reference to the past.
Comparative education is often incorrectly assumed to exclusively encompass studies that compare two or more different countries. In fact, since its early days researchers in this field have often eschewed such approaches, preferring rather to focus on comparisons within a single country over time. Still, some large scale projects, such as the PISA and TIMSS studies, have made important findings through explicitly comparative macro analysis of massive data sets. Recent examples in this regard include studies analyzing intra-European and intra-American teacher education.
Rationale for the Field
Many important educational questions can best be examined from an international and comparative perspective. For example, in the United States there is no nationwide certificate of completion of secondary education. This raises the question of what the advantages and disadvantages are of leaving such certification to each of the 50 states. Comparative education draws on the experience of countries such as Japan and France to show how a centralized system works, and what the advantages and disadvantages of a centralized certification are. Critics of comparative education refer to it as Policy Borrowing.
Disciplinary vs. Interdisciplinary Identity
Comparative education is closely allied to, and may overlap with, international education, international development education, and comparative sociology. While in some countries, comparative education is fully established as a distinct field of educational research, in others it might best be regarded as an interdisciplinary field that brings together scholars from diverse specializations. For instance, specialists in math education, social studies education, or various arts subjects may develop research designed to enable meaningful comparisons between national educational systems with a focus on their specific subject area of expertise. It follows that comparative education research can examine schooling holistically and globally, or may alternatively focus on the status of a particular subject area in a specific region of the world, thereby benefiting from subject-area or regional expertise. Each approach may have characteristic advantages and disadvantages.
The Comparative and International Education Society was founded in 1956 to foster "cross-cultural understanding, scholarship, academic achievement, and societal development through the international study of educational ideas, systems, and practices."
Influential Scholars
Mark Bray
Nicholas Burbules
Torsten Husen
John W. Meyer
Harold J. Noah
Fernando Reimers
Carlos Torres
Other Resources
Altbach, Philip G. Comparative Higher Education: Knowledge, the University, and Development. Greenwich, CT: Ablex Pub. Corp.,1998.
Comparative Education Research Approaches and Methods. Edited by Mark Bray, Bob Adamson and Mark Mason. Hong Kong and Dordrecht: Springer, 2007.
Emergent Issues in Education: Comparative Perspectives. Edited by Robert F. Arnove, Philip G. Altbach, and Gail P. Kelly. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992.
Arnove, R. and Torres, C. eds Comparative Education: The Dialectic of the Global and the Local. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield.
International Perspectives on Educational Reform and Policy Implementation. Edited by David S.G. Carter and Marnie H. O'Neill. Washington, DC: Falmer Press, 1995.
Quality Assurance in Higher Education: An International Perspective. Edited by Gerald H. Gaither. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998.
Higher Education Policy: An International Comparative Perspective. Edited by Leo Goedegebuure, et al. New York: Pergamon Press, 1994.
Harold J. Noah and Max A. Eckstein. Toward a Science of Comparative Education.
Harold J. Noah and Max A. Eckstein. Secondary School Examinations: International Perspectives on Policies and Practice. .
Harold J. Noah and Max A. Eckstein. Doing Comparative Education: Three Decades of Collaboration.
Hebert, David & Hauge, Torunn Bakken. Advancing Music Education in Northern Europe.
Gottlieb, Esther E. . In Moon, B. Ben-Peretz, M & Brown S., International Companion to Education, pp. 153–175 London & NY: Routledge, 2000.
Mazawi, A.E. & Sultana, R.G.. Education and the Arab 'World'. Political Project, Struggles, and Geometries of Power..
Reagan, Timothy G. Non-Western Educational Traditions : Alternative Approaches to Educational Thought and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 1996.
Schriewer, Jürgen. “Comparative Education Methodology in Transition: Towards the Study of Complexity?” pp. 3–52. In Schreiwer, Jürgen Discourse Formation in Comparative Education. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Vulliamy, G., Lewin, K. and Stephens, D. Doing Educational Research in Developing Countries: Qualitative Strategies. Lewes: Falmer Press.
Higher Education in an International Perspective : Critical Issues. Edited by Zaghloul Morsy and Philip G. Altbach. New York: Garland Pub., 1996.
