1. The purpose of comparison. What is comparative education
The purpose of comparison. What is comparative education? What is international education?
Fernando Reimers
September 2009

2. Introduction Teaching Team.
Sections
Syllabus on-line
Reading packet
Communicating with Teaching Team
Assignments
Introduction to the course and structure
History of Comparative Education
Dissemination of ideas about education—influences in practice
Kandel—Education of Teachers
Husen—Consensus in the 1950s
Classification of the field today
Purposes of comparison and link to different professions
A framework to compare
What institutions are involved
Examining the Expansion of Educational Opportunity around the WorldA quick historical overview of the development of mass education
A framework to think about educational opportunity
A discussion of the equity and the relevance gaps (civic education, science and engineering education, global education)

3. Not including college and graduate school, in how many countries have you attended school?
In one country
In two countries
In three countries
In four or more countries

4. What is your experience in the field of education
I have not worked in the field of education
I have only worked in the country in which I was born
I have worked in two different countries
I have worked in three different countries
I have worked in four or more different countries

5. In what region of the world do you have most knowledge and experience?
Africa
US and Canada
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
Mexico, Central America and South America
Caribbean
Central Asia
Eastern Asia
Southeast Asia
Middle East

6. Have you? Lived or worked in a developing country?
Lived or worked in more than a developing country?
Never lived or worked in a developing country?

7. How many languages do you speak?
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven or more

8. What is Comparative Education? What is International Education?
a narrow definition
an expanded definition

9. Why do we compare?
Examples of comparison
Why do we look abroad?

10. Educational ideas have been ‘exported’ for a long time…

11. John Amos Comenius 1592 to 1670

12. Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778

14. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, 1746-1827

15. Joseph Lancaster

16. Horace and Mary Mann S Joseph Lancaster W. Humboldt Horace Mann
Andres Bello
J.J. Rousseau
Simon Bolivar
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
Simon Rodriguez S

17. Systematic comparisons are more recent
What is the number of students in the primary schools in the commune or district?
What is the proportion of the total number of these students to the total population?
Approximately how many students are grouped under a single director or teacher?
At which age are children admitted to the primary schools?
Are children of both sexes admited to the same school and until what age?
How are students assessed and for what purpose?
How are students streamed?
Is there peer education?
How much time is devoted to literacy and math instruction?
At what age do children leave primary school?
Marc Antoine Jullien in 1816

20. Can you think of one instance where international comparisons have influenced education policy in a country with which you are familiar?

21. McKinsey Study Get the best people to become teachers
Develop them into effective instructors
Ensure that the system is able to deliver the best instruction for every child

22. To a great extent To some extent I don’t know Not much Not at all
Think about the applicability of the recommendations of the McKinsey Study to one education system you know well. To what extent are these recommendations applicable to that system?
To a great extent
To some extent
I don’t know
Not much
Not at all

23. Comparative Education
The scholarly study of education across different national contexts.
Akin to other comparative scholarly disciplines, such as the comparative study of politics, or the comparative study of business, or the comparative study of culture.
Purpose understanding the relationship between education and social institutions, with understanding the goals societies or groups assign to educational institutions, with the methods used to achieve those goals, with the ways to organize, finance or manage educational institutions.
Because education is not only a scholarly field of study, but principally a profession, comparative education inevitably has a practical side. Interest in impact.

25. Kandel’s argument for comparison
Kandel’s argument for global education
Isaac Kandel

26. International Education
The use of comparative knowledge for the explicit purpose of educational improvement in a particular country, typically a developing country.
The field emerged in the late 1940s when a series of ideas and institutions emerged. Central among them was the field of international development associated to the concept of economic development.
Economic development as a staged process.
Economic development could be planned.
From economic planning to educational planning
This gave rise to the field of international education and development, meaning efforts to support educational planning in developing countries in order to support the economic development in those countries.

27. Torsten Husen
Mapping of the field of international education

28. Comparative education
Comparative studies
Education Abroad
International
Education
Development
Education
Comparative Pedagogy
Intra-educational
And intra-cultural
studies
International
pedagogy
Study of work of
International organizations
Halls typology of comparative education

29. Question?

30. The aims of comparative education
Describes what might be the consequences of certain courses of action, by looking at experiences in various countries
Contributes to the development of education theory
Supports educational planning
Helps to cooperation and mutual understanding among nations

31. Shows what is possible by examining alternatives to provision at home
Offers yardsticks by which to judge the performance of education systems
Describes what might be the consequences of certain courses of action, by looking at experiences in various countries
Provides a body of descriptive and explanatory data which allows us to see various practices and procedures in a very wide context
Contributes to the development of an increasingly sophisticated theoretical framework in which to describe and analyze educational phenomena
Serves to provide authoritative objective data which can be used to put the less objective data of others who use comparisons for a variety of political and other reasons to the test
Has an important supportive and instructional role to play in the development of any plans for educational reform
Helps to foster cooperation and mutual understanding among nations by discussing cultural differences and similarities and offering explanations for them
Is of intrinsic intellectual interest as a scholarly activity as other comparative fields.

32. The Internationalization of Education Policy
In what way is education policy internationalized?
What are the positive effects of internationalization?
What are the negative effects?
What is educational transfer?

33. On balance Educational Transfer…
Is a positive process
Is neither positive nor negative
Is a negative process

34. Educational transfer…
Supports the process of educational development
Is inconsequential to educational development
Is detrimental to educational development

35. 1 2 3 4 5 Required Under Constraint Negotiated Under Constraint
Introduced
Through
Influence
Borrowed
Purposely
Imposed 1 2 3 4 5
Totalitarian/authoritarian rule, etc.
Defeated/occupied countries
Required by bilateral and multilateral agreements
Intentional copying of policy/practice observed elsewhere
General influence of educational ideas/methods
Source: Phillips and Schweisfurth 2007

36. Bray and Thomas Entire Population Religious Groups Gender Groups
Ethnic Groups
Religious Groups
Gender Groups
Age Groups
Other Groups
Level 1: World regions/continents
Level 2: Countries
Other aspects
Level 3: States/Provinces
Labor Market
Management Structures
Political Change
Level 4: Districts
Educational Finance
Level 5: Schools
Teaching Methods
Level 6: Classrooms
Curriculum
Level 7: Individuals
Bray and Thomas

37. 2000 years ago… from a private affair to a public interest
Protestant Reformation 1560
Dr Bells School, Great Junction St Leith, founded in 1839 by Dr Bell to teach what he called the Madras Method of Education. He is buried at Westminister Abbey London.

38. The first public school in America was established by Puritan settlers in 1635 in the home of Schoolmaster Philemon Pormont and was later moved to School Street in Boston
January 11, 1651, Thomas Mayhew, Jr., established the first school on Martha's Vineyard to teach the native children and any of the young Indian men who were willing to learn. He hired Peter Folger to become the first teacher. Folger later became the grandfather of Benjamin Franklin, and his descendants still make their home on the island. Folger found the Indian "very quick to learn and willing to be instructed in the ways of the English."

41. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Human Capital
UNESCO

42. PREAMBLE
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

43.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

45. BIRTH OF THE ‘UNESCO SEMINAR’, SÈVRES
During the summer of 1947 UNESCO organized its first Summer Seminar in Sèvres (France). This seminar focused attention on two main areas of interest:
Ways and means of improving the curriculum, within the educational systems of the Member States, as a means of developing world-mindedness;
The influence of differences in cultural environment on the growth and adjustment of adolescents of various countries
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, IN BRIEF...
On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations meeting in Paris. At that time, Unesco’s Director-General, Jaime Torres Bodet, stressed the importance of this event in these words:
‘The declaration of 10 December 1948 is more than a historical summary, it is a programme. Every paragraph is a call to action, every line a condemnation of apathy, every sentence a repudiation of some moment of our individual or national history; every word forces us to scrutinize more closely the situation in the world today. The destiny of mankind is an indivisible responsibility which we all must share.’

46. Education for All The six goals are:
Goal 1: Expand early childhood care and education
Goal 2: Provide free and compulsory primary education for all
Goal 3: Promote learning and life skills for young people and adults
Goal 4: Increase adult literacy by 50 per cent
Goal 5: Achieve gender parity by 2005, gender equality by 2015
Goal 6: Improve the quality of education

47. Transnational Space
Multilateral (Intergovernmental) Organizations UUNN
Multilateral Development Institutions. World Bank. UNESCO. Regional Banks.
Bilateral Development Agencies (JICA, USAID, CIDA, GTZ)
International Non-Governmental Organizations (Faith based Organizations, Save the Children)
Consulting Firms, Think Tanks and Universities
Interest Groups

48. The History of Education can be construed as the struggle between two projects. A project that seeks to conserve society, it’s traditions, knowledge, institutions, structures, and one that seeks to transform it.
Changing schools is hard, changing them to change society is even harder. Educators work at the same time to reproduce society, to transmit knowledge, worldviews and culture, and also to improve society, to enable students to have more choices and be freer than their parents.
The XX Century is a Remarkable Period throghout the world with real gains of the progressive project.

52. Equality of Educational Opportunity
The likelihood that any person in a given country can enroll in an educational institution, be supported to learn at high levels, complete and proceed to the next existing level and type of education, independently of characteristics other than effort and ability, and in particular independently of their social class of origin, race, gender and location of residence.

53. How do we measure progress?
Inputs
Per pupil Spending
Processes
Structures, Curriculum
Outputs
Educational Attainment, Literacy
Outcomes
Employment and Productivity, Political Participation, Social Capital

54. Key Indicators Gross Enrollment Rates Net Enrollment Rates
Repetition Rates
Student Flows –completion rates—
Learning
Skills

55. Dimensions of educational inequality:
·        Racial Inequality
·        Gender Inequality
·        Casts Inequality
·        Socio-economic inequality
·        Regional inequality

56. What is equality of educational opportunity?
Conservative Definition (Position in the social structure determines education chances)
Liberal Definition (Equality of Treatment)
Progressive Definition (Equality of Outcomes requires inequality of treatment. Positive Discrimination).

57. Equality of Educational Opportunity
Equality of Outcomes (Social and Cultural Capital) Options in Life.
Equality of Learning Outputs
Equality of Processes
Equality of Inputs
Equality of Access

58. Equality of Inputs Per-Pupil expenditures Teacher characteristics
Instructional Resources
Physical facilities 
Learning outputs and outcomes from prior levels.
The role of school segregation

59. Equality of Processes Instructional Practices Teacher responsiveness
Time on task
Fit between curriculum and student background
Language of instruction

60. Equality of Outputs Results tied to curriculum objectives
Academic Skills
Educational Attainement

61. Equality of Outcomes Equal Freedom
Equal Capabilities (not functionings)
Equal Social Capital
Equal Cultural Capital

62. Opportunity to Learn
Poor children fail to learn when education policies and practices generate instruction of low-quality. In contrast, when education policies generate adequate opportunities, poor children learn at comparable levels to their non-poor counterparts.

63. Opportunity to Learn
First, opportunity to enroll in first grade in school.
Second, the opportunity to learn sufficiently in that first grade to complete it with enough command of basic pre-academic skills to continue learning in school.
Third, the opportunity to complete each education cycle.
Fourth, the opportunity that, having completed the cycle, graduates have skills and knowledge comparable to those of other graduates of the same cycle.
Fifth, that what was learned in the cycle serves the graduate to have other type of social and economic opportunities, to expand their life chances.

64. Commitment to educate all at high levels
Schools that are themselves democratic communities
Relationships between schools and communities
Teachers prepared to value diversity, tolerant and who can model democratic practices
Curriculum for democratic citizenship
Frequent daily opportunities to learn at high levels, to think, choose and be tolerant 1 2 3 4 5 6

65. Recap
History of Comparative Education
Dissemination of ideas about education—influences in practice
Kandel—Education of Teachers
Husen—Consensus in the 1950s
Classification of the field today
Purposes of comparison and link to different professions
A framework to compare
What institutions are involved
Examining the Expansion of Educational Opportunity around the WorldA quick historical overview of the development of mass education
A framework to think about educational opportunity
A discussion of the equity and the relevance gaps (civic education, science and engineering education, global education)
A discussion of the challenges of implementing quality reforms
An analysis of the opportunities and challenges offered by the Millenium Development Goals and Education for All