1. Comparative Education Studies: Comparative Education Studies: Current Trends around the World Mark Bray Director, UNESCO-IIEP President, WCCES

2. Introduction o My own background and perspective o UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) o World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES)

3. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization  Headquarters in Paris, and with global network of regional bureaus, cluster and national offices  Established 1945

4. UNESCO ’ s Education-Sector Institutes International Bureau of Education (IBE); Geneva, Switzerland UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE); Hamburg, Germany International Institute for Educational Planning Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE); Moscow, Russia International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America & the Caribbean (IESALC); Caracas, Venezuela International Institute for Capacity-Building in Africa (IICBA); Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

5. The IIEP Created in 1963 on an innovative model 100 staff headquartered in Paris Buenos Aires branch opened 1997

6. Three main domains of IIEP work:  Training  Research  Operational activities

7. Website: www.unesco.org\iiep www.iipe-buenosaires.org.ar

8. Enrolment Rates Founded 1970 Comparative & International Education Society (CIES) (USA) Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) Japan Comparative Education Society (JCES) Comparative & International Education Society of Canada (CIESC) Korean Comparative Education Society (KCES) The WCCES and its Member Societies

9. Enrolment Rates Now 35 societies: 27 national and sub-national 6 regional 2 language-based The WCCES and its Member Societies

10. Enrolment Rates World Congresses, every 3 years 1998: South Africa (Africa) 2001: Korea (Asia) 2004: Cuba (Latin America) 2007: Bosnia & Herzegovina (Europe) WCCES Activities

11. Enrolment Rates 13 th World Congress: 3-7 September 2007 WCCES Activities

12.  WCCES Membership Some regions are better represented than others  Location of WCCES Meetings The locations of meetings influence which societies can attend, and so whose voices are heard Balances and Opportunities in the Operation of a Global Body

13.  Changes over time The field is making important progress, but needs further strengthening and leadership The evolving field of comparative education

14. Comparative education scholars in different parts of the world have different focuses and emphases:  different themes for research  different theoretical frameworks  different countries (and other units) chosen for analysis

15. ComparativeEducationInternationalEducation Foci of Enquiry Overlapping fields

16. Dominance of countries Also much focus on continents/world regions Units of Analysis in Comparative Education

17. A cube for multilevel comparison Units of Analysis in Comparative Education

18. UK Journal: Comparative Education A pair of benchmarks  1977 special issue  2000/01  millennial special issue  follow-up special issue

19.  Growth of the field  Stronger optimism  New tools, e.g. in information technology  New themes, e.g. globalisation  More varied and multi-level units of analysis Some salient points:

20. Heavily dominated by social sciences, and therefore influenced by shifts in paradigms. But limited use of social-science tools. Many studies based on literature review; relatively few based on survey; almost none based on experimental methods. Methodology and Focus in Comparative Education

21. Qualitative studies more common than quantitative ones But different emphases in different parts of the world: Comparative Educations Methodology and Focus in Comparative Education

22. Paulston (1997):

23. Plurality in the field partly arises from paradigmatic differences between different groups of scholars. Differences may be exacerbated when those scholars are from different countries and work in different languages. Methodology and Focus in Comparative Education

24. Conclusions  Comparative education is an exciting field in which we can learn from each other  Much needs to be done to improve quality of scholarship and to promote networking  In this, we can each play a role!

25. The end www.unesco.org/iiep www.hku.hk/cerc/wcces