比较教育研究前沿
比较教育研究前沿
1.The Limits of Multistakeholder Governance: The Case of the Global Partnership for Education and Private Schooling
Author: Francine Menashy
Source: Comparative Education Review (Mar 22, 2017): 240–268
Abstract:
This study investigates collective decision making within a multistakeholder partnership through a case study of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Analyzed through the theoretical framework of sociological institutionalism, this study applies the issue of private schooling as a lens to understand policy-related decision making between very different stakeholders within a single forum. A process-tracing analysis of document and interview data shows that the GPE has not substantively engaged with the issue of private education, indicative of “strategic avoidance” due to concerns that a debate could destabilize the partnership. Such avoidance is argued to potentially engender harmful impacts on the GPE. The absence of dialogue reflects broader GPE governance issues, where policy-related debates are rare. This conclusion is in accordance with evaluations of other similarly structured multistakeholder partnerships, calling into question the effectiveness of the partnership-based model.
2. A PISA Paradox? An Alternative Theory of Learning as a Possible Solution for Variations in PISA Scores
Author: Hikaru Komatsu, Jeremy Rappleye
Source: Comparative Education Review (Mar 23, 2017): 269–297
Abstract:
Variations in mean PISA scores have not been adequately explained to date, suggesting the limits of our current understanding of the relationship between educational practices and students’ performance. In contrast to previous research that applies existing theories to explain observed variations, this study attempts to extend our existing theoretical horizon using PISA-derived data. We first introduce findings of PISA-Science data that run counter to the fundamental assumptions of both student-centered and teacher-centered learning theories; namely, countries having lower levels of students’ initiative to design and carry out their own projects had higher scores. We then propose an alternative theory of learning (Type II learning) to explain this counterexample by rethinking the learning process at its philosophical and ontological depths. We conclude by noting a surprising paradox: the Type II learning made visible through PISA data appears to undermine the core premise of the OECD’s whole approach to PISA itself.
3. The Globalized “Whole Child”: Cultural Understandings of Children and Childhood in Multilateral Aid Development Policy, 1946–2010
Author: Maryellen Schaub
Source: Comparative Education Review ( Mar 17, 2017): 298–326
Abstract:
Current global conceptions of childhood dictate that all children are entitled to a childhood that provides protection, preparation, and child development for the whole child. We analyze 65 years of policy documents from the influential multilateral agency UNICEF focusing on how cultural ideas have changed over time and how they have blended into the contemporary idea of the child and childhood that is distinctly different from the period immediately following World War II. The results present a rich description of these trends including the greater elaboration of educational development during childhood, movement from an image of the simple unidimensional child to greater complexity and multiple dimensions, the whole child, and a shift away from imagining children as creations of particular local cultural contexts to a global, one-size-fits-all child with universal requirements and rights to human development, the globalized whole child.
4. Untangling the Intervention-Context Dyad through Horizontal Comparison: Examples from Israeli Peacebuilding Organizations
Author: Karen Ross
Source: Comparative Education Review ( Mar 21, 2017): 327–353
Abstract:
In this article, I argue for the importance of conducting comparative studies of educational interventions implemented within the same sociopolitical environment. Taking into account both arguments for comparative research in education and recent calls for context-rich vertical case studies, I suggest that horizontal comparisons in a single environment provide a nuanced view of divergent programmatic approaches and outcomes and allow us to better understand the agency of actors in the educational realm. I draw on the concept of multilevel opportunity structure to explore the work of two encounter organizations in Israel bringing together Jewish and Palestinian youth—Peace Child Israel and Sadaka Reut—and explain why the responses of each organization to shifting political environments in the Israeli context over the past 30 years, especially post-2000, led to different outcomes in terms of organizational survival. My analysis demonstrates how methodological choices affect the potential for theory building in comparative education and points to the importance of examining educational initiatives at an organizational level in order to better understand the relationship between educational initiatives and the broader sociopolitical context.
5. Associations between Violence in School and at Home and Education Outcomes in Rural Malawi: A Longitudinal Analysis
Author: Stephanie R. Psaki, Barbara S. Mensch, Erica Soler-Hampejsek
Source: Comparative Education Review ( Mar 17, 2017): 354–390
Abstract:
Growing evidence of the prevalence of school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) has raised concerns about negative effects on education. Previous quantitative research on this topic has been limited by descriptive and cross-sectional data. Using longitudinal data from the Malawi Schooling and Adolescent Study, we investigate associations between school and domestic violence and three education outcomes: absenteeism, learning, and dropout. Half of respondents had experienced both SRGBV and domestic violence by ages 18–21. Associations between violence and education were mixed: school-related sexual violence was associated with poorer subsequent education outcomes for males and, to a lesser extent, for females; domestic violence was associated with higher absenteeism for males and subsequent dropout for females; and physical violence was associated with lower absenteeism and better subsequent numeracy performance for females. Additional longitudinal research is needed and should integrate a broad understanding of the influence of gender norms and experiences of violence on young people’s educational success.
6. Excellence without Equity in Student Mathematics Performance: The Case of Taiwan from an International Perspective
Author: Min-Hsiung Huang
Source: Comparative Education Review ( Mar 17, 2017): 391–412
Abstract:
As Taiwanese students progress from elementary to junior high school, there is a remarkable increase in the inequality of achievement in mathematics. This increase is of a magnitude not seen in other countries. Findings show that the widening-gap phenomenon is accompanied by an exceptional increase in the percentage of students reaching the advanced international benchmark and a significant growth in the influence of family background on student performance. In Taiwan, the widening-gap phenomenon commonly manifests among students of different school entry cohorts, genders, and residential areas; the phenomenon occurs mainly within classrooms. Taiwanese students from more favorable family backgrounds are seen to improve significantly more in mathematics as they progress through the school grades, and they experience a less significant widening-gap phenomenon among themselves. This study explains the widening-gap phenomenon in relation to a national senior high school entrance examination administered to nearly all Taiwanese ninth graders.