比较教育研究前沿
比较教育研究前沿
Original Articles
1.Teachers’ views about pupil diversity in the primary school classroom
Author: Stavroula Kaldi, Christos Govaris & Diamanto Filippatou
Source: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (07 Apr 2017): 2-20
Abstract:
The present study explores Greek primary school teachers’ perceptions and views on pupil diversity in the classroom environment. A large-scale survey was carried out in order to examine teachers’ perceptions about pupil diversity and to identify personal and/or educational characteristics that can influence or predict these perceptions. The outcomes of the study reveal that Greek primary school teachers view diversity as a challenge more than as a barrier in teaching and learning, they can recognise at a high level the key elements of differentiated instruction as part of managing pupil diversity in their class and hold a negative-to-neutral stance on traditional curriculum implementation practices. The most influential factors and predictors of these perceptions and views are also presented and discussed.
2. Travelling policies and contextual considerations: on threshold criteria
Author: Adam Nir, Yasar Kondakci & Serap Emil
Source: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (16 Feb 2017): 21-38
Abstract:
Educational policy borrowing has become rather common in our globalised world. However, the literature lacks contextual criteria that may be employed by researchers and policy makers to assess the correspondence of a particular policy to the local context of a borrowing system. Based on a secondary analysis of documents and research reports, this paper describes the process of policy borrowing in the Israeli and Turkish educational systems. Discrepancies were found between the basic qualities of the borrowed policies and the contextual features and processes that characterise each educational system. The lack of congruency appears to be even deeper in centralised structures where the act of policy setting is done by top-level policy makers who are isolated from local school circumstances. Threshold criteria referring to fundamental considerations during decision making are offered and their theoretical and practical implications for centralised structures are discussed.
3. The policy-implementation-results linkage for education development and aid effectiveness in the Education 2030 era
Author: Kazuhiro Yoshida & Johannes L van der Walt
Source: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (02 Mar 2017): 39-55
Abstract:
Education 2030, the new global agenda for educational development, emphasises inclusion and learning outcomes. The top-down programme-based approach, a mainstay of international aid, has up to now failed in helping developing countries to meet these objectives because it tends to overlook where the link is broken between policy implementation from the ‘top’ and results ‘on the ground’. Conversely, those on the ground tackling the learning more directly do not seem to have sufficient capacity to use their experiences to inform institutional and systemic reforms, from the bottom up, as it were. The link between policy, its implementation and the results on the ground could be established through strengthened dialogue between these two approaches. Tapping into the existing knowledge and experience on teaching and learning while at the same time addressing institutional and systemic concerns would be instrumental in facilitating interaction between these two facets of international aid.
4. Southern-European signposts for critical popular adult education: Italy, Portugal and Spain
Author: Paula Guimaraes, Emilio Lucio-Villegas & Peter Mayo
Source: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (10 Mar 2017): 56-74
Abstract:
This paper focuses on three Southern European countries, Italy, Portugal and Spain, to explore examples of projects that provide signposts for a critical popular education that contributes to an ongoing democratic process – one whereby citizens are developed as social actors and members of a collectivity rather than simply passive producers/consumers. This approach would serve as an alternative to the traditional ‘top-down’ and current hegemonic economy-oriented discourses. In so doing, the paper seeks to redress an imbalance in the English language adult education and learning literature that often overlooks alternative discourses to the mainstream on and from this part of the world.
5. Re-orienting Ethiopia’s educational policy in the classical humanist perspectives of renaissance utopias
Author: Meskerem L. Debele
Source: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (02 Mar 2017):75-91
Abstract:
Ethiopia has launched a grand scheme of renaissance to realise fast-paced economic growth. The two Growth and Transformation Plans spanning five years each (2010/11– 2015/16 and 2016/17 – 2020/21) outlined major targets towards which the country intends to mobilise all its resources. In the education sector, this vision is understood as producing a workforce that can realise massive industrialisation. However, what is conceived as ‘renaissance’ in Ethiopia and what kind of education is viewed as capable of bringing it is very mechanical, reductive and utilitarian compared to the Renaissance movements of the late-medieval Europe, which were holistic endeavours to culturally uplift and humanise individuals and societies. The purpose of this paper is to compare the educational views of Christian humanists – the European renaissance thinkers who wrote the early-modern renaissance utopias – with what is conceived today as ‘renaissance’ education in Ethiopia as embedded in major educational policy documents.
6. Building world class universities in China: exploring faculty’s perceptions, interpretations of and struggles with global forces in higher education
Author: Dongbin Kim, Quirong Song, Ji Liu, Qingqin Liu & Adam Grimm
Source: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (13 Mar 2017): 92-109
Abstract:
Employing a glonacal (global, national and local) heuristic as a theoretical lens, and a qualitative analysis with interview data, this study highlights how Chinese faculty members interpret the definitions and implications of pursuing world class universities (WCUs) and struggle with the multiple dimensions of their academic lives across global, national and local dimensions. The findings indicate that faculty members believe that the quest to build WCUs in China has been narrowly defined by the government, which emphasises international/global dimensions, rather than national or local. Because of this, Chinese professors believe that there are growing gaps between administration and faculty. Yet they recognise significant advancement in hardware and facilities, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This study confirms that faculty’s academic lives are intricately interlinked across the glonacal economy and that faculty continue to navigate their roles across all dimensions.
7. Identifying and investigating the “best” schools: a network-based analysis
Author: Priyadarshani Joshi
Source: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (13 Mar 2017): 110-127
Abstract:
This paper aims to provide a fresh perspective on the predominantly negative discourse on schooling quality in low-income countries by focusing on the research questions: ‘How can one identify great schools and what makes them special?’ Using a network-based perspective, I measure peer evaluations of quality in two districts in Nepal. Specifically, I ask principals to mention three schools they view as the ‘best’ schools in their district and then map the interconnections between schools as a result of this response. I additionally analyse the differentiating characteristics of these schools and qualitatively investigate the most frequently cited ‘best’ school in each district. Public school principals collectively chose a few schools as being among the ‘best’; these chosen schools had relatively higher enrolment and better student performance. The in-depth qualitative analysis highlights less quantifiable measures, such as motivated leaders who were able to help schools succeed despite difficult circumstances.
Review
8. Navigating individual and collective notions of teacher wellbeing as a complex phenomenon shaped by national context
Author: Laura B. Liu, Huan Song & Pei Miao
Source: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (20 Apr 2017): 128-146
Abstract:
In an era of globalisation (Spring 2008), wellbeing no longer can be explored within one’s own national borders, but necessitates cultivating shared international understandings to maintain healthy twenty-first-century classrooms. This literature review across Chinese and English international publications contends that understanding wellbeing entails more thoughtful global discussions examining wellness as a personal commodity and shared societal experience. This paper initiates explorations of teacher wellbeing as an individual and collective phenomenon that includes teacher autonomy, goal orientation, professional efficacy, personal health and positive collegial relationships, institutional recognition/support and professional development opportunities. This review suggests teachers in Western and Chinese contexts may benefit from unique forms of support to balance and reconcile individual and collective aspects of teacher wellbeing. Teachers across contexts must have professional opportunity and incentives for engaging in autonomous practice supported by professional collaboration and development.
Forum
9. Financing education: why should tax justice be part of the solution?
Author: Maria Ron Balsera, Steven J. Klees & David Archer
Source: Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (07 Nov 2017): 147-162
Abstract:
This forum seeks to problematise issues related to the lack of resources to adequately finance public education systems. It explores potential solutions based on increased domestic resource mobilisation through progressive taxation in order to meet the growing financing gap needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. While many governments in poor countries are already demonstrating a strong commitment to funding education, the papers will argue that they could raise more money by broadening their tax base – for example, by reducing the prevalence of harmful tax incentives or tackling tax avoidance. Steven Klees’s contribution examines the proposals made by the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity as well as the potential for global taxation mechanisms to be used to finance the education and other SDGs. David Archer argues that SDG4 requires a rebuilding of confidence in the capacity of governments to finance good-quality public education through progressive taxation. Finally, Maria Ron Balsera’s contribution uses Pakistan, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda as case studies to analyse the effect of the inadequate financing of education and to explore sustainable and equitable solutions.