COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE EVOLUTION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF A FIELD

Abstract

This article attempts to provide an answer to the above questions with respect to Comparative and International Education. In reconstruction of the historical evolution of Comparative and International Education, this article distinguish between the following seven phases: Phase 1: A phase of travellers‘ tales; since time immemorial; Phase 2: A phase of the systematic study of foreign education systems for borrowing; since 1830; Phase 3: A phase of international cooperation, since 1925; Phase 4: A “factors and forces” phase, since about 1930; Phase 5: A social science phase, since 1960; Phase 6: A phase of heterodoxy, since 1970; Phase 7: A phase of heterogeneity, since 1990. During its historical evolution Comparative and International Education went through seven phases, namely travellers’ tales, borrowing, international cooperation, factors and forces stage, a social science phase, a phase of heterodoxy and a phase of heterogeneity. For the future development and deployment of Comparative and International Education, three beacons can be offered, namely the rise of knowledge economies, the Creed of Education as a Human Right, and the rise of International Education. For the future development and deployment of Comparative and International Education, three beacons can be offered, namely the rise of knowledge economies, the Creed of Education as a Human Right, and the rise of International Education. The most basic utility of Comparative Education is to describe education systems/learning communities, within their societal contexts, in order to satisfy the yearning for knowledge which is sui-generis part of human nature. Comparative Education serves to evaluate education systems, the own education system as well as universal evaluation of education systems. In an age of a competitive globalised world, the evaluation of the domestic education project assumes even bigger importance – hence the proliferation of studies such as the IEA studies the OECD PISA studies, and the international ranking of universities. The universal evaluation entails how well the education systems of the world rise up to the challenges of the twenty-first century world as well as an estimation of the limits and the possibilities of the societal effects of education.