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Comparative Education
A Field in Discussion
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Comparative Education: A Field in Discussion is a personal reflection on the field of comparative education from the perspective of one scholar who has been active in the field since the 1980s. In the 1960s and 1970s many scholars attempted to develop a science of comparative education, and those diverse efforts formed the backdrop to the study of comparative education in the 1980s. In this volume, the author, who was originally educated as a physical scientist, draws upon those earlier attempts, at the same time introducing new insights from the complexity of science and systems theory.
David Turner argues that these new insights should lead us away from a positivist vision of science, largely based on nineteenth century ideas of scientific method, and challenge us to accept that concepts are fluid, change over time, and are frequently contested. Nonetheless, those same concepts are essential to the way that we think of ourselves, our environment and the institutions that we inhabit.
Caught between the generalisations that our concepts force on us, and our wish to capture the specificity of each personal history, the activity that we engage in is comparative education.
David Turner argues that these new insights should lead us away from a positivist vision of science, largely based on nineteenth century ideas of scientific method, and challenge us to accept that concepts are fluid, change over time, and are frequently contested. Nonetheless, those same concepts are essential to the way that we think of ourselves, our environment and the institutions that we inhabit.
Caught between the generalisations that our concepts force on us, and our wish to capture the specificity of each personal history, the activity that we engage in is comparative education.
David A. Turner, PhD (1981, London), is professor emeritus at the University of South Wales, and professor in the Institute of International and Comparative Education, Beijing Normal University. He has published books and many articles, including Theory and Practice of Education (Continuum, 2007).
1 What Is Comparative Education?
2 Models and Multi-Centred Studies of Education
â1 Introduction
â2 The Detail of Macro Level Patterns
â3 The Game of Life as Metaphor
â4 An Area of Special Interest
â5 The Next Step
â6 Life Is Not the Game of Life
â7 A Thought Experiment
â8 Games against Nature
3 Understanding Comparison
â1 Introduction
â2 An Educational Computer Programme
â3 An Historical Approach
â4 A Dynamic of Diversity
â5 More Models
4 Mapping the Field
5 National Character
â1 Introduction
â2 Forming a National Character
â3 Essentialism
â4 Encyclopaedism
â5 Pragmatism
â6 Polytechnicalism
â7 Other Ideal Typical Models
â8 Confucianism
6 Nicholas Hans Revisited
7 Holmesâ Problem Solving Approach
â1 Sociological Laws
8 Revisiting the Field
â1 Conclusions
References
2 Models and Multi-Centred Studies of Education
â1 Introduction
â2 The Detail of Macro Level Patterns
â3 The Game of Life as Metaphor
â4 An Area of Special Interest
â5 The Next Step
â6 Life Is Not the Game of Life
â7 A Thought Experiment
â8 Games against Nature
3 Understanding Comparison
â1 Introduction
â2 An Educational Computer Programme
â3 An Historical Approach
â4 A Dynamic of Diversity
â5 More Models
4 Mapping the Field
5 National Character
â1 Introduction
â2 Forming a National Character
â3 Essentialism
â4 Encyclopaedism
â5 Pragmatism
â6 Polytechnicalism
â7 Other Ideal Typical Models
â8 Confucianism
6 Nicholas Hans Revisited
7 Holmesâ Problem Solving Approach
â1 Sociological Laws
8 Revisiting the Field
â1 Conclusions
References
Postgraduate students and researchers in the field of comparative and international education.