PPE6014 COMPARATIVE EDUCATION

D R. M O H D A S R I M O H D N O O R

2. Introduction
to Comparative
Education

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
1. explain what comparative education is,
2. describe how the field has developed over the years,
3. identify the purpose of comparative education,
4. explain who compares.

ACTIVITY 1
Definition
Write down a definition of comparative education.

TWIN FIELDS
The term comparative education is often used interchangeably
with international education.
They are often called twin fields (Bray, 2010).
But are they the same? How do they differ?
To understand this, one needs to understand the history shaping
the field.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
OF COMPARATIVE
EDUCATION
Noah and Eckstein (1969) historical development of
comparative education can be identified by five (5) distinct
stages.
Bereday (1964) describes the historical development in three
phases.

ACTIVITY 2
Travellers tales
Have you ever travelled to another country and come back with an
education-related story to share? Or do you have friends who are
from another country? Have they told you about education in their
own country? Why would or wouldnt this be classified as research?
Share your opinions on these with your group members.

NOAH & ECKSTEINS (1969) 5 STAGES

OF HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
COMPARATIVE EDUCATION
1. Travellers tales
2. The rise of national education systems in Europe
3. Promoting international understanding
4. Social science approach
5. The rise of statistical techniques in the social sciences

STAGE 1:
TRAVELLERS TALES
Stories brought back from foreign travel descriptive nature.
Ancient Greeks and Romans admired the discipline of Spartan
education.
The Italians were intrigued by tales brought back by Marco Polo
(1254-1324).
How Chinese taught their children and how they administered
their vast country.
Ibnu Batutas (1304-1368) fascinating accounts of society in much
of fourteenth-century Islamic North Africa and the Middle East.
These tales did not systematically compare or analyse educational
practice.

STAGE 2:
THE RISE OF NATIONAL EDUCATION
SYSTEMS IN EUROPE
Begins from the nineteenth century.
During 1800s, countries like France, Germany and Great Britain
were establishing national systems of schooling.
Policy makers were interested in the organisation and practice of
education in other countries.
To help them devise their own systems.
The work was still similar to the travellers tales period
encyclopaedic descriptions of foreign school systems and
subjective in nature.
They came with the purpose of learning from a foreign example
and through such learning to help improve the circumstances in

STAGE 3:
PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL
UNDERSTANDING
Occurred around the middle of the nineteenth century.
Is still characterised by the accumulation of information in an
encyclopaedic manner.
But in the interest of promoting international understanding rather
than in the interest of advancing ones own educational interests.

STAGE 4:
SOCIAL SCIENCE APPROACH
Begins around the end of the nineteenth century.
A social science approach was beginning to develop.
Studies of foreign schooling became studies of national character
and the institutions that help form it.
The idea of cause and effect:
The role of education in shaping society.
How national character determines education.

STAGE 5:
THE RISE OF STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES
IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Occurs after the First World War.
Coincides with the rise in statistical techniques in the social
sciences.
Adoption of quantitative methods.
Empirical orientation of the social sciences began to reshape
comparative education.

ACTIVITY 3
Historic stages
Think about how comparative education has developed using Noah
and Ecksteins five stages. What criticisms can you think of
regarding these five stages? Do you think the field developed in a
linear fashion?

BEREDAYS PHASES IN THE

HISTORY OF COMPARATIVE
EDUCATION
1. Phase One
2. Phase Two
3. Phase Three

PHASE ONE
Begins in the nineteenth century and lasts for about 100 years.
Marc-Antoine Jullien the first scientifically minded comparative
educator.
His aim was to improve French education by identifying the best
schools in Europe.
Examined how schools were organised, the teaching methods
they used and what successful improvements they had
implemented.
Father of comparative education and the first to use formal
models of analysis.
This phase is called the period of borrowing comparison of the

ACTIVITY 4
Educational borrowing
What practices do you think early writers in the field reported on?
Do you think borrowing these practices and transplanting them in
your own country is effective? Why or why not?

PHASE TWO
Took place in the first half of the twentieth century.
Regarded as a stage of prediction the study of comparative education has
gone beyond the borrowing period.
Studying educational institutions and practices of another country to predict the
likely success or failure of adopting the educational practices in own country.
Scholars at this time paid attention to the relationship between education and
society and the social causes underlying pedagogic practice.
Shift from cataloguing descriptive data to examining the social and cultural
factors influencing education.
Educators became more careful when transferring ideas and practice from one
country to another.

PHASE THREE
Regarded as the scientific period or analytical period took place
in the second half of the twentieth century.
Before prediction and eventual borrowing is attempted there
must be a systemization of the field in order to expose the whole
panorama of national practices in education.
This period witnesses rigorous analysis as well as objectivity in
the study of educational practices of other countries.

CRITICISMS OF THE
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
OF COMPARATIVE
EDUCATION

Evolution of the field in Darwinian-style stages of development is

misunderstood (Epstein, 2008).
Separating out the history of the field into phases is over
simplistic.
The phases may not necessarily linear or consistent across time,
cultures or individuals (Crossley & Watson, 2003).
Challenge the notion that Jullien is the father of comparative
education because there were, perhaps, others before him who
used analytical approaches in their comparative studies
(Brickman, 2010).
BUT, it is widely agreed that Bereday and Noah and Ecksteins

HISTORY OF COMPARATIVE
EDUCATION IN OTHER PARTS
OF THE WORLD
Comparative education was developing in countries in Europe,
North America and Asia between the latter parts of the
nineteenth and the early twentieth century.
Historical development of comparative education in mainland
China can be traced back further than the travellers tales of
Western Europe Han Dynasty (206BC - 220AD) and Tang
Dynasty (618 906AD).
Middle East between twelfth and fourteenth centuries scholars
travelled extensively in the Arab region.
Latin America during nineteenth century.

SO, WHAT IS COMPARATIVE

EDUCATION?
Comparative education and international education are terms
that are often confused.
Most comparative studies transcend national boundaries and are
international or global in scope. So, how can we understand what
it is?
Some attempts:
A field of study that applies social scientific theories and methods to
international issues of education (Epstein, 1992).
Interdisciplinary subfield of education studies that systematically examines the
similarities and differences between educational systems in two or more
national or cultural contexts, and their interaction with intra- and extraeducational environments. Its specific object is educational systems examined
from a cross-cultural perspective through the systematic use of comparative

HALLS (1990) TYPOLOGY OF

COMPARATIVE EDUCATION

ACTIVITY 5
What could be the purpose of comparative education? Who
compares? Discuss.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF

COMPARATIVE EDUCATION?
To learn about our own education system and that of others.
To enhance our knowledge of education in general.
To improve educational institutions, their content, processes and
methods.
To understand the relationship between education and society.
To promote international understanding.
To find solutions to educational issues.

WHO COMPARES?
Academics
International organisations
Policy makers and educational planners

CONCLUSION
We cannot wander at pleasure among the educational systems of
the world, like a child strolling through a garden, and picking off a
flower from one bush and some leaves from another, and then
expect that if we stick what we have gathered into the soil at
home, we shall have a living plant (Sir Michael Sadler, 1900).