Throughout history educational leaders have looked to other countries and have attempted to learn by borrowing useful examples to implement in their own educational systems. As recent comparative policy research shows, processes of policy lending and borrowing have their own socio-historically defined dynamics. In this paper, the authors approach…

Across major anglophone college systems, institutions in various jurisdictions have gained the authority to award the bachelor's degree. That prospect has come late to further education colleges in England. With its long history of teaching for the bachelor's degree, the English road to awarding powers has features in common with and different…

This article illustrates and discusses some elements of the "problematique" 'Southern Europe'. The themes stressed include its configuration and the criteria for its conceptualisation. A number of ways to think about 'Southern Europe are discussed -- of course with particular emphasis on the development and theoretical elaboration of…

This article deals with the concept of andragogy and the understanding of the same from a historical and professional perspective. It also includes a clarification of the difference between European and North American andragogy. Andragogy concerns adult education and learning in some way or another, but, beyond this, the concept is ambiguous. Many…

In 1935 a book was published in Germany with essays by John Dewey, the most famous American philosopher, and his equally internationally-renowned pupil, William H. Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick's essay, "The Project Method", published in 1918 (September), had triggered a storm of enthusiasm in the USA to convert the curriculum of public schools…

This paper examines the role of digital technology in national guidelines and regulations in Norwegian and Danish teacher education over the course of 28 years (1992-2020). These policy documents are used to examine policy perspectives on digital technology through an analytical framework based on Wartofsky's artifact categories. The analytical…

This article introduces the topic of the special issue, 'Public education at the crossroads', by pointing to some of the debates and controversies surrounding the topic of public education and by framing the theme, while explaining the context and some components of the educational systems of the countries under examination -- namely the USA and…

Mainstream approaches in comparative education have paid more attention to trends in donors' priorities than to policy processes in recipient countries, overlooking the agency of national governments in the institutional configuration of vocational education and training (VET) in developing contexts. Drawing on constructivist political economy and…

This chapter introduces the fundamental principles and concepts of school inspections. School inspections will be defined and distinguished from other types of evaluation, such as quality monitoring, internal evaluations and audit. The chapter will also present examples of different inspection practices across Europe and explain how these have…

This paper traces the beginnings of multicultural policies and programs in New York City and London during the 1980s. Using Caraballo's analysis of intercultural and intergroup programs as a model, we apply Bell's (1980) principle of interest convergence to examine the antecedents in both cities and detail how multicultural policies and programs…

The scope and breadth of the field of comparative and international education is vast. In fact, there are few, if any, limitations on theme, method, or data in the field of comparative and international education. Every context or combination of contexts are available for comparative education scholars to scrutinise. The scope of this field brings…

Comparative and international education intersects with international relations, international development and modernization, and domestic political, cultural, and economic concerns. Therefore, the history of comparative and international education must be understood in a larger historical context. This article engages the current debate on the…

Comprehensive institutions (CIs) have long been characterized as middling universities with a confused identity and purpose. Yet, their historical origins demonstrate that they have served as an important point of access into higher education for marginalized student groups. Still, there remains little consensus over which institutions are CIs and…

This paper examines the complex relationship between the state, civil society and education through comparative research with young people in France and the UK. Survey data derived from two cohorts of school students in South Wales and Lyon reveal strong differences in their levels of civic and political participation. While our Welsh students…

In this review, Rudolf Tippelt focuses on two central comparative educational publications that compare the English and German education systems under specific historical perspectives: (1) Lenhart V, "Die erste Schrift zur vergleichenden Erziehungswissenschaft"/"The First Treatise in Comparative Education." Fredericus Augustus…