The first of two volumes dedicated to this little-explored topic, this volume gathers international perspectives to critically assess how Waldorf education has been perceived and discussed in both public and academic arenas. The book thereby challenges the historical concept of Waldorf education as an international movement championing…

In the present paper, we discuss the time before the "age of reports". Besides the Coleman Report in the period of Coleman, the Lady Plowden Report also appeared, while there were important studies in France (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1964; Peyre, 1959) and studies that inaugurated comprehensive education in Nordic countries. We focus on…

At the heart of the nineteenth-century educational soundscape lies a paradox. Whilst "modern" classrooms generally strived for orderly silence, the goal of its educational practices was the production of competent "citizens". Middle-class boys in particular were expected to acquire a voice fit for business, the professions, or…

The use of videos to analyze teaching practices or initial teacher training is aimed at helping build professional skills by establishing more explicit links between university education and internships and practical work in the schools. The purpose of this article is to familiarize the English-speaking community with French research via a study…

Mathematics education seen both as a field of research and as a field of practice is a multicultural field. For a while, this essential characteristic of the field has been underestimated but this is no longer the case. Both theoretical frameworks and empirical research help us today better approach this phenomenon, understand its impact on the…

Research and scholarship into educational effectiveness research (EER) is comprehensively reviewed from the UK, The Netherlands, the US, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweden, France, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and other societies, dating from the field's origins in the 1970s. Issues include its history, methodological and theoretical advances, scientific…

This article looks at the impact of Philippe Aries's classic "L'Enfant et la vie familiale sous l'ancien regime", published in 1960. His well-known idea of the emergence of "Le sentiment de l'enfance" caused a lively debate among historians and social scientists resulting in fundamental contributions to our knowledge about the…

New theories and theory-based methodological approaches have found their way into Comparative Education--just as into Comparative Social Science more generally--in increasing number in the recent past. The essays of this volume express and critically discuss quite a range of these positions such as, inter alia, the theory of self-organizing social…

The transformations that have taken place in the French "ecole maternelle" (nursery school) over the last 30 years may be characterised by a dual dynamic, internal and external, of scholarisation. Firstly, the analysis of its changing position with regard to primary school and within early childhood education and care shows a relative…

This paper proposes a critical reflection on the use of quantitative sources for the historian of education. It identifies and discusses key promises and challenges related to the construction and interpretation of historical statistics in education, drawing on a number of British and some French historiographical examples. Ultimately, the article…

Civic service, which refers to activities that seek to improve the local, national or international community either through community service or service learning, is widespread in secondary schools around the world. Despite this pervasive presence, there are few studies that approach the subject from a cross-comparison perspective. This article…

Discusses the historical development of special education in England and France using Michel Foucault's distinction between traditional and effective history. States attitudes and practices relating to difference are culture specific. Concludes that a variety of means should be used in challenging and interpreting other positions taken when…

This chapter briefly describes the kinds of educational research centers active in France and the types of research they are conducting, then focuses on developments in the field of educational research from 1930 to the present and on the impact research has had on policy and innovations in recent years. In the section on history it is noted that…

Research of Pierre Bourdieu in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s concerning higher education is reviewed and three phases of work are distinguished. The work, primarily in the sociology of education, is then compared with some issues currently dominating discussion, practice, and research in higher education in the United Kingdom. (MSE)

Analyzes establishment of compulsory moral and civic instruction in France at the turn of the century using the recently developed research techniques of social history. Maintains that the application of social history techniques will provide new insights into historical and educational research. Includes an extensive bibliography of primary and…