Comparative Education: The Dialectic of the Global and the Local

Comparative Education brings together many of the outstanding scholars in the field of comparative and international education to provide new perspectives on the dynamic interplay of global, national, and local forces as they shape the functioning and outcomes of education systems in specific contexts. This valuable text demarcates the changing boundaries of the field, delineates significant developments in theory, and documents major shifts in educational policy and practice around the globe. The book’s first section establishes the theoretical and methodological framework for viewing the changing international and national contexts of education from political, economic, and cultural perspectives. The second section goes on to explore principal issues related to governance, such as centralization versus decentralization, and public versus private education; equality of educational opportunity, especially pertaining to women; and the respective roles of different levels of education in modernization and change, putting literacy and adult basic education at one point of the continuum and higher education at the other. The third section documents the potential and limitations of educational reform movements in different regions of the world, providing detailed critical accounts of how various international financial and technical assistance agencies shape educational policy and practice in specific regions of the world.