Trends and Issues in Comparative Education

This discussion essay explores trends and issues in the teaching of comparative
education. We argue that the field of Comparative and International Education
(CIE) must give more attention to the aspect of teaching, as comparative
education courses are increasingly being affected by diminishing devotion to
social foundations of education programming in many institutions of higher
education and schools.
Ironically, despite growing pluralism, the rise of economic utilitarianism has led to
technicist-driven curriculum and less inquiry about philosophical, historical, and
cultural assumptions underlying educational policy and practice. Another
challenge in the teaching of comparative education is that students are often ill-
prepared to understand and utilize the most basic social science concepts.
Recognizing that teaching and research in CIE are inevitably linked, it is argued
that a transformational model that advances CIE across disciplines, schools, and
departments may reinforce its importance and ensure that the benefits that
comparative inquiry affords – namely critical reflexivity, insight about school–
society relationships, and possibilities for educational improvement – are
addressed and safeguarded in tertiary and teacher education. An understanding
of cultural and national contexts is important to educational reform and enables
educators to view globalization in terms of how it benefits or undermines
humanistic aims, namely the importance of individuals and the uniqueness of
cultures.