New directions in comparative education

Abstract

It should be remembered that Comparative Education was begun with the aim of improving the educational systems of countries thus giving rise to the comparative analysis of them. This practice went back to Diderot. It did not dea1 simply at looking at what was done in other places, but with establishing thoroughly the most important problems that must confront our industrial society. Four phases through which the development of Comparative Education has passed are mentioned; the most recent which includes the last twenty years, deals with sociopolitical and economic decisions of a country based on consistent investigations by comparative analysis. This step was viewed with great optimism, believing that it would contribute to the achievements of the teachers and the students. But it was soon discovered that this was not altogether correct and that they would have to pay more attention to the actual state of their own country and guard against making utopian predictions. Reports were appearing in some countries like Great Britain and Sweden on the educational system and specialists of differing social sciences began to collaborate, working as a team. An example is cited of a full enquiry made by the author and another two colleagues who made a team composed of a comparative educationist, a sociologist and a specialist in curriculum management. Their object was to study the educational and social consequences of the rapidly increasing enrollments of young people between 16 and 19 years old in five western European countries. They administered some 12. 500 questionnaires to students, school principals and teachers of secondary schools. This study, published in two volumes, had international repercussions and was an example of what was able to be done in other countries. In the present phase of advanced industrialism Comparative Education could be a valuable aid in directing education provided that pedantic and theoretical statements are avoided and, on the contrary, its studies are based on social realities.