Comparative education
The development of comparative education
Human beings are in the habit of making comparisons between things that around them. Comparison can take place wherever we have more than one thing that has the same purpose. We compare to make up our minds and to choose between two or more choices. Comparing can take place also for more scientific reasons for example to find out the relationship existing between, or among the things being compared.
But what is comparative education? It is fully established academic field of study that involves the analysis and comparison of educational systems, such as those in different countries. The main goal of this field is to improve the quality of educational systems. One example of large scale comparative macroanalysis is the PISA study, in which Finland has ranked very highly each year.
The historical development of comparative education can be divided into three or five stages depending on the bases the division has been made. The three stages are: descriptive stage, predictive stage and scientific stage. If the division is made according the motive of comparative study and genre of work the stages are (1) the travelers’ tales, (2) travelers with a specific educational focus, (3) understanding of other nations, (4) study of ‘national character’ and its deterministic role in shaping national systems of education, and (5) quantitative research. The first two of these are included in the descriptive stage, third in predictive stage and last two in the scientific stage.
The earliest stage, the period of travelers' tales, was prompted by simple curiosity. Second came a period of educational borrowing, when the desire to learn useful lessons from foreign practices was the major motivation. In the third stage, international educational cooperation was stressed in the interests of world harmony and mutual improvement among nations. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, two more stages have appeared, both
Human beings are in the habit of making comparisons between things that around them. Comparison can take place wherever we have more than one thing that has the same purpose. We compare to make up our minds and to choose between two or more choices. Comparing can take place also for more scientific reasons for example to find out the relationship existing between, or among the things being compared.
But what is comparative education? It is fully established academic field of study that involves the analysis and comparison of educational systems, such as those in different countries. The main goal of this field is to improve the quality of educational systems. One example of large scale comparative macroanalysis is the PISA study, in which Finland has ranked very highly each year.
The historical development of comparative education can be divided into three or five stages depending on the bases the division has been made. The three stages are: descriptive stage, predictive stage and scientific stage. If the division is made according the motive of comparative study and genre of work the stages are (1) the travelers’ tales, (2) travelers with a specific educational focus, (3) understanding of other nations, (4) study of ‘national character’ and its deterministic role in shaping national systems of education, and (5) quantitative research. The first two of these are included in the descriptive stage, third in predictive stage and last two in the scientific stage.
The earliest stage, the period of travelers' tales, was prompted by simple curiosity. Second came a period of educational borrowing, when the desire to learn useful lessons from foreign practices was the major motivation. In the third stage, international educational cooperation was stressed in the interests of world harmony and mutual improvement among nations. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, two more stages have appeared, both