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S.E. Introduction to comparative education (2 créditos)
Dr Jaakko Kauko (University of Helsinki)
Objective
Students will be introduced to basic concepts and different theoretical starting points of comparative
education, concentrating mainly on European and North American theories.
Lecture themes and required reading
1. What is comparison?
Defining basic concepts. Required reading: have a look of some of the mentioned background literature in
Table 1.
2. Comparative theories I: borrowing and lending, world-systems analysis
Required reading, one of the following:
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Steiner-Khamsi, G. 2010. The Politics and Economics of Comparison. Comparative Education
Review, 54(3), p. 323–342.
Waldow, F. 2012. Standardisation and Legitimacy: Two Central Concepts in Research on
Educational Borrowing and Lending. In G. Steiner-Khamsi & F. Waldow. (Eds.) Policy Borrowing and
Lending in Education. World Yearbook of Education 2012. London & New York: Routledge, p. 411–
427.
3. Comparative theories II: cross-cultural, post-colonialism, post-comparison
Required reading, one of the following:
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Anderson-Levitt, K. M. 2012. Complicating the concept of culture, Comparative Education, 48:4, p.
441–454.
Lahelma, E. & Gordon, T. 2010 Comparative and Cross-cultural Ethnography. In J. Kauko, R. Rinne,
R. & H. Kynkäänniemi (Eds.). Restructuring the Truth of Schooling: Essays on Discursive Practices in
Sociology and the Politics of Education: a Festschrift for Hannu Simola. Turku: Finnish Educational
Research Association, p. 93-107.
4. Comparative theories III: complexity, critique, and the politics of comparison
Required reading:
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Nóvoa, A. &Yariv-Mashal, T. (2003). Comparative Research in Education: a mode of governance or a
historical journey? Comparative Education 39 (4), p. 423–439.
5. Comparative Analytics of Dynamics in Education Politics (CADEP)
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Table 1. Background literature and central concepts of the course
Concepts
Globalisation, flows and
networks
Levels or scales: international,
transnational, supranational
Convergence and divergence
Ways of comparison: e.g. space,
time, patterns, discourse
Politics of comparison and the
international rankings
Problems in comparison
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Examples of key literature
Beck, U. (2000). What is Globalization? Cambridge: Polity Press.
Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D. & Perraton, J. (1999) Global
Transformations. Politics, Economics and Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Dale, R. (2005). Globalisation, knowledge economy and comparative
education, Comparative Education, 41 (2), 117-149.
Djelic, M-L. & Sahlin-Andersson, K. (2006). Introduction: a world of
governance. The rise of transnational regulation. In Djelic, M-L. & SahlinAndersson, K (Eds) Transnational Governance. Institutional Dynamics of
Regulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2009). Comparison Quo vadis? In R. Cowen & A. M.
Kazamias (Eds.) International Handbook of Comparative Education.
Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 1141–1158.
Meyer, J. W. & Ramirez, F. O. (2003). The World Institutionalization of
Education. In J. Schriewer (Ed.) Discourse Formation in Comparative
Education. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang, 111–132.
Nagel, A.-K., Martens, K. & Windzio, M. (2010). Introduction –– Education
Policy in Transformation. In K. Martens, A.-K. Nagel, M. Windzio & A.
Weymann (Eds.) Transformation of Education Policy. Houndmills: Palgrave
Macmillan, 3–27.
Adamson, B. (2012). International comparative studies in teaching and teacher
education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 641–648.
Cowen, R. (2002). Moments of time: a comparative note, History of Education:
Journal of the History of Education Society, 31 (5), 413–424.
Phillips, D. & Ochs, K. (2004). Researching policy borrowing: Some
methodological challenges in comparative education. British Educational
Research Journal, 30 (6), 773–784.
Sweeting, A. (2005) The historical dimension: a contribution to conversation
about theory and methodology in comparative education. Comparative
Education, 41 (1), 25–44.
Carvalho, L. M. (2012). The Fabrications and Travels of a Knowledge-Policy
Instrument. European Educational Research Journal, 11 (2), 172–188.
Robertson, S. L., Bonal, X. & Dale, R. (2002). GATS and the Education Service
Industry: The Politics of Scale and Global Reterritorialization. Comparative
Education Review, 46 (4), 472–495.
Simola, H. (2005). The Finnish miracle of PISA: historical and sociological
remarks on teaching and teacher education. Comparative Education, 41 (4),
455–470.
Waldow, F. (2009). Undeclared imports: silent borrowing in educational
policy‐making and research in Sweden. Comparative Education, 45 (4), 477–
494.
Waldow, F. (2010). Der Traum vom "skandinavisch schlau Werden’". Drei
Thesen zur Rolle Finnlands als Projektionsfläche in der gegenwärtigen
Bildungsdebatte. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 56 (4), 497-511.
Cowen, R. (2009). In R. Cowen & A. M. Kazamias (Eds.) International Handbook
of Comparative Education. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 961–964.
Levi-Strauss, C. (1952). Race and History. UNESCO.1
Werner, M., & Zimmermann, B. (2006) Beyond Comparison: "Histoire Croisée"
and the Challenge of Reflexivity. History and Theory, 45 (1), 30–50.
Available online: http://archive.org/stream/racehistory00levi/racehistory00levi_djvu.txt.