Intro to Comparative and International Education
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
- A brief introduction to the field of Comparative and International Education. I currently hold an M.Ed. in Globalization and Educational Change from Lehigh University. Prior to entering my degree program, I scoured CZcams for a simple intro to the field to help me with my career transition. I discovered that there was a lack of information explaining the field, so I created this video to fill that void.
Nice video , very productive for me.thanks a lot...
Thank you for sharing! Indeed less resources out there.
Thank you. Very informative
Pittsburgh University also offers a program on Comparative and International Development.
wow amazing video tysm! next time would love a transcript provided in the description:) am currently studying an MSc in CIE Oxford Uni (if anyone out there has questions re applying feel free to hmu)
Hey! Thanks. I made a note to add a transcript/closed captions! Will do that when I get a chance. Thanks again!
Just letting you know that subtitles have been added to the video and a transcript is included in the comments! Wouldn't let me post the transcript in the description as it was too long. Hope this helps!
Wow I’m applying to a Masters in international education and comparative studies at IU. Very informative
I am too! Are you applying to be online or in-person? Do you have a particular concentration you want to focus on?
@@PacificTime369 how awesome! I’m hoping to focus on Educational leadership and be in-person. You??
@@km-ip9kz I hope to focus on the general online track but with a concentration on Southeast Asia, where I grew up. I'm so nervous waiting to hear back... I can't find any grad cafe chats or info on when to expect a response... you have any idea?
@@PacificTime369 no I’m hoping it’s soon tho. Do you mind if I dm you?!?
@@km-ip9kz Go ahead! It would be nice to chat with someone else going through this process.
excellent Jessica,,, I would use this video for my class here,, how would you permit me to do that, please
Hi! Of course, feel free to use this video in your class.
Transcript:
Hi everyone, this is Jessica Williams, candidate for the Master of Education in Globalization and Educational Change at Lehigh University. Today I’m going to introduce you to the field of Comparative and International Education, also known as CIE. Although CIE hosts a wide range of benefits and insight for those studying educational policy, teacher education, or global affairs, unfortunately it hasn’t been well publicized in many years. So let’s begin.
Okay. So one of the most pressing issues of the field is the definition of the field itself and the need to distinguish it from other fields. Which is kind of weird, huh? According to Wiseman and Matherly (2009), professionalization of a field of study requires expert knowledge, training and credentials, self-policing and ethical codes, occupational domains, and a workplace. Practitioners of the field work in many different occupations and environments, and the training required for the field is not set in stone. All of this makes it difficult for the professionalization of the field. It’s also complicated by the fact that the field draws on many methods and theoretical frameworks that are essential to other fields. As you can see in the diagram, Comparative and International Education shares methods and theoretical frameworks with fields such as Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, and Economics. So a criticism of Comparative and International Education is that it’s not characterized by anything that is unique to the field. But on the other hand, this flexibility makes it easier for those interested in the field to make a career change and contribute. Since this is an ongoing issue, I’m going to attempt to define the field as best as I can.
So Comparative and International Education have often been described as “twin fields”. One is considered academic while the other is more practical. On the left we have Comparative Education, known as the academic side. Comparative Education has roots in area studies and it’s a field in which two or more educational systems are compared in order to understand educational phenomena and explain how they vary. Comparative Education began around the 19th Century and from the literature we can see that its use has pretty much appealed to those who are concerned with economic and political progress of their countries compared with other countries. So a lot of comparison to see who is doing what and who is doing it well. As I mentioned before, Comparative Education is interdisciplinary, incorporating theoretical and methodological approaches from discipline such as Economics Anthropology, Sociology, and Political Science.
So on the right you’ll see International Education. International Education is a practical field that encompasses international schools, educational exchange, multicultural education, and ideals of social justice as well as international development. And it’s commonly thought of as the practical component of comparativists’ work. Malcolm McKenzie (1998) contends that even “International Education” and “international school” have become so muddled that they’re used interchangeably. And so he’s suggesting that there are multiple meanings of International Education, which really doesn’t help the fact that we’re trying to define these twin fields, right? And yet although International Education is being pulled in so many directions, there is a common thread among these strands of International Education. UNESCO’s language in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other documents that discuss education, especially education for international understanding, has painted a picture of International Education that illustrates a dedication to social justice, equity, human rights, respect, and cooperation among nations. While Robert Leestma (1969) conceptualizes International Education as “any educational output that reduces ethnocentrism”. So that’s pretty interesting. And these values are inherent to International Education endeavors, which ultimately serve to solve social problems within and between nations.
Comparison is a critical element of the field. But is it a unique feature of CIE? Now this is a question that is also hotly debated within the field. But it’s something we naturally do when making decisions. Should I choose this or this? Which one is better? However, according to Carlos Oliveira, comparison in the general sense is distinct from the comparative discipline. So the discipline is different. The Comparative discipline involves comparing empirically observable data from two comparable objects. So we’re not comparing apples to oranges, we’re comparing apples to apples or oranges to oranges…rather than simply comparing just two or more objects, as I said. Some scholars identify comparison as one of the unique features of this field, but I tend to disagree. While it does define the field, it’s not unique to the field as there are many other comparative fields such as Comparative Law, Comparative Literature, and Comparative Sociology. But that’s just my opinion.
So how did the two fields come together? That’s pretty important. According to Alexander Wiseman and Emily Anderson, some scholars say the two fields started to come together to form Comparative and International Education from the 19th and 20th centuries, while others believe it didn’t really become a field until the ‘50s. And this is around the same time that the field’s own scholarly journal started to be published. One defining moment for the field was in 1968 when the Comparative Education Society changed their name to the Comparative and International Education Society, and I quote “to indicate the more global nature of the organization” (Weisman and Matherly, 2009). Although this is still a hotly contested move, nevertheless CIE was cemented as more of a legitimate field. Although, since then, scholars have been kind of working retroactively to justify and defend its legitimacy after the fact. Additionally, an annual review of the field has been part of the field’s increasing legitimatization. Wiseman and Anderson (2013) make the case that annual review is necessary for scholars and practitioners of the field to discuss common goals and to determine whether the field is meeting those goals. In fact, it’s vital for the professionalization of the field.
So now you know the basics of the field. What do CIE scholars and practitioners do? Most scholars of CIE analyze the policies and trends in education and do critical research by gathering qualitative and quantitative data. This research is often used to help policymakers in education make more informed decisions a the practical level. So an example would be if policymakers in the United States wanted to improve aspects of the educational system there. So if they decided to look at the Finnish educational system for example, just because of perceived superiority based on standardized testing and how well they’re doing, they would look at factors such as the cultural and historical contexts of the countries. And so the researchers in Comparative and International Education would allow policymakers to make informed decisions as to whether to borrow these Finnish policies in the first place. So it’s a really important area of research because if policymakers adopt the wrong policies out of context, it could have many social and economic consequences both inside and outside of education. So many people in the field go on to become government officials, officers in development programs, education policymakers, scientists in research institutes, and they also work in NGOs and within schools.
So now a pressing question: what will be the future of Comparative and International Education? So whether the field will become ever more professionalized is unclear; however, I do believe that the field is growing and will be increasingly important due to globalization and the global nature of education in general. But on that note, I believe that something we have to come to terms with as scholars of CIE is we need to reframe the narrative of Comparative and International Education as a field with intentional differences rather than accidental differences for which we must try to find excuses, you know, and explain. As I mentioned before, Comparative and International Education is often portrayed as a haphazard pile of theories and methods applied to education that must find its own unique approach. But on the contrary, what makes a field unique is its flexibility in using the tools for the job, right? By reframing the narrative of Comparative and International Education, the field becomes an asset rather than some confused pile of theories.
But if you’re interested in a CIE program, I recommend these programs, checking out these schools. There are some degrees out there that offer studies in just Comparative Education and just International Education as well, if you’re interested in that, but I decided to put a couple from the United States that are both Comparative and International Education. I would also recommend reading this book. I don’t know if it’s…it looks like it’s not twisted. There we go. Comparative and International Education: An Introduction to Theory, Method, and Practice by David Phillips and Michele Schweisfurth. It’s a really good introduction to the field if you’re interested. So there you have it. There’s a brief introduction to the field of Comparative and International Education. I hope you enjoyed it. And be sure to share this video with anyone who might be curious of the field or who would like to learn a little more about it. Thanks and have a great day!