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Comparative education is a fully established academic field of study that examines education in one country (or group of countries) by using data and insights drawn from the practises and situation in another country, or countries. Programs and courses in comparative education are offered in many universities throughout the world, and relevant studies are regularly published in scholarly journals such as Comparative Education, International Review of Education, International Journal of Educational Development, and Comparative Education Review. The field of comparative education is supported by many projects associated with UNESCO and the national education ministries of various nations.

Objectives and Scope

According to Harold J Noah (1985), comparative education has four purposes:
  1. To describe educational systems, processes, or outcomes.
  2. To assist in the development of educational institutions and practices.
  3. To highlight the relationships between education and society.
  4. To establish generalized statements about education that are valid in more than one country.
Comparative education is often incorrectly assumed to exclusively encompass studies that compare two or more different countries. In fact, since its early days researchers in this field have often eschewed such approaches, preferring rather to focus on comparisons within a single country over time. Still, some large scale projects, such as the PISA and TIMSS studies (see External links below), have made important findings through explicitly comparative macroanalysis of massive data sets.

Rationale for the Field

Many important educational questions can best be examined from an international-comparative perspective. For example, in the United States there's no nationwide certificate of completion of secondary education. This raises the question of what the advantages and disadvantages are of leaving such certification to each of the 50 states. Comparative education draws on the experience of countries such as Japan and France to show how a centralized system works, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of centralized certification.

Disciplinary Identity

Comparative education is closely allied to, and may overlap with, international education and international educational development. The Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) was "Founded in 1956 to foster cross-cultural understanding, scholarship, academic achievement and societal development through the international study of educational ideas, systems, and practices." Among North American universities, Stanford University, Columbia University, Indiana University, UCLA, Pennsylvania State University, and University of Illinois,University of Minnesota at Twin Cities are especially known for their programs in this field. The University of Oxford, University of London and University of Hong Kong also have outstanding programs.

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