Learning from Comparing: New Directions in Comparative Educational Research. Volume 1: Contexts, Classrooms and Outcomes

by Robin Alexander (Editor), Patricia Broadfoot (Editor), David Phillips (Editor)

Learning from Comparing is a major two-volume study which reassesses the contribution of comparative educational research and theory to our understanding of contemporary educational problems and to our capacity to solve them. At a time when educational research is under attack on the grounds of 'bias' and 'irrelevance', and under pressure to address only those questions which are acceptable politically (as good a definition of bias as any), this is a serious attempt to bridge the worlds of research, policy and practice. The editors have put together a collection - in terms of both perspective and nationality - which ensures contrasting viewpoints on each topic.

CONTENTS:
Robin Alexander. Introduction.
PART ONE. COMPARATIVE EDUCATION IN THE 1990s: THEORY, METHOD AND CONTEXT: David Phillips.
On Comparing; Patricia Broadfoot.
Not So Much a Context, More a Way of Life? Comparative Education in the 1990s; Jürgen Schriewer.
Coping with Complexity in Comparative Methodology: issues of social causation and processes of macro-historical globalisation; Robert Cowen.
Late Modernity and the Rules of Chaos: an initial note on transitologies and rims; Michele Schweisfurth.
Resilience, Resistance and Responsiveness: comparative and international education at United Kingdom universities; Julia Betts & Stephanie Wilde. Postscript.

PART TWO. COMPARING CLASSROOMS AND SCHOOLS: Robin Alexander. Introduction: comparing classrooms and schools; Joseph Tobin.
Method and Meaning in Comparative Classroom Ethnography; David Reynolds. Creating a New Methodology for Comparative Educational Research: the contribution of the International School Effectiveness Research Project; Robin Alexander.
Culture in Pedagogy, Pedagogy across Cultures Maurice Galton. Commentary: interpreting classroom practice around the globe; Michele Schweisfurth. Postscript.

PART THREE. COMPARING PUPIL ACHIEVEMENT: Patricia Broadfoot. Introduction: comparing pupil achievement; Hilary Steedman. Measuring the Quality of Edu

304 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Robin Alexander is Lead Director of The Primary Review, Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge, Professor of Education Emeritus at the University of Warwick and President of the British Association for Interntational and Comparative Education.