Michele Schweisfurth

Education for global citizenship: teacher agency and curricular structure in Ontario schools

As a multicultural nation with aspirations to an international peacekeeping role, Canada makes an interesting context in which to study global citizenship education. This article is based on research conducted in Ontario schools. It examines how individual teachers have prioritized global citizenship issues in their teaching, in the context of other curricular demands. The methodology is based on a multiple case study approach, and methods included documentary analysis, classroom observation, and interviews. The research revealed that teachers who are determined to make global education a priority have found that the new Ontario curriculum guidelines have given them plenty of opportunities to do so. Civics Education as a compulsory subject offered possibilities. Both classroom‐based and extra‐curricular activities were seen to focus in dynamic and innovative ways on global issues, and there was considerable enthusiasm for these themes among learners. The teachers were able to ‘use’ the expectations of the curriculum creatively to justify their approaches, and did not see their priorities as being at odds with the recent emphasis on academic standards in education. They were supported in this by a network of like‐minded teachers, and by a programme geared to their interests at the University of Toronto. However, these teachers noted that while the tightening of curricular expectations did not reduce opportunities for incorporating global education priorities, they were unusual among their colleagues. Despite the potential, it was felt that many teachers were demoralized by public opinion and perceived themselves as restricted by the curriculum. The study suggests that where teachers are highly motivated and supported in pursuing goals which they consider important—global citizenship learning in particular—they had the agency to do so.

Exploring the experiences of international students in UK higher education: possibilities and limits of interculturality in university life

This article is based on a two‐year multi‐method research project, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, investigating the experiences of international undergraduate students in UK higher education. In investigating the influences on their experiences and the strategies that students employ, the study has also revealed something of the possibilities and limits of interculturality in the context of these universities. The paper uses contact theory as a framework to analyse that nature of their experiences, questioning how far the university environment nurtures interculturality for international students.

Democracy and Teacher Education: Negotiating practice in The Gambia

This article reflects on the processes and outcomes of a project which sought to develop knowledge and skills in democratic education among lecturers and students at the School of Education of The Gambia College. Over the course of the project, professional development workshops were conducted, and the impact of these was assessed in subsequent research. The research revealed a variety of responses in terms of the degree of impact that the workshops had had on participants, but also inspired questions about local interpretations of democracy, and about the ethics and effectiveness of interventionist projects of this kind.

Learner-Centred Education in International Perspective

This article provides an overview of Learner-Centred ducation (LCE) as a travelling policy and outlines some of the arguments and pathways that have been used to fuel its travel. Despite the rich promises it offers and its proliferation as a global phenomenon and national policy, there is evidence that implementation and changes to classroom practice have proved to be problematic in many contexts. This seems particularly true in developing countries, and the article explores some of the reasons behind these perennial gaps. It concludes by arguing for the importance of both a birds-eye view and local understandings in researching and operationalising LCE, and suggests ways that the local and the global might be reconciled so that the promise of LCE is not lost in translation.

Global and cross-national influences on education in post-genocide Rwanda

In post‐genocide Rwanda, education is being seen as a tool for development, reconstruction and reconciliation. This article explores three different ways in which international influence on the education agenda is being experienced, with particular focus on Rwanda as a post‐conflict society. The three quite different dimensions and sources of influence considered here are: the global and bilateral pressures related to foreign aid to education; the effects of migration arising from national and regional conflict, and through this the transfer of models from elsewhere; and the conceptualisation of genocide as a global tragedy.

Gleaning Meaning from Case Studies in International Comparison: Teachers' Experiences of Reform in Russia and South Africa.

Abstract This paper considers how case study approaches may be used cross‐nationally. It outlines five key stages in the process of conducting case study research and of learning from it: selection, verification, cumulation, generalisation, and application. The research used to illustrate these principles is a study of teachers’ experiences of changes in education in post‐communist Russia and post‐apartheid South Africa.

Are Sojourners Natural Comparativists? Critical Perspectives on the Learning Experiences of International Students

Students who spend a period of time studying outside of their own national systems have a number of advantages in terms of developing a comparative perspective on education. The experience of living and studying abroad provides them with the opportunity to act as participant observers of at least two different systems, and the natural juxtaposition of these experiences should, in theory, help these individuals to better understand their own and the other education systems. This article uses a number of sources to interrogate this assumption. It draws on findings from research conducted by the author and colleagues on international students in the United Kingdom, in order to explore the potential and limitations of a period of international study in informing a learners comparative perspective. While such students evidently adopt a comparative discourse in discussing their experiences, questions are raised about the validity and depth of these understandings.

Among the comparativists: ethnographic observations

This article imagines the comparative education community as a tribal grouping. Using traditional anthropological categories, it explores how tribal membership is established and the rites and rituals that bind the tribe; questions of kinship among the larger family groupings within the tribe; belief systems; questions of social stratification in relation to the tribal hierarchy; and the persistence of warfare in this relatively peaceful group. While the articles approach and tone are lightly spoofing, the conclusion raises more serious questions about this tribe and its place in the contemporary world.

The comparative gaze: from telescope to microscope

There are times in comparative and international education inquiry when what is needed is to be able to see the whole world at once, as though through a telescope from afar. From this vantage point, policies can be viewed as they travel and as phenomena are experienced in varying ways in different contexts. Such a ‘bird’s-eye view’ (Steiner-Khamsci 2011) is valuable in enabling the identification of broad patterns and exceptions, and in facilitating analysis of how global trends are developing. This creates potential for broad-brush lessons to be learnt, which can be tested and applied in specific settings. On the other hand, sometimes what is needed is the formal comparative approach, involving a systematic juxtaposition of education in two or more settings to draw out similarities and differences (see, for example, Phillips and Schweisfurth 2006, 100). The settings have traditionally been national systems of education but units of analysis could be smaller or occasionally larger (Bray and Murray Thomas set out a range of possibilities in their 1995 article). This approach, well-established in the field, allows the comparativist to observe how a given policy or practice is manifested in more than one place and so provides insight into the shaping of particular outcomes, and how aspects of the context are influential. Indirect experimentation becomes possible. For example, if a researcher hopes to understand what happens when teachers’ pay is increased, he or she can compare different examples of policy contexts where this was implemented and analyse the changes that ensued as the policy interacted with educational and other realities in each case. This could help to inform policy decisions in a new setting, as there will be a better understanding of potential intended and unintended consequences, and what might have created them. Sometimes, however, the picture that is needed is fine-grained and therefore requires an up-close, sustained, and locally-framed view, usually practicable and meaningful in only one setting at a time. This can help to show in detail what might be missed by a more distanced or comparatively-framed perspective. This is where ethnographic approaches are most valuable, and where historical analyses come into their own. These can reveal vital aspects of process, context or outcomes which have implications beyond the particular setting. With all of these gazes, it is not necessarily a question of one or the other. A bird’s-eye view can reveal a policy in motion in its giant steps, while an effective complement to this is one or more close studies of how the steps are landing, and what they are changing, avoiding, stepping on or displacing. The articles in this month’s issue of Comparative Education adopt all three of these gazes, to a full range of effects. The first two articles adopt ‘telescope’ perspectives on important educational issues. In ‘The role of basic education in post-conflict recovery’, Sultan Barakat, David Connolly, Frank Hardman and Vanita Sundaram examine the evidencebase on education’swidely-recognised status inpost-conflict situations as the ‘fourth pillar’ of humanitarian aid. They note both the transformational potential of education in these circumstances, and its limitations, using illustrative country case studies to complement the broad view. Also drawing on a global evidence base, in ‘What is the evidence

The contribution of education to social progress

Education is the process of learning and expanding culture, and, as it contributes to the improvement of the human condition through better knowledge, health, living conditions, social equity and productivity, is a central tool for social progress. Education is expected to foster social progress through four different but interrelated purposes: humanistic, through the development of individual and collective human virtues to their full extent; civic, by the enhancement of public life and active participation in a democratic society; economic, by providing individuals with intellectual and practical skills that make them productive and enhance their and society’s living conditions; and through fostering social equity and justice. The expansion of formal education, which was part of the emergence of the nation states and modern economies, is one of the most visible indicators of social progress. In its expansion, education created a complex web of institutions distributed according to different paths along the life course, from early education through the school cycles to the final stages of higher education, continuing with the provision of forms of lifelong education. This web of institutions is subject to breaks and cleavages that reflect their diverse and multiple historical origins and purposes and the asynchronous developments in different regions. From primary schooling, education institutions grew horizontally (by learning fields, subjects, or occupations) and vertically (by levels and credentials.) The allocation of children and young people to different tracks and institutions, by a mixture of choice and assignment, is a core process in formal education that often reflects and reproduces preexisting inequalities. The chapter presents the main actions needed to allow education to fulfill its promise to promote social progress considering the four purposes of education. On a global level more research informed policy is required and a balanced approach to educational reform, including teacher education, by putting more emphasis on the civic and humanistic purposes. Governance structures that are flexible, participatory, and accountable considering the political and social context are recommended. The new agenda of Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 established in 2015 calls for a new cooperative paradigm based on the concept of “full global partnership” and the principle of “no one will be left behind.” Sustainable Development Goal 4 for Education aims “to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning”. This provides a broad framework for education’s contribution to social progress. To achieve this, it is necessary: (1) to expand access and improve the quality of early childhood education, as a precondition for life-long educational success in all its goals; (2) to improve the quality of schools, including in learners’ direct interactions with their peer groups, educators and the surroundings; in institutional characteristics such as group size, student-teacher ratio, teacher qualifications and spatial and material conditions, and in the provision of a meaningful and relevant curriculum; (3) to enhance the role of educators, considering that teachers are not just carriers of knowledge and information, but role models that have a significant impact on children’s dispositions towards learning and life more generally; (4) to make higher and vocational education more inclusive and socially relevant, thereby enhancing the opportunities for students of all sectors of society to further their education in a meaningful and practical ways, eliminating social and cultural restrictions to access and reducing the dividing lines between high and low prestige and esteem between institutions and careers. Additionally, appropriate use of the opportunities created by the new digital technologies is recommended. These are not a magic bullet that will replace existing educational institutions and create a new learning world. But they can be powerful instruments to improve the quality and relevance of education and its contribution to social progress.