Thanks to the comparative study of pedagogical experience, the theoretical foundations of the process of education and training in different countries, it is possible to improve existing and create new, more rational education systems.
Purpose, subject and objectives
The purpose of this science is an objective study and comparison of international experience in the development of pedagogical theory and practice.
The tasks of comparative pedagogy are to study the processes related to education and upbringing in different countries, subsequently identify the positive and negative aspects of pedagogical systems, identify the prerequisites for improving domestic pedagogical systems, develop recommendations and correct the domestic education system.
One of the tasks of a comparative study is to provide a convincing and comprehensive report on how the social and political positions of values are translated into localized acts of learning. You can solve this problem of comparative pedagogy by focusing on the comparison of pedagogy. In addition, this science is designed to combine values and practice to allow teaching embedded in one context to compare with teaching embedded in another to better inform educators.
The subject of comparative pedagogy is the whole diversity of educational systems in different countries.
Definition Problem
When studying literature on comparative education over the past 100 years, it becomes clear that there is a “crisis of identity” with respect to its boundaries, and mainly confusion is associated with blurred boundaries of the subject field. Until the end of the twentieth century, several authors worked to clarify the differences between the two areas: comparative education and international education, and in fact many authors carelessly used “comparative education” and “international education” either interchangeably or simultaneously without any differences.
Undoubtedly, there is a coincidence in the history of comparative pedagogy and international education, although the comparativeists seem to have a stronger idea of who their founding fathers are, what are the key literary works in history, and when important shifts occurred.
Justification for Comparing Education
It has long been assumed that comparison has a positive meaning. This makes it possible to learn from the experience of others. The act of comparison is also an appropriate method in some circumstances to highlight significant issues. In particular, this refers to the relationship between learning and its socio-political context. Many studies confirm that teaching is closely related to society and the education system within which it exists. Such studies show that specific political and economic systems of countries, as well as various systemic and accountable structures within which teachers work, give rise to various concepts of teaching and professional development.
Indeed, in such conditions various professional identities appear , which are manifested both in practice and in the beliefs of teachers. For example, the professional identity of primary school teachers in England and France and, therefore, their priorities and visions of their responsibilities are related to their national culture and educational traditions. In both countries, teachers agree on external requirements that apply to them in terms of their cultures and traditions in order to interpret the priorities and desired classes in the classroom, different from those provided by government directives. Although studies describe and contrast the political, institutional, and individual contexts that comparative pedagogy studies, they also suggest that teachers play a central role in mediating the influence of each external factor on their practice.
Story
The history of comparative education can be divided into several main stages in the development of comparative pedagogy, based on the characteristics of the type of activity.
- The stage where the main stories were travelers - the so-called period of travel notes (from antiquity to 1817).
- The stage of the appearance of the first researchers (from 1817 to 1900) is selective borrowing.
- Stage philosophers (preoccupation with the cultural context) - from 1900 until the end of World War II in 1945.
- Stage of development of social science (from 1945 to the end of the twentieth century).
- Modern tendencies.
It is important to note that the stages used to indicate changes in the historical development of the discipline are retrospective and overlap. They cannot be regarded as a point of a concrete or sudden turn in the history of development. All changes occurred gradually. At the same time, the transition to a new stage did not mean a complete break with the previous one.
Travel Notes Stage
This period covers the time from antiquity to about 1817, when Marc Antoine Julien (Paris) published his famous work, “The Plan and Preliminary Views on Work in Comparative Education”. Until that time, work on foreign educational systems was simply descriptions of foreign educational systems by people who traveled to other countries with completely different goals: for trade, out of curiosity or because of a military conflict. Some of these travelers, interested in raising children or education, studied what happened in the communities they visited. The main motive for such work was curiosity and the need for comparison. Works of this kind include the works of Xenophon, Cicero, Plato, Tacitus, Julius Caesar, Marco Polo, Matteo Ricci, William Petty.
Stage of formulation of the problem of comparative pedagogy
The aftermath of the French revolution, the industrial revolution, the agrarian revolution and the colonization process characterized the nineteenth century in Europe. Most education reformers of the time were concerned about the social and political conditions of the revolution and the reactions at the beginning of this century. In education, they saw the possibility of moral improvement and social improvement. There was a need to create some way to exchange best ideas and practices. This has led to a significant change in the approach to the development of comparative pedagogy, which offers a systematic and comprehensive data collection and the possibility of selective borrowing in the education system.
Features of development in the XIX century
This period was focused on the development of methodology and systematic rules that had to be observed when studying comparative pedagogy. The beginning of this period was the work of Marc Antoine Julien. He sought to develop a methodology or system of rules that should be followed when studying foreign education systems, to find a way to learn from foreign systems in order to borrow ideas. During this period, serious attempts were made to observe and study other education systems. Now researchers traveled not just out of idle curiosity. They wanted to know what was happening in education in other countries in order to borrow aspects in order to improve their own educational systems. During this period, the activities of Peter I, Horace Mann, Joseph Kay, Matthew Arnold, Leo Tolstoy, Konstantin Ushinsky were of great importance.
Cultural context comparison step
The publication in 1900 of short essays by Michael Sandler (1861-1943) opened a new stage in comparative research in the field of education. Although hints of this approach can be found in writers in previous years, in particular, Matthew Arnold in England, Wilhelm Dilthey in Germany and others, from this moment new perspectives for comparative education open up. They have gained more comprehensive, analytical and explanatory potential.
Within the framework of this approach, the specific educational systems that comparative pedagogy studies are considered as the result of an identifiable set of historical and social forces and factors. Schools, it was argued, could only be studied as an integral part of the society in which they developed. Separate parts could not be extracted from the educational context, and the school system could not be considered separately from the general cultural environment. The first works written at this stage repeatedly drew attention to the historical and political development outside the school. Trends in analytical studies of the relationship between education and society have become widely recognized. In their studies, comparativists took into account the features that exist in education systems, in terms of the forces and factors that shaped them. The activities of William T. Harris, William Dilthey, Michael Sadler and others belong to this period.
The stage of development of social science
After 1945, interest in comparative education increased sharply. This particularly affected two main aspects.
- The work of new and influential national and international organizations related to the study, planning and implementation of educational programs. At the same time, great importance was attached to various international projects.
- Increased activity in the study and teaching of comparative pedagogy as a discipline in colleges, universities, the creation of research centers. All this indicates a shift in emphasis on social sciences.
Modern tendencies
Currently, the development of comparative pedagogy is characterized by two equally strong trends.
Firstly, the sustainability of the process of expanding the subject field of science. The nation state remains the most common unit of analysis, however, the scope of activity is expanding to larger (global, regional) and smaller (state, district, class, individual) levels of analysis. Secondly, the paradigm characteristic of the period at the beginning of the last century remains dominant. Moreover, there are many opportunities for its expansion, not only from the point of view of more levels of analysis, but also from the point of view of methods and topics of study.
Methodological basis
Since this science is interdisciplinary, it accordingly uses almost the entire arsenal of methods of related sciences. The following main methods of comparative pedagogy can be distinguished.
When using the descriptive method, external signs, traits, characteristics of pedagogical phenomena are described. The written description should be accurate, objective, the facts described should be systematized, information should be collected in sufficient quantities in order to conduct an analysis.
When using the statistical method, quantitative indicators are analyzed. Certain difficulties in using this method are connected with the fact that the data of national statistics are difficult to compare.
Using the historical method involves the study of how the educational system or its individual link developed.
Using the sociological method, they evaluate how the educational organization realizes the needs of society at a certain stage of development.
The main method is the comparative one. It allows you to identify features inherent in educational systems, patterns and development trends.
Scientists also resort to analytical methods - analysis, synthesis, generalization, abstraction, induction, deduction.
Comparative Special Education
This science deals with the solution of similar general problems. However, in the framework of this discipline, research is carried out and specific tasks are solved that relate specifically to special education. Comparative special pedagogy studies the status and development trends of special education at various levels, including international, intercultural and retrospective; studies the structure, goals, functions, content, economic and socio-political conditions in which special education is developing.