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Imperatives of Comparative and International Education: Some Reflections from the South

Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2017

ISBN: 978-1-78743-766-1, eISBN: 978-1-78743-765-4

Publication date: 5 February 2018

Abstract

Many contemporary societies are experiencing a convergence between forces of economic globalisation and conservative ideologies that threaten to capture the educational space. Several countries are faced with the challenge of ineffective reforms apparent in increasing rates of school failure and poor learning outcomes. Never before have there been such striking similarities in the dilemmas and challenges faced by societies across the world in the field of education. Underlying these striking similarities are the unique trajectories that diverse countries have taken in their struggle to provide equitable education and preserve systems of democracy. As comparative educators, we need to take cognizance of these unique trajectories while engaging deeper with the postcolonial response to the challenges of failed reforms in education and development. Foremost among these concerns is the need to unravel the intimate, yet deeply challenged, relationship between education and society in a globalised economy. Using the heuristics of comparative education, international research will need to engage critically with the narratives of educational thought and practice emerging in these diverse contexts. Drawing upon some reflections from the South, this essay attempts to implore the critical voice of the comparative educator at a time when educational reforms driven by the agenda of internationalisation, repudiate people’s aspirations for an education that fosters socially just societies.

Keywords

Citation

Batra, P. (2018), "Imperatives of Comparative and International Education: Some Reflections from the South", Wiseman, A.W. (Ed.) Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2017 (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 34), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 75-83. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-367920180000034008

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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