Department of Education, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
ED60275 Comparative approaches to educational development |
| Level: Doctoral |
| Modular: no specific semester |
| Assessment: CW 100% |
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The unit is intended for senior managers, educators and researchers working in institutional settings or local, regional or national administrations, or in international development organisations.
On the one hand it will enable participants to set local issues and concerns in a broader global context and promote their capacity to make informed choices. On the other, it will encourage a realisation of the importance of local context in the interpretation of global educational concerns and choices of strategy to deal with educational problems. This will be achieved through study, using comparative, case-study and other methodologies, of a range of critical educational areas that are of global significance, drawing out both their supra-national characteristics and the significance of local contexts and variations. Aims: The unit's aims are to develop participants' critical understanding of: (i) the issues, trends, emphases, priorities and strategies currently influencing educational development internationally, and their consequences for specific local and/or national development; (ii) the philosophies, ideologies and value judgements underlying global emphases and trends in educational development of significance in their own local settings; (iii) the contribution that a study of issues, trends and developments set in the context of the experiences of a range of countries can make to promoting educational developments in their own areas of responsibility; (iv) the need to recognise the characteristics of particular local and national contexts in evaluating the applicability of the experiences of other countries and of current international trends in formulating solutions to specific problems; and (v) the strengths and limitations of research methodologies used for the collection, analysis and interpretation of data for the purposes of specific country/situation analysis and evaluation, and international comparison. Learning Outcomes: As a result of the development of this critical understanding, participants will be better able to: (i) understand and evaluate the methodologies and products of research in the field of comparative and international education; (ii) interpret and apply critically the information gained from a study of other countries' experiences and of international trends in the development of appropriate strategies for confronting problems in a specific situation; (iii) plan and conduct their own research, making informed use of appropriate methodologies and drawing on international experience, designed to promote educational development in their own educational area of responsibility; (iv) contribute as members of a team to the formulations of solutions to educational development problems, drawing critically on their own experiences; and (v) carry out their activities at a level which meets the requirements of this unit. Assignment: Students will be expected to complete one written assignment of 8,000 words which will normally take one of the following forms: (i) a contextualised case study or a comparative study across two or more contexts of one of the areas or one of the themes identified in the course outline, below, which will include a critical engagement with the relevant research literature; or (ii) the design of a piece of research in the form of a comparative study of an issue in educational development, together with a critical evaluation of this design. Content: Since it is anticipated that participants will represent a range of national and international educational contexts, the course will be structured to provide individual and group opportunities for reflective use of their experiences in these diverse contexts, to supplement the range of international experience amongst the primary deliverers of the course. Critical areas The structure of the course will be defiined by a series of critical educational areas. These may be subject to change, dependent on the emergence of new areas of concern on the global educational stage and on the concerns and interests of both course tutors and participants, but the following are identified as being of current significance: * the role of education in national development * policy and planning in education * educational management * 'projects' as a dominant form of educational development * finance of education * teacher education * curriculum development * assessment and examinations Each of these will provide the content focus of one or more sessions and will be examined in general terms and through the analysis of international comparative studies and/or individual country case studies. Though these are listed as distinct areas, it is recognised that they are interconnected, and these connections will be drawn out during the course. Substantive themes Running through the study of each of these critical areas will be a set of themes: * globalisation in the economy, communications and culture * the role of international organisations * the definition and promotion of educational quality * control, accountability and participation * ideology * culture: differences, domination and survival * the management of change Methodological themes A further set of methodological themes will similarly run through the whole course and will inform the means of delivery and analysis in the various sessions. These will be concerned with the strengths and weaknesses of international comparisons in education, and the scope for and limitations of international educational transfer. |