In his proposal for comparative education, Marc Antoinne Jullien de Paris argues that the comparative method offers a viable alternative to the experimental method. In an experiment, the scientist can manipulate the variables in such a way that he or she can see any possible combination of variables at will. In comparative education, or in…

At a time when the national conversation is focused on lagging upward mobility, it is no surprise that many educators point to poverty as the explanation for mediocre test scores among U.S. students compared to those of students in other countries. If American teachers in struggling U.S. schools taught in Finland, says Finnish educator Pasi…

This article provides evidence about differences in the recent tertiary education expansion in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. Focusing on these differences, we have examined private returns to tertiary education acquired before and after the tertiary education expansion. We compare these returns as follows: Austria with…

Selective and comprehensive school systems vary in both the degree and timing of selection. To study the consequences of such variation, cross-national comparisons are usually undertaken. Given that cultural differences between countries affect pathways and outcomes, apportioning causal influence in such studies can be difficult. In 1970s Britain,…

Purpose: This study proposes to use the Theory of Planned Behaviour to predict entrepreneurial intentions among students in five developing and nine developed countries. The purpose is to investigate whether entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents differ between developing and developed countries, and to test the theory in the two groups of…

First findings of IEA's "Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M)" had revealed differences in the demographic background, opportunities to learn (OTL), and outcomes of teacher education between student teachers from different countries. Two hypotheses are examined: OTL and teacher background are significant predictors of…

The purpose of the paper is to review some previous researches examining ICT efficiency and the impact of ICT on educational output/outcome as well as different conceptual and methodological issues related to performance measurement. Moreover, a definition, measurements and the empirical application of a model measuring the efficiency of ICT use…

The PISA studies of reading achievement of 15 year old students in OECD and partner nations show Anglophone nations to have continuing high proportions of weak readers (less than or equal to Level 2), with no improvement in this area from 2000 to 2006 (OECD, "Science competencies for tomorrow's world: Executive summary," 2007). The…

Despite a few international comparisons of the evolutionary beliefs of the general public, comparatively less research has focused on science teachers. Cross-cultural studies offer profitable opportunities for exploring the interactions among knowledge and belief variables in regard to evolution in different socio-cultural contexts. We…

We examined the effects of mathematics self-concept (MSC) and MSC calibration on mathematics achievement through multilevel analyses of the mathematics tests and questionnaire responses of 88,590 15-year olds who participated in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).…

This paper examines pre-service teacher outcomes associated with service learning in domestic and international settings. Participants included upper-division, undergraduate-level pre-service teachers who participated in service learning experiences in either local, domestic settings (Orange County, CA) or international settings (Shanghai and…

Mathematics education has emerged to be of prime importance in the United States, as American students' performance has shown to be consistently and significantly lower than many other nations in the world (Rampey, Dion, & Donahue, 2009; National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.; OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, n.d.).…

In this paper, employability is regarded as an aspect of quality of higher education, or more precisely, the benefit and usefulness of the study programme for career and work tasks. The analyses are based on a comparative survey among graduates in 13 countries, five to six years after graduation. The information about employability, or the…

Background: Teacher-related factors such as gender, experience, conceptions related to mathematics, instructional practices have effects with various magnitudes on students' mathematics achievement. Classroom related factors such as class size, class climate and limitations to teaching and their relation to mathematics achievement have also been…

In this paper, the short-cut method is used to estimate expected rates of financial returns to higher education in the Czech Republic and a modified version of the method is used to suit the current English system of deferred tuition fees. First year university students were asked to estimate their expected earnings with and without a university…