Surely the health and vitality of any academic field relies on the periodic review of its intellectual history, evolving theoretical frameworks, and thematic shifts. Attempts to define a field typically involve lively debates over boundary maintenance. Indeed, the question of whether comparative education is a "discipline" has been debated at…

Mentions some major features of proposed paradigm shifts and suggests theories, models, and techniques that could replace the assumptions of our earlier generation of comparative educationists. (BRR)

On this journal's 30th anniversary, the editor reflects on the development of the field of comparative education and its "infrastructure" (scholars and practitioners, scholarly journals, book publishers, and international agencies); the field's internationalization; influence of international aid donors on research; symbiosis of comparative and…

Reflects on the recent development of comparative education, focusing on modernity's ongoing possibilities and the value of metanarrative as providing meaning and a space for negotiating shared values across cultures. Discusses research on China's and Japan's experiences of education and modernity to illustrate how the author's search for meaning…

Distinguishes between comparative education (an interdisciplinary field of study that applies social scientific theories and methods to international issues of education) and international education (organized efforts to bring together students, teachers, and scholars from different countries, and descriptive reports arising from such efforts).…

Defines and broadly traces the history of educational planning in both developing and industrialized capitalist nations. Discusses general approaches to educational planning (technical versus political planning, top-down versus bottom-up planning, and various theoretical bases); the contingency view of planning; case examples of planned,…

In this essay, the author explores the nationalization and secularization of the Iraqi educational system during the period between the two world wars, while demonstrating how various intellectuals championed pluralist educational models. Iraqi social and intellectual history has focused on education as an important prism reflecting approaches to…

During the 1950s-60s, a "people as clay" metaphor undergirded the most widely accepted English-language, predominantly North American writings on education for Third World development. Writings based on "people as growing plants" challenged the earlier writings from the late 1960s-late 1970s. Late 1970s developments have helped…