Routledge New Practices of Comparison, Quantification and Expertise in Education: Conducting Empirically Based Research

Product Description New Practices of Comparison, Quantification and Expertise in Education discusses contemporary trends and activities related to comparisons and quantifications. It aims to help scholars to conduct empirically based research on how comparisons and quantifications are instituted in practice at different levels in the educational system. The book furthers discussions on policy by looking at the kinds of activities that comparisons and quantifications lead to at an international, regional and national level. Most of the book’s chapters are based on empirical research conducted in different research projects. The book thus brings all these projects together and discusses them as activities promoted by the reasoning of comparisons and quantifications. New Practices of Comparison, Quantification and Expertise in Education will be of great interest to academics, researchers and post-graduate students in the fields of comparative education, curriculum research and policy studies. It will also appeal to those in the fields of teacher education, including student teachers. Review "Comparison and quantification have become the new lingua franca in education policy. They created the illusion that we speak the same language and share the same values all over the globe. How has this new mode of governance shaped, and narrowed, our options of acting educationally? This book makes us dig deeper and think about the rationales and consequences of today’s "expertise by numbers." Thought provoking, inspiring, and highly recommended." Gita Steiner-Khamsi, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. "The practices of comparison and quantification are no longer a specialist and minor element in education, they have become the foremost and dominant way of governing the system, and yet their speed, scope and scale seem to escape analysis and critique. As a consequence, older educational categories are used as if they remain unchanged yet quantification has subverted, hollowed out, reworked and overthrown familiar landscapes and subjects and produced a shadow non-place. This excellent and thoughtful set of essays will be essential to illuminate the ground we should stand on in our research." Professor Martin Lawn, University of Edinburgh. "The importance of numbers has been a preoccupation for educational researchers for decades. Yet, too little research has focused on the level of policy and the results that international, regional and national level comparisons and quantifications can have on our education systems globally. This publication fills this gap by focusing on contemporary trends and activities related to quantification in educational research. The overall argument is both provocative and important specifically as it relates to the context of a ‘chimera’ of quantifications and comparisons, ‘number-intelligent’ activities and a ‘fear of being left behind’ or of not being ‘included’ in numbers game in education. Theoretically profound and politically compelling and especially relevant in the present critical period of educational research." Halla B. Holmarsdottir, Professor Faculty of Education and International Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway. About the Author Christina Elde Mølstad is Head of Department and Associate Professor at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. Daniel Pettersson is Associate Professor at the University of Gävle and Uppsala University, Sweden.