Springer Changing Educational Landscapes: Educational Policies, Schooling Systems and Higher Education - a comparative perspective

Product Description Changing Educational Landscapes offers a comprehensive overview of the state of educational affairs across the globe. Current issues of debate are analyzed from a variety of perspectives, providing a current snapshot of the field of comparative education. Review From the reviews:“A compilation of 16 chapters written by international conference participants of the 23 rd Conference of the Comparative Education Society in Europe … . this edited compilation is well-organised, the quality of the writing is excellent … . a rich compendium of historical and contemporary papers written by a diverse collection of international scholars. … Mattheou’s publication will contribute to this powerful legacy in print format, capturing a freeze-frame photograph of the complex and ever-changing comparative educational landscape for current readers and for posterity.” (Daniel H. Jarvis, International Review of Education, Vol. 57 (1-2), May, 2011) From the Back Cover Analyzing educational landscapes – the fundamental values, principles and institutions of the sector – is a highly complex and demanding task for any researcher. Like shifting desert sands, these aspects of education are in a constant state of flux, changing according to the unpredictable economic, social, cultural and geo-political circumstances of late modernity. Key aspects of the intricate, fluid and multifarious contemporary setting can always escape the researcher’s necessarily selective observation. The contributors to this book share the view that it is wise, therefore, to take note of other people’s ideas, perceptions and perspectives, to compare notes and reflect critically on them. Thus the papers presented here are a critical and comparative analysis of today’s changing educational landscapes. They are an exploration of some of the forces and factors that induce these changes, and also examine some of their most significant implications. The work takes a fresh look at received ideology and institutional practices and delineates the increasingly internationalized educational discourses and policies. Among other things, the book discusses the obsession with quality in education and the alternative perceptions of educational equality; the rising concern at the obstacles to truly multicultural education, and the debate about the epistemological foundations both of knowledge and knowledge production. Underlying all of the papers in the book is the authors’ intention to enhance our understanding of educational change in this era of transition and to further our appreciation of its multifaceted expressions across the world.