Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2023: Volume 48

This paper takes stock of developments in, and the state of, the field of comparative and international education at the beginning of the 21st century, using as data base articles published in the journal Comparative Education Review during the second decade of the 21st century and to compare results with a content analysis done on the first 50 years of the existence of the Review and which was published in 2008. The 246 articles that were published in the Comparative Education Review during the decade 2010–2019 were analyzed under the following metrics: levels of analysis of articles; number of units covered by articles; research methods; narrative basis; phase of education articles cover; and mode of education articles deal with. Compared to the first 50 years of the existence of the Review, single-unit national-level studies still dominate the field, though less so. A case can be made out for a deconcentration to allow more space for research at geographic levels both larger and smaller than the nation-state. The most prominent narrative in which articles are framed is that of the social justice narrative. The neo-liberal economic narrative stands strong too, while the poor standing of the human rights narrative is disappointing. Turning to modes and phases of education is concerned, the shadow education system has registered on the comparative and international education research agenda, while there seems to be a modest upswing in interest in pre-primary education. Thoughts about the future trajectory of the field are suggested.

This brief reflective piece considers the experience of academics in the field of comparative and international education in Hong Kong. It begins by examining the state of international higher education and the continued dominance of Western contexts and perspectives in publishing in comparative education even in the so-called global era. It contrasts Western-oriented historical and contemporary views of the field with the situation in East Asia and particularly Hong Kong, where lively international dialogue has always been a key theme of academic and intellectual life. Against pronouncements in recent decades of “the death” of Hong Kong, the paper asserts that comparative and international education remains a thriving domain in Hong Kong since the handover and provides further reflections on the history and state of the field today as well as its future promise.

The creation of the Mexican Society for Comparative Education (SOMEC) in 2004 led to increased academic activity, such as designing research projects, picking up speed on publications by Mexican scholars, and developing and importing theoretical approaches. SOMEC has been a significant catalyst in expanding and strengthening comparative education in Mexico and Ibero-America by making studies and research in this discipline accessible to teachers and scholars. SOMEC has contributed substantially to consolidating a robust and diverse academic community in comparative education. SOMEC members have focused on several areas to promote the development and dissemination of comparative education. One of these areas is the publication of specialized volumes, which serve as platforms for sharing research, theories, and pioneering practices. Through critique and debate, SOMEC attempts to influence educational policies. Its work in facilitating access to research and promoting academic exchange has been fundamental to the growth and consolidation of the field of comparative education in Mexico and Ibero-America.

From a world society perspective, common national educational developments are driven by global cultural models that dominated an international liberal order. These models emphasized the centrality of education as an institution, both as a source of human capital and as an inherent human right. Epistemic communities and international organizations circulated these models influencing national educational policies and reforms. However, in recent decades the international liberal order has been challenged with social movements across the political spectrum questioning the value and authority of education in this order. Earlier educational mandates to be more inclusive are attacked with the rights of women, immigrants, and minorities often targeted. Confidence in knowledge grounded in education and science also gets undercut. In a more fragmented world society, educational contestations increase, reflecting surges in nationalist, populist, and traditional illiberal ideas. We reflect on the impact of these challenges on the centrality of education and propose future research directions to ascertain which educational developments are likely to continue to be globally valued and which are more apt to erode.

Comparative analyses in education science have traditionally focused on the category of geographic location as the comparative unit. However, comparison may involve many other units of analysis, such as culture, politics, curricula, education systems, social phenomena, and other categories of the lives of societies. Still, categories are inseparably linked to one or several geographic locations. Comparative approaches are often also dictated by the availability heuristic. Studying geographic units as the foci of comparative research is a necessary step for comparative presentation of the topic. According to Bray and Thomas, a researcher must always seek preliminary insight in the geographic unit to be analyzed before making the comparison. In social science research, a unit of analysis relates to the main object of the research, as it answers the question of “who” or “what” is going to be analyzed. The most common units of analysis are people, groups, organizations, artifacts or phenomena, and social interactions. Ragin and Amoroso have noted that comparative methods can be used to explain the commonness or diversity of results. This paper shows how comparative research can be approached in ways that have not been discussed, grounded in the historically variable understanding of the very term “comparison.” They are, for example, The Ogden-Richards triangle, The Porphyrian Tree, Classification strategies – Mill’s Canons, The chaos of the world – the order of science, Weber’s ideal types, Raymond Boudon’s formula, and the Möbius strip in comparativism.

Over the past decade, the popularity of authoritarian governments and/or authoritarian leaning leaders has steadily grown. Much of the acceptance of and/or allegiance to such forms of leadership and governance structures stems from a rightward shift among voting blocs, who are increasingly comfortable with nationalist, nativist, and insular arguments in an effort to ensure a sense of stability and safety. In scholarly circles, there has been a parallel rise with scholars increasingly using decolonial theories, research, and practices in an effort to destabilize norms of colonial, Western, and patriarchal knowledge creation and dissemination. These two movements might, on the outside, appear to be disconnected but are in fact coupled together in ways that can constrain progressive movements around human rights, education and justice. The paper frames a selection of political battles in education to highlight the emergence, journey, and outcomes that have led to the successful rise of right-wing ideologies in education as well as offer a critique on the ambiguity inherent in decolonial theories that impede current decolonizing ways of knowing. These ambiguities exacerbate the emergence of a neo-decolonial perspective. This exploration of a neo-decolonial narrative is predicated on the evolution and co-option of the public space, or argued by Habermas, the “bourgeois public sphere.” This shift often leaves the liberal, progressive, and human rights-orientated individuals out of the dialogue on the future of education, in part, readying a public willing to engage in new forms of decolonial thinking, resulting in more sophisticated right-wing intersections in policy and practice that directly affect educational equity and access.

This paper aims to elucidate the opportunities that incorporating a Quantitative Critical Race Theory (QuantCrit) approach into Comparative Education brings to tackle Methodological Nationalism. It uses data from the Young Lives survey and Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions to examine the difference in mathematics scores at age 12 and educational attainment at age 20 between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in Peru. Tackling Methodological Nationalism involves unpacking power relations linked to the nation-state. To do so, analyses incorporate QuantCrit by using a multidimensional and a binary operationalization of Indigeneity, by assessing potential biases in the outcome data, and by reflecting on the choice and categorization of explanatory factors. This helps ensure that this research is mindful of the historical power dynamics that have affected Indigenous populations in Peru. Results show that the differences in education outcomes are primarily attributable to differences in sample characteristics between groups and that the way Indigeneity is defined does matter for research conclusions. Only structural and educational opportunity variables make a significant contribution to close the outcome difference. Maternal education is the most important factor to close the score gap at age 12, while at age 20 it is wealth index. Using a multidimensional Indigeneity definition alongside a binary one allows distilling diversity in the experiences of children who can be considered Indigenous. Following a traditional nation-state approach whereby only language is used to determine Indigeneity would hinder doing so. This shows that a QuantCrit approach is helpful in providing new insights to address Methodological Nationalism.

The international education sector has seen significant growth, offering K-12 schooling options beyond national borders. However, this expansion presents equity challenges, with limited data available to assess their extent. International schools, predominantly English-medium K-12 institutions following externally set curricula, play a central role in this landscape. Our study examines unintended consequences of policy and practice within international schools, particularly regarding student well-being. Despite efforts to promote global citizenship by transnational organizational actors, oversight and gaps in inclusion can create adverse conditions for vulnerable students, identified by their mental or emotional fragility or concerns of neglect or abuse. As an acculturation study, participants were delimited to expatriate teachers counselors, and school leaders in international schools, who are known as sojourners, and who encounter diverse policies and pedagogies, forming a complex “policyscape” environment. While this offers opportunities for innovation, it also poses challenges, especially in supporting students’ cultural and mental health needs. This study identifies four policyscape manifestations, including challenges in supporting students with mental health issues and special needs. Teachers faced greater stress and limited agency compared to school leaders, who benefited from structural support and resources. Policyscape implications on student well-being underscore the urgency of addressing these challenges in line with global education goals for inclusivity and quality education for all.

This paper seeks to contribute to the area studies and development of the 2023 Annual Review of Comparative and International Education by doing a trend analysis on the amount of variance of student achievement explained by socio-economic differences between 2013 and 2019 using the ERCE database in Latin America and the Caribbean. It also seeks to contrast these results with the amount of variance explained by a number of teacher characteristics, which the literature has identified as effective. In doing these analyses, we seek to assess on whether the region has made any progress on reducing the impact of socioeconomic differences on student achievement and increasing the levels of teacher efficiency.

This paper explores the profound philosophical and conceptual foundations that underpin comparative international education research, particularly concerning the evolving roles of universities and colleges that transcend mere skills training or human capital development in contemporary times. Universities and colleges have predominantly focused on measuring their success through criteria such as research excellence and their ability to adapt to the ever-evolving demands of the job market. It is imperative to recognize that the diversity of postsecondary institutions is not only providers of human capital with curriculum shaped by labor market needs; rather, they should be recognized as institutions dedicated to human development, community anchors, the promotion of the public good, democratic education, the cultivation of civil society, and global citizenship. Relying on an extensive review of selected literature pertaining to the mission, goals, aims, and roles of the postsecondary sector in three regions (East Asia, Germanic Europe, and North America), this paper considers the question, “How do different approaches and traditions in different social contexts contribute to our understanding of the civic roles of postsecondary education institutions in shaping future global citizens, transcending the confines of national boundaries?” Throughout the paper, the unique contexts and traditions of these regions are meticulously examined alongside thematic discussions, culminating in comprehensive analyses on what factors are considered as the civic roles of institutions and what challenges are there for them to realize their goals.

This paper provides a snapshot of educational and economic trends across South Asia with an exploratory and comparative approach. Before COVID-19, South Asia was the world’s fastest-growing regional economy, concurrently achieving major strides in poverty reduction and access to education. Despite the region’s economic and educational accomplishments, the countries of South Asia fall short of international benchmarks in public education expenditure, resulting in a persistent lag in educational quality that hampers individuals, the workforce, and overall economic productivity. The paper highlights themes in the literature, including context-specific evidence for the various theories of economic growth, the returns to education, and educational inputs (e.g., teachers and private schools) that highlight how spending can be leveraged to increase educational outcomes. In addition, it examines the relationship between education, poverty, and marginalization factors that explain why some populations are deprived of education and its benefits. We provide a broad perspective of the dynamics of the economics of education and the related challenges in this region. This discussion aims to enhance the understanding of the inefficiencies in South Asia’s educational systems and, ultimately, in the development of the region’s human capacities.

This paper provides an examination of the characteristics of educational shift in Indian education during COVID-19 based on the existing research published from March 2020 to December 2023. The paper examines the technological preparedness of all the stakeholders and how technological preparedness created digital equity and inclusivity for digital learning in Indian schools. Given the world-wide closure and shutdown during early 2020, schools were forced to switch their instructions to the newly adopted educational model; namely, digital learning which makes it important to examine two aspects in education: (1) measures taken to provide digital educational opportunities to all students and (2) steps taken to create digital equity and inclusivity in the Indian educational system. The results suggest that several initiatives were taken at national, state, and local level. However, issues of digital equity existed for underprivileged student populations.

Drawing connections between Indigenous boarding schools in North America and the expansion of colonial schooling worldwide, this chapter conceptualizes methods of re-engagement with the topic of reparations for communities who have been subjected to the consequences of colonial schooling. Models of colonial schooling instill education practices aimed at enforcing the assimilation of populations into dominant cultures while reinforcing globalized racializing hierarchies. The epistemic violence central to the conceptualization of the colonial school is a key component of this colonial technology and is reproduced within modern education systems throughout the Global South. Moving toward the interconnected articulation of reparative material and epistemic justice in education for American Indian and African American communities in the United States and post-colonial communities worldwide, the chapter aims to create openings in comparative and international education for addressing the colonial residues within modern education on local and global levels, recentering the foundational terms by which schools function and the solidarities necessary for repair.

This study explores the role of international schools in creating safe and inclusive environments for lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ+) youth, particularly in light of the challenging political climate of the current prevailing authoritarian education policy in Poland. Drawing upon Merton’s concept of “educational functions” influenced by socio‐political and economic factors, we investigate how international schools navigate and subvert authoritarian policies to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion. Through a multi‐faceted approach analyzing curricula, media discourse, and school law documents, we examine the potential of international schools as agents of change in fostering educational inclusivity for marginalized groups. By examining the interplay between planned educational functions and implementation, the study sheds light on the potential of international schools to serve as inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals in politically charged environments. Our findings highlight the positive impact of international education programs in supporting LGBTQ+ students and contributing valuable insights to ongoing discussions on promoting diversity and acceptance in educational settings. Ultimately, the findings contribute to ongoing discussions about the challenges and possibilities of fostering educational inclusivity for marginalized groups in such politically charged environments as authoritarian systems of education.