Comparative Education in India: A Mirage? · Teaching Comparative Education: A neglected discipline in India ‘Education’ as a discipline of study, and research in educational

Recent Trends in Comparative Education

Research in India

Jandhyala B G TilakNational University of Educational Planning & Administration New Delhi, INDIA

Jandhyala Tilak/Comparative Edn India

Increasing Need for comparative education studies

Increasingly becoming globalised/inter-dependent world

Increasing interest in other countries

Lessons to learn from others

Reduce the gap between the developing and advanced countries

What happens in one country may influence developments in others


Increasing interest in India in

How neo-liberal policies worked in various countries

EFA: Compulsory basic education: historical and contemporary

Financing mechanisms in various countries

What are the governance systems

From North to South.. South to South

Look to East …East Asian countries … China

BRICS …………


Comparative Education is dead;Long Live Comparative Education

.. Stephen Hyeneman

As a discipline of study Not a recognisable status currently

As an area of research Rising number of researchers


Comparative Education under a different name

Most of us are doing research in comparative education without realising that we are doing it

(George Psacharopoulos)

It became diverse and a multidisciplinary field

Lost its specific identity.. !!


Origins of Comparative Education in India

Teaching Comparative Education started with

British education

USSR vs USA

West/North

…….


Teaching Comparative Education: A neglected discipline in India

‘Education’ as a discipline of study, and research in educational studies losing its popularity

Professional comparative education – a special/optional paper

B.Ed./M.Ed.: One/two year courses – not much scope for comparative education

Others

Masters programme (2 years) in Education

Social Sciences, specialisation in Economics, Sociology, Political Science, History,


Status of Comparative Education

As a discipline of study: Long neglected

declining priority in teaching

Very few textbooks in comparative education

Very few doctoral/M.Phil dissertations in comparative education (e.g., RP Singh)

Research in comparative studies: growing

But not in comparative education as an area of teaching and scholarly study/research


Research Institutes in Educational Studies

Very few

University Departments (other than B.Ed. and M.Ed programmes)

Zakir Hussian Centre for Educational Studies (JNU)

Indian Institute of Education

NIEPA/NUEPA: Comparative Education introduced recently; closed; yet to emerge

NCERT: Comparative Education closed long ago


Research in Comparative Studies

Multiple frames of reference and units of analysis

International: Inter-country comparative

Regional: Inter-State/district, rural and urban

Comparisons between Population groups

Gender

Social groups: religion and caste

Economic groups

Public and private


Main Actors/Promoters

World Bank .. √ √ Inter-country comparative studies

UNESCO, IIEP, UNICEF UNDP .. √ inter-state comparative studies in India

Universities – Departments of Education .. ! Centres for Area Studies

Centre for South Asian Studies Centre for East Asian Studies Centre for Latin American Studies Centre for African Studies

Comparative Education Societies … ! !


Research in Sociology of Education Education, society and development

(Shukla)

Social inequality in education

Women’s education

Gender studies

Comparisons between

Caste/tribe (Gore, Desai, Suma Chitnis..)

religion


Research Studies in Economics of Education: Issues

Contribution of education to economic growth

Rate of return

National and cross-national comparisons

Mostly state/district level studies

Analysis of demand and manpower

Internal efficiency and quality


Studies in Economics of Education Studies on costs of education

Financing patterns

Inter-state comparisons on public efforts

University finances (ICSSR…

DPEP studies on state finances

Household expenditure on education


Economics of Education

Role of the State vs markets

Public vs private education

State/area specific studies

Costs of education

Internal efficiency

External efficiency


Trends in Research in Education: Issues

Teaching/Class room practices

Curriculum

Evaluation

Teacher training

Globalisation

Governance

Private

Corruption

Education Inter-disciplinary

Access

Equity

Quality


Trends in Research in Education: Levels

Education Primary

Elementary

Higher

Neglect of Secondary Education

Neglect of Vocational/Profl edn


Trends in Research in Education: Nature

Academic/

Scholarly

Policy

Evaluation

Consultation


Comparative Policy Studies: Issues

EFA:

School achievement (NCERT..

Elementary Education (Vaidyanathan/UNDP..

EFA studies (NIEPA..

Compulsory Education Acts in various states in India

Achievement levels

Educational administration: series of state level studies (NUEPA..)


Policy Studies: Current Issues

Financing

Public financing

Grants in aid in secondary education (NIEPA/NUEPA…

Fees and Fee Policies

Fees in Public vs private institutions

Student loans in different countries

Aid Policies


Policy and Evaluative Studies

Public Policies

EFA .. Free and compulsory education

Education governance

Evaluative Studies

Operation blackboard

Noon Meals

Para teachers


Very few education journals in India

Indian Educational Review

Perspectives in Education

Journal of Educational Planning and Administration

New Frontiers in Education


Social Science journals are many

in

Economics

Sociology

Development studies

With many articles on education


Recent Shifts in Research

From universities to research institutions

‘Conceptual/theoretical’ to ‘Empirical’ research

From Empirical to contemporary policy focused

From West towards East

Less interest in UK, USA

Growing interest in China/East Asia (China, Singapore, Australia), BRICS

More appropriate

Institutional research to individual research

Academic Research to consultancy research


To sum up Comparative Education as a field of study

Teaching and research: Much neglected

very limited growth

Not much popular

No specific methodology ?

Research in Comparative studies in education

Sizeable and growing

More by social scientists

and inter-disciplinary


Comparative Education Society of India

A good start in late 1970s and early 1980s

Never picked up the momentum

Gradual Steady and slow fall

Revival in 2010

Re-emerging

Thank youProfessor Jandhyala B G Tilak

National University of Educational Planning and AdministrationNew Delhi 110016, INDIA

Email: [email protected]

Documents

Comparative Education in India: A Mirage? · Teaching Comparative Education: A neglected discipline in India ‘Education’ as a discipline of study, and research in educational