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There is a dire need today to create spaces in which people can make meaning of their existence in the world, abiding by cultural frameworks and practices that acknowledge and validate a meaningful existence for all. People are not just isolated individuals but are connected in diverse ways with other persons within our natural and social environment which is part of the whole universe. The African philosophy of uBuntu or humaneness is re-emerging for its timely relevance and potential as indispensable in our quest for global citizenship, peace, and mutual understanding in securing sustainable human development in the broader ecosystem. Comparative educationists have the challenge to devise theoretical frameworks, epistemological and pedagogical constructs as well as pragmatic, useful and effective ways of promoting the virtues of compassion and recognition of our common humanity in eliminating the ills of domination and control that are guided by greed, hatred, jealousy, and intolerance. Comparative Education for Global Citizenship, Peace and Shared Living through Ubuntu paves the way for a better understanding of the critical importance of the collective search and endeavor towards achieving the virtues of nonviolence, peace, shared values of living together, global citizenship, improved quality of life for all and a better appreciation of the positive implications of interdependence.

Comparative Education: A Field in Discussion is a personal reflection on the field of comparative education from the perspective of one scholar who has been active in the field since the 1980s. In the 1960s and 1970s many scholars attempted to develop a science of comparative education, and those diverse efforts formed the backdrop to the study of comparative education in the 1980s. In this volume, the author, who was originally educated as a physical scientist, draws upon those earlier attempts, at the same time introducing new insights from the complexity of science and systems theory. David Turner argues that these new insights should lead us away from a positivist vision of science, largely based on nineteenth century ideas of scientific method, and challenge us to accept that concepts are fluid, change over time, and are frequently contested. Nonetheless, those same concepts are essential to the way that we think of ourselves, our environment and the institutions that we inhabit. Caught between the generalisations that our concepts force on us, and our wish to capture the specificity of each personal history, the activity that we engage in is comparative education.

Politics of Education in Latin America: Reforms, Resistance and Persistence portrays complex situations of education change policies in Latin America from Argentina and Chile, the southernmost part of the continent, to Mexico, the northernmost. The analyses tour through Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Cuba to conclude with a chapter that scrutinizes why the big teacher unions reject most attempts at education reforms. In these, teachers are the target of criticism and, at the same time, the focus of the expectations for progress and better educational quality. Readers will find a variety of contentious issues such as inclusion, equity, privatization, uses of power, and dialectics between the indications of intergovernmental organizations and the rejection of their recommendations by local political actors. They will also find narratives to raise public education participation, improve the quality of life of teachers, and put local education systems to dialogue with the global world. The politics of education in Latin America is a territory that groups and institutions continue to dispute since the establishment of their education systems.

In Preparing Students for Life and Work: Policies and Reforms Affecting Higher Education's Principal Mission the editors assemble works by scholars of higher education who address various aspects of the policies and reforms that affect the education and ultimately the lives and work prospects of students. Chapter topics include the social and government policy context of higher education in various countries, including Canada, Mexico, the USA, Japan, Germany, Europe generally and the Bologna process specifically. Aspects of teaching and learning in higher education, including MOOCs, student services, and treatment of international students are also addressed. Finally, how students themselves have had major impacts on higher education in various countries is touched upon in several chapters.

Global massification of postsecondary education, with more than 200 million students studying at an untold number of institutions focusing on every specialization possible, necessitates a differentiated system of postsecondary education in every country. This book provides the first comparative study of how postsecondary education has evolved in 13 countries. The study offers an analysis of current global realities and how different nations have constructed their response. Our research shows that few countries have developed rational and differentiated academic systems to meet new realities. The book provides insights regarding useful approaches for the development of academic systems.The book reveals similarities and differences in the 13 case studies as different governments have expanded postsecondary education to respond to the massification of enrollment. Postsecondary education has become diversified, but for the most part not adequately differentiated in most countries. Several of the case studies underscore the challenge of sustaining differentiation within the system if credentials from non-university, postsecondary institutions are considered of lesser social status. Too often institutions that successfully address the practical needs of national economies are ultimately merged into the university system.There is an urgent need for the planning and structuring of coherent systems of postsecondary education to serve the increasingly diverse clientele in need of the skills required by the knowledge economy. This study is the first global analysis aimed at understanding how post-secondary education can be organized to meet society's requirements and points to the need for designing coherent academic systems.

The book examines how the understanding of the global and the local has changed in response to ongoing reconfigurations between the state and society. It also emphasizes the importance of schooling as an institution both within and across national contexts, a holistic approach that helps us move beyond a conglomeration of isolated local events to pay attention to global trends. In this regard, the book underscores the richness of contextual factors that may create opportunities for innovation, or may serve as constraints in the implementation process. As a whole, the book brings new questions about globalization and the imperatives of education policy and implementation.

Global citizenship education is an essential topic in an increasingly interconnected world. Indeed the need for inclusive and globally conscious education, embedded in cosmopolitanism, is recognised as a way to prepare individuals to navigate diverse cultures, address global challenges, and actively participate in a globalised world. Being both scientific and political, these challenges require an interdisciplinary exploration of citizenship education, merging sociology, philosophy, as well as education and training sciences. To do this, Global Citizenship Education: Modern Individualism under the Test of Cosmopolitanism offers a framework that integrates Durkheim's holistic approach with critical republicanism. The book is also rooted in the analysis of data collected through GlobalSense, a research project that focuses on preparing teachers to navigate the complexities of GCE within an international context. By presenting both a theoretical reflection and an analysis of an international training program within universities, this book can be of interest to academics, teacher trainers and (future) teachers themselves.

Achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE) has received considerable attention since the early 1950s. The concept of universal education is, however, not well defined and is used to mean many different things to different people. This book contains a five-year research work conducted by a group of African and Japanese researchers who have developed an equal partnership and network to review the expansion of primary education, some policies prompting the free primary education intervention, and the challenges of implementation based on the case study of two districts in four countries, namely, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda. The first part discusses issues related to administrative, financial, and perceptive issues related to UPE policies in each country case, followed by the second part that focuses on quality of education and UPE policies. The book contains various lessons learnt and implications for future education policies in developing countries.

'This is a well crafted, timely book that comes at a time when so much is happening in higher education contexts across the world. Clearly, it is in response to these global (and selectively local) trends that Kariwo, Gounko and Nungu bring together an impressive lineup of both established and emerging scholars who achieve a comprehensive and critically constructed perspective on tertiary education systems. Collectively, the chapters in this work shall expand the epistemic boundaries of the area and its affiliated disciplines, and the book as a whole will greatly benefit interested scholars, students, education policy makers and the public at large.'- Ali A. Abdi, Professor, University of Alberta'This book is a valuable contribution to knowledge on higher education and provides an international perspective on issues, challenges and dilemmas resulting from the rapid expansion of higher education. The volume is an excellent text that integrates theoretical and analytical studies as well as empirical regional studies. It gives some insights on how different countries and regions have been responding to massification and accessing of higher education. It will appeal to researchers, graduate students and faculty in Higher or Post-Secondary Education as well as International and Comparative Education.'- Edward Shizha, Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University (Brantford Campus)

There is no single answer to the question: what are human rights? The answer depends on whom you ask. Several of the papers presented at Fourteenth World Congress of Comparative Education held at Bog

This volume compiles a unique yet complementary collection of chapters that take a strategic comparative perspective on education systems, regions of the world, and/or ethnolinguistic communities with a focus on non-dominant languages and cultures in education. Comparison and contrast within each article and across articles illustrates the potential for using home languages—which in many cases are in non-dominant positions relative to other languages in society—in inclusive multilingual and multicultural forms of education. The 22 authors demonstrate how bringing non-dominant languages and cultures into schooling has liberatory, transformative potential for learners from ethnolinguistic communities that have previously been excluded from access to quality basic education. The authors deal not only with educational development in specific low-income and emerging countries in Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Philippines Thailand and Vietnam), Latin America (Guatemala and Mexico) and Africa (Mozambique, Senegal and Tanzania), but also with efforts to reach marginalized ethnolinguistic communities in high-income North American countries (Canada and the USA). In the introductory chapter the editors highlight common and cross-cutting themes and propose appropriate, sometimes new terminology for the discussion of linguistic and cultural issues in education, particularly in low-income multilingual countries. Likewise, using examples from additional countries and contexts, the three final chapters address cross-cutting issues related to language and culture in educational research and development. The authors and editors of this volume share a common commitment to comparativism in their methods and analysis, and aim to contribute to more inclusive and relevant education for all.

We are pleased to introduce this inaugural volume in the PSCIE Series—Beyond the Comparative: Advancing Theory and Its Application to Practice—which expands on the life work of University of Pittsburgh Professor Rolland G. Paulston (1929-2006). Recognized as a stalwart in the field of comparative and international education, Paulston's most widely recognized contribution is in social cartography. He demonstrated that mapping comparative, international, and development education (CIDE) is no easy task and, depending on the perspective of the mapper, there may be multiple cartographies to chart. The 35 contributors to this volume, representing a range of senior and junior scholars from various CIDE backgrounds and perspectives, celebrate the life and work of Paulston by addressing issues, perspectives and approaches related to charting the future course of the field. The volume reports on new research in several genres as well as conceptual analysis. As the title suggests, authors were encouraged to go “beyond” established canons of CIDE.The cover art, The CIDE Theoretical Compass, was conceptualized by the editors and depicts that theory selection and theory generation are an ongoing and important process in comparative, international, and development education (CIDE). The image was designed by artist Natalie Jacob, which positions the CIDE Theoretical Compass over Rolland G. Paulston's 1993 concentric circle map.

Western educators constantly look for ways to make the process of learning more meaningful, to kindle the spark that initiates a lifelong pursuit of knowledge and creative innovation. Recent theories have favored the development of critical learning skills over the acquisition of facts. However, these theories are rooted in Western democratic and egalitarian assumptions, some of which exist in no other culture on earth. Although it seems logical that any learner, set at liberty to explore the world, would naturally develop the ability to think critically and analytically, it is important to point out that Western logic is not universal, and what seems natural is, in fact, a product of the Western independence-oriented worldview.This book examines the consequences of taking a full-blown constructivist approach into Arabic tertiary education, and uncovers some interesting hidden factors that prevent cognitive progress in this environment. This seemingly natural approach to learning does not, in fact, come naturally, but requires careful preparation to enable learners to accept cognitive experiences that may be culturally uncomfortable.

This book is a cutting-edge collection of articles inspired by the writings of Robert Cowen about comparative education. Authors take up Cowen's central concerns: re-theorising the field of comparative education, rethinking the interpretive concepts that are used by comparative education researchers, and the relationships between them. The authors take us beyond old ideas to provide some new and fresh thinking on and about educational phenomena and the field of comparative education. Writers engage in critical thinking about the intellectual agenda of comparative education, the role of theory in their work, the contexts that are shaping the field, and epistemic consequences of these broader changes for comparative education.The volume contains voices from a variety of geographical regions, theoretical positions, newer and more well-established scholars in the field. The book also includes shorter reflections from individuals in the field who know Robert Cowen personally. More well-established themes in the field are discussed such as borrowing and transfer, as well as newer concepts and ideas from Cowen's work including shape-shifting, and transitologies. New Thinking in Comparative Education will be of interest to those who are studying and doing research in the field of comparative and international education, both at the under-graduate and graduate levels of education.