Comparative education should stop trying to figure out how to borrow educational systems from one culture and transplant them into another. Instead, it should focus on how educational systems can be described and explained, comparatively, in a way that captures the intersections of forces of history, social structures, and individuals' pedagogic…

Information technology, empowered by those who control capital, has become the global infrastructure, resulting in the development of learning societies as superstructural phenomena. Four dimensions of the learning society--futuristic, planned, reflective, and market--are analyzed, and their implications for the study of comparative education are…

Western education systems have become globally embedded, and comparative education, by focusing on the delivery model of education, reinforces the status quo. A neo-comparative education would focus on learning and its relationship with culture as a means of understanding how individuals can be encouraged to engage with the many emerging forms of…

This article presents a comparative analysis of governance structures in the dual vocational education and training (VET) systems of Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. First a theoretical framework for the classification of plural systems such as dual apprenticeship training is discussed. It is argued that governance in VET can be…

Internationally, the question of how to qualify the workforce seems to be of increasing importance for competitive economies. How can politics govern the quantity and quality of employment structures and optimise both? In this article a theoretical framework is outlined that has been developed for the analysis of institutional constructs serving…

Complexity is a feature common to all vocational education and training (VET) governance arrangements, due to the wide range of students VET systems caters for, and the number of stakeholders involved in both decision making and funding and financing. In this article, Pierre and Peter's framework of governance is used to examine complexity in VET…

Local educational agencies (of which there are more than 14,000) have the primary responsibility for governance of public vocational education and training (VET) in the United States. Local agencies operate within a framework of state legislation and regulations that are heavily influenced by federal legislation. The federal government offers…

The authors explore governance and related policies that shape Canada's vocational education and training (VET) system and trends that have the potential to fundamentally change accepted practices. The conceptual framework derived from Bourdieu's theoretical concepts of field, habitus, and capital is applied to the description of Canada's…

This article frames the lived experiences of management and educators in further education and training (FET) colleges in South Africa, against the backdrop of the radical transformation in the governance of this sector over the past twenty years. The reforms are first described and analysed in terms of their integration and rationale for agency.…

This article reports on an evaluation of the development of a new type of qualification that is being introduced in England between 2008 and 2011. These diplomas are aimed at 14-19-year-olds, and are expected to present young people with an alternative to established academic qualifications, and also an alternative to established vocational…

This article aims to analyse the interrelationship between the Copenhagen Process, EU vocational education and training policy, and Danish initial vocational education and training policies in order to shed light on the role of EU policies in policy and institutional change. The article points to the complexity of policy-making and the…

Comparative analysis of the transition from higher education to work often focuses on cross-national variations of higher education systems to explain country-specific mobility patterns of higher education graduates. The structure of graduate labour markets, however, has received less attention, despite differences across countries. Variations in…

The recognition of women's growing quantitative participation in higher education worldwide has to date been rarely accompanied by analysis of the quality of this participation. In Europe, the national and transnational policies of the past few decades have promoted female inclusion in higher education, through positive action aimed at bridging…

This article examines the main influences on the decision of secondary school graduates to select higher education over labour-market entry. It reports the views of prospective higher education students and secondary school teachers regarding the main influences on the students' intention to pursue higher studies. Survey research was used to…

This article draws from a small-scale qualitative study related to Roma integration in the Hungarian education system, from the perspective of academics and officials from leading civil society organisations. Based on semi-structured interviews and extensive analysis of the literature, the study identified and categorised key obstacles to Roma…