In this article the author discusses some issues with conducting historical research, rooted in her own experiences. She focuses on four main points: minimising one's own biases, choosing a suitable research question, evaluating the quality of the sources and providing a balanced interpretation of events. She argues that using a historical…

This special issue of Research in Comparative and International Education investigates the spread and development of two-year and community college institutions worldwide. While not all post-secondary education falls within the scope or definition of community colleges, both post-secondary and community college education tend to serve the needs of…

The aim of this article is to analyse the direct and indirect effects that PISA generates in the orientation of educational policies and reforms in Spain and the ways in which PISA data and results are used in political discourses, at both national and sub-national levels. The main hypothesis of the article is that PISA results have played a key…

This article presents a comparative study of innovation in vocational education and training (VET) in three innovative European countries: England, Finland and Germany. The focus is on innovation emerging from VET practitioners' (directors, teachers, project coordinators, etc.) participation in inter-organisational networks with local,…

In response to international concern over poor reading skills among adolescent learners, teachers of these students are encouraged to integrate reading comprehension instruction into their classrooms. To increase the likelihood that reading comprehension strategies are effectively used in schools, teachers in all content areas need extensive…

This study draws on the concepts of instrumental and expressive orders to analyse school practice in two Anglophone and two Francophone primary schools in Cameroon, and how micro processes of language socialisation in the schools studied instantiated Anglophone and Francophone education traditions and related to macro processes of systems of…

In this 1960 article Isaiah Berlin compares Woodrow Wilson's emphasis on the need to educate university students for life in the real world with the difference between Oxford "realism" and Cambridge "idealism" in the nineteenth century. Oxford favoured a Wilsonian preference for general education over (but not to the exclusion of) pure…

This article explores secondary school transitions from a comparative perspective. It focuses on a stage at which a major institutional transition takes place in two different educational systems. Over the years a number of international studies have explored different learning environments and their impact on student educational outcomes. Much of…

Student teachers and staff from three universities in Turkey and from Leicester University, England took part in an exchange programme in Turkey and Britain in 2008-2009. Funding for this from the European Union (EU) and Turkey was in part related to Turkey's application for EU membership and currently contested discourses about the nature of…

Social development policies in Tanzania are exemplary in terms of their recognition of the rights of access to higher education institutions by specific demographic groups. Policy documents such as the 2005 "National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty" (known as the MKUKUTA) and the 2004 "National Policy on Disability" emphasise this…

In this article, the author draws together the diverse approaches to equity and widening participation found in the innovative international research conducted in Ghana and Tanzania by contrast with those in the "global North", using the United Kingdom as a case study. In particular, the author considers the utility of equity scorecards around the…

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…

Based on one and a half years of participant observation at Bakis School, this article aims to explore two different sets of educational practices, one which seemingly promotes sameness, obedience and conformity, and the other difference, entrepreneurialism and individualism. By way of discussing the shifting cultural values, beliefs and…

This article deals with issues pertinent to the "inclusion" of Roma/Traveller children and young people in Europe and, in particular, England. It discusses some key issues that pertain to the inclusion of Roma/Traveller groups in society and it critically presents some key policies that have been advanced to tackle educational and social exclusion…

Four case studies from four different Canadian provinces (Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Quebec) are examined in order to better understand meanings given to an inclusive approach in education, as it is defined and experienced by the actors, practitioners, parents, and students. The data examined in this article come from a larger research…