International comparative ethnographic studies of ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) are difficult to conduct but worth the effort. Comparative studies featuring thick description and polysemic interpretations can challenge taken-for-granted assumptions, expand the menu of the possible, expose the provincialism of national approaches, and…

This article aims to show the value of the concept of policy trajectory to compare, from a long-term perspective, the transformations of education policies in the context of globalisation. After discussing the scope and limitations of the analyses of the concept in the literature -- descriptive, sequential, metaphorical and building on the works…

This article explores the idea that effective education policymaking necessitates an improved understanding of how students, as micro-scale actors, position themselves in operational terms in the globalised context. The article introduces the concept of perceived operational space as an analytical and methodological perspective to support this…

In this article, we analyse changes in the contemporary management of private Catholic schools under State contract in France since the 1980s. Writing from a "policy sociology" perspective, we use data from previous studies on policy and on public and private schools as well as from an ongoing research project comparing policies of…

The PISA survey influences educational policies through an international competitive process which is not wholly rationally-oriented. Firstly, PISA league tables act normatively upon the definition of formal educational aims while the survey tests cannot evaluate the educational systems' relative strengths with regards to such aims. We argue that…

In his article "Globalisation, the Learning Society, and Comparative Education", Peter Jarvis recommends lifelong learning in the period of globalisation as a topic ripe for scholarly research. In particular, he argues for the examination of the extent of lifelong learning around the world and its relation to different levels of…

This paper examines educational policies toward indigenous minorities in Japan and Canada during the period of nation-building, from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. Both Japan and Canada first segregated indigenous children into separate educational institutions and then tried to assimilate…

This article reviews the policies for disadvantaged children in western countries since the mid-sixties. First, it analyses the design and results of the "classic programmes" of positive discrimination such as the American Title I programme, and the English, Dutch, Flemish and French priority areas policies. It discusses the differences…

In many countries around the world there is a current focus on the restructuring of education systems in a bid to increase the "quality" of the educational experience for pupils in order to raise their academic achievement. However, the definition of quality as expressed through policy may not always accord with the aims and aspirations…

This paper considered different conceptions of compulsory education as embodied in the education laws of different countries. An analytical tool was developed for the comparison of these laws in order to learn the implications of the obligation they impose and the measures required for the discharge of the legal obligation. (Author/RK)

In a world increasingly attentive to the educational needs of preschool children, the French "ecole maternelle" occupies a position of special eminence. This research compares preschool provision in England and France and simultaneously examines the degree that the "ecole maternelle" is open and informal in its ethos.…

Examines the evolution in England, France, and the United States of organizations concerned with the wishes of parents in regard to secondary schooling. Concludes that despite significantly different educational systems there is similarity regarding parent involvement: the wishes of the vast majority of parents remain unexpressed, unsolicited, or…

A comparative analysis of China's scholarly relations with the developed capitalist world explains China's policies; examines Sino-European scholarly exchange and American, Canadian, and Japanese exchange policies and programs; and intends to identify policies likely to contribute to cultural and educational autonomy or increase hazards of…

Explains the colonial school's role in terms of the distribution of education by vertical (social strata) and horizontal (regional) integration, the type of education offered, and the political and social context of interwar Vietnam. Indicates the schools played a divisive role, an effect not due solely to foreign domination. (LC)

This paper falls into three parts: a description of the current French educational system and the groups influencing it; presentation of the more pressing educational problems of the 1980s; and a draft of developmental modifications likely to occur if liberals or, alternatively, socialists win political power in the early 1980s. (Author/SJL)