Presents the results of increasing cooperation between the education departments of Berlin, Amsterdam, and London universities, examining the cultural and socio-political differences of the educational sciences and looking at the educational consequences of both globalizing and pluralist developments in European countries. Discusses educational developments in contemporary society, education organization and policy, intercultural and integration pedagogics, and education for young children as well as higher education. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The book provides authoritative accounts of educational research in nine different European regions and highlights substantial national differences in levels of research activity throughout Europe. The book also outlines current research priorities and consider the potential benefits of greater European collaboration in research.

This book provides authentic accounts of the effects of the revolutionary political reform experienced in the past half century on education in Europe’s considerable rural hinterland. These reforms include the liberation of the Baltic and Eastern European states from Soviet communist domination, the ‘eurozone’ economic crises, and the current and future migration of people fleeing war and poverty from the Middle East and Africa. Overshadowing these events are so-called global forces which champion economies of scale and pressurize academic performance as keys to economic success. Trapped in this distal whirlwind of change are 1000s of small and/or rural elementary schools and the life chances of more 1000s of young children. The research presented here unveils the unseen and under-reported consequences of top-down, urban-oriented educational policies on children’s and communities’ experience of place and space. Exposure of these conditions in rural Europe is long overdue, but obscured for decades by political extremes of left and right. Yet, the lived reality of peremptory and swathing school closure programmes, and poverty inflicted on rural populations in parts of Eastern Europe is relatively unreported in the western educational literature – a situation exacerbated by the virtual invisibility of rural educational research generally. The chapters in this book reveal the insights of social science scholars from 11 European countries including those from low GDP, formerly soviet bloc countries, recently enabled to present their research at western European conferences such as the European Educational Research Association. Their research will inform and alert education academics, researchers and professionals to these rural European educational contexts. The research methodologies reported are diverse and innovative. The national context chapters are complemented by overview chapters which survey and synthesise (i) definitions and conceptualisations of rural, (ii) pan-European appraisal of educational, structural and geospatial statistics on small and rural schools, and (iii) identify key messages for better understanding of the rural situation in European research, policy and practice. Crucially, despite the gloom, the authors report positive strategies for rural school survival at governmental and/or school and community levels, that include community involvement, rural educational tourism, and deliberative inter-community school network planning.

Though the book is a contribution to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Consortium of Higher Education Researchers (CHER), it is not just about the history of the organisation as such. The contributions provide an account of the emergence of higher education as a field of study and research in Europe, its institutionalisation, and its relationships to higher education policy and practice. Furthermore, higher education research in Europe is contrasted to and contextualised by the example of higher education research and scholarship in Australia. The book is useful as an account about the emergence and development of higher education research as a field of study and research in Europe. It will be an interesting and insightful read for all scholars and young researchers wanting to know about higher education research but also for scholars in fields like history of science, disciplinary differentiation, institutionalisation of fields of knowledge and research.

A Social History of Educational Studies and Research examines the development of the study of education in the UK in its broader educational, social and political context since its early beginnings in the first part of the twentieth century. By providing a historical analysis of the contested growth of the field this book examines the significant contribution that has been made by institutions of higher education, journals, text books, conferences, centres, and academic societies. It discusses the problems and opportunities of the field, and its prospects for survival and adaptation to current changes in the decades ahead. The work draws on documentary sources, social network analysis, and interviews with leading figures from across the field. This book highlights international influences on the development of educational studies and research in the UK, its role in the growing internationalisation of the field as a whole, and also comparisons and contrasts with the nature of the field elsewhere. It relates the development to the wider social, political and economic changes affecting higher education in general and educational studies and research in particular. It addresses the historical development of disciplines in higher education institutions and the nature, extent and limitations of interdisciplinarity. A Social History of Educational Studies and Research discuss the problems and opportunities facing the study of education today, and its prospects of adapting to changes in the decades ahead. It is a distinctive and original analysis of educational studies and research that provides the first comprehensive study of its type.

Written by scholars and professionals from such organizations as the Council of Europe and the European Community, this volume provides a comprehensive examination of education throughout Europe. The particularities of national educational systems are of necessity within its purview, but overall organization of the volume reflects such thematic and regional concerns as the impact of social and economic integration on education, the modification of educational structures and curricula following the demise of communism in Eastern Europe, degree equivalency, the financing of educational change, privatization, the impact of migration and immigration, national concerns, intercultural education, and multiculturalism. The volume's experts discuss European education's common heritage and the distinct national traditions it preserves. They deal with the interpretations of European education systems put forward in the shape of educational theories or reform-oriented programs, policies, and ideologies, as well as with the social actors, forces, and movements that have fuelled reform. The book's chapters also address the challenges European education has to face as a consequence of processes of change occurring at multiple levels: at the levels of cultural values, socio-political reconstruction, intercultural migration, supra-national integration, and ongoing global interconnection.

International and comparative education is becoming an increasingly prominent field of study.This book ‘investigates education worldwide and the social, economic, and political forces that shape it’. Critical concepts are reviewed on how globalization has changed educational practice. Topics covered include: Comparative Frameworks, Approaches, Policy Analysis, and Strategies in Comparative Education-The relationship between development, education, and inequality.This book is required reading for students pursuing undergraduate, master’s, or doctoral degrees in education studies.

This study, by more than 130 contributors, assesses the moves to decentralize educational administration. The text contains overviews by individual authors, and joint papers forming dialogues between different academic contenders. It provides a survey of educational policies and planning, and an analysis of the changes in England and Wales. Curriculum control, privatization and leadership issues are also debated. This book is one of four volumes which consider the educational dilemmas facing governments, professional educators and practising administrators in the current educational climate. The issues are addressed from international and comparative perspectives.