This edited collection explores the historical determinants of the rise of mass schooling and human capital accumulation based on a global, long-run perspective, focusing on a variety of countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The authors analyze the increasing importance attached to globalization as a factor in how social, institutional and economic change shapes national and regional educational trends. Although recent research in economic history has increasingly devoted more attention to global forces in shaping the institutions and fortunes of different world regions, the link and contrast between national education policies and the forces of globalization remains largely under-researched within the field. The globalization of the world economy, starting in the nineteenth century, brought about important changes that affected school policy itself, as well as the process of long-term human capital accumulation. Large migrations prompted brain drain and gain across countries, alongside rapid transformations in the sectoral composition of the economy and demand for skills. Ideas on education and schooling circulated more easily, bringing about relevant changes in public policy, while the changing political voice of winners and losers from globalization determined the path followed by public choice. Similarly, religion and the spread of missions came to play a crucial role for the rise of schooling globally.

This book assesses the influence of the international organization UNESCO on the development of national Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems in the Southern African Community Region (SADC), focusing particularly on Botswana and Namibia. Designed around UNESCO’s Better Education for Africa’s Rise (BEAR) project, the study is an excellent example of applied policy research. Analysis is from the perspective of key stakeholders including UNESCO headquarters and field offices, Ministries of Education and of Labor, employers and employees, education and training institutions, international partners and more. Both qualitative and quantitative evidence are used to provide a comparative overview, and the author also reveals the current state of data on skills. Readers will discover common goals and challenges across the nations but also a common lack of action to measure the impact and influence that UNESCO’s programs have had at a national level, prior to this study. Were the newly implemented educational policies successful or not? If the public policies failed, why was that? These chapters shed light on such questions and how UNESCO's contribution influenced the national development processes, in the context of globalization processes and trends of global mass education. The book has much to offer for both scholars and those working in UN agencies or national governments who seek to develop education systems and better link them to the world of work.

This book examines school acts in the long nineteenth century, traditionally considered as milestones or landmarks in the process of achieving universal education. Guided by a strong interest in social, cultural, and economic history, the case studies featured in the book rethink the actual value, the impact, and the ostensible purpose of school acts. The thirteen national case studies focus on the manner in which school acts were embedded in their particular historical contexts, offering a comprehensive and multidisciplinary overview of school acts and the role they played in the rise of mass schooling. Drawing together research from countries across the West, the editors and contributors analyse why these acts were passed, as well as their content and impact. This seminal collection will appeal to students and scholars of school acts and the history of mass schooling. Chapter 9 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com

Globalization: Prospects and Problems, by JoAnn Chirico, provides a comprehensive and enlightening overview of globalization issues and topics. Emphasizing the theory and methods that social scientists employ to study globalization, the text reveals how macro globalization processes impact individual lives—from the spread of scientific discourse to which jobs are more or less likely to be offshored. The author presents a clear image of “the big globalization picture” by skillfully exploring, piece by piece, a myriad of globalization topics, debates, theories, and empirical data. Compelling chapters on theory, global civil society, democracy, cities, religion, institutions (sports, education, and health care), along with three chapters on global challenges, help readers develop a broad understanding of key topics and issues. Throughout the text, the author encourages readers to relate their personal experiences to globalization processes, allowing for a more meaningful and relevant learning experience.

The concept of political plasticity is a powerful new tool for understanding change and continuity in behavior.

This handbook presents a timeless, comprehensive, and up-to-date resource covering major issues in the field of teacher education research. In a global landscape where migration, inequality, climate change, political upheavals and strife continue to be broadly manifest, governments and scholars alike are increasingly considering what role education systems can play in achieving stability and managed, sustainable economic development. With growing awareness that the quality of education is very closely related to the quality of teachers and teaching, teacher education has moved into a key position in international debate and discussion. This volume brings together transnational perspectives to provide insight and evidence of current policy and practice in the field, covering issues such as teacher supply, preservice education, continuing professional learning, leadership development, professionalism and identity, comparative and policy studies, as well as gender, equity, and social justice.

"The categories commonly mobilized to think about education have long been associated with the notion of the nation state, and functioned as obstacles, rather than resources, for our understanding of how globalization plays out in this particular field. In the last two decades, both social theory and comparative politics have attempted to overcome these limitations in their own way. Social theory increasingly acknowledged education as a global phenomenon. Theories have been developed to describe a global society evolving across borders. They show how, through processes that remain debated (cultural isomorphism, capitalism, functional differentiation), a number of structural and semantic evolutions have spread across education systems. Part I of this Handbook is dedicated to presenting, discussing, and comparing three such theories of globalization and their implications for our understanding of education and education policy. Comparative politics has for its part concerned itself with developing a more complex, less unified and 'transformationalist' view of the State by acknowledging the fragmentation and distribution of its functions among distinct domains and levels. Part II gravitates around this global constellation, with chapters focusing on global reforms, norms and ideas put forward by supranational organizations, on international accountability processes and on the ways in which nation states or local actors adopt, implement or resist global ideas and reforms. The two Parts reflect these disciplinary approaches to the relation between globalization and education. Together, these two approaches seek to provide a comprehensive overview of how globalization and education interact to result in distinct and varying outcomes across world regions"--

Explores how educational research from a comparative perspective has been instrumental in broadening and testing hypotheses from institutional theory. This book contains theoretical discussions of the impact that comparative research has had on institutional theory and comparative scholarship that tests basic institutional assumptions and trends.

This edited collection explores the historical determinants of the rise of mass schooling and human capital accumulation based on a global, long-run perspective, focusing on a variety of countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The authors analyze the increasing importance attached to globalization as a factor in how social, institutional and economic change shapes national and regional educational trends. Although recent research in economic history has increasingly devoted more attention to global forces in shaping the institutions and fortunes of different world regions, the link and contrast between national education policies and the forces of globalization remains largely under-researched within the field. The globalization of the world economy, starting in the nineteenth century, brought about important changes that affected school policy itself, as well as the process of long-term human capital accumulation. Large migrations prompted brain drain and gain across countries, alongside rapid transformations in the sectoral composition of the economy and demand for skills. Ideas on education and schooling circulated more easily, bringing about relevant changes in public policy, while the changing political voice of winners and losers from globalization determined the path followed by public choice. Similarly, religion and the spread of missions came to play a crucial role for the rise of schooling globally.