South African Education

ECSSt
udyNot
es
Questi
on1
Readthr
oughchapt
er1,2,
6inThemesinSouthAf
ri
canEducat
ionandtut
ori
al
103
Readthr
oughchapt
er7and8inAHistor
yofSchool
i
nginSouthAfr
ica

Quest
ion2A

The v alue ofCompar ati
ve Educat i
on as a wayofl ear
ning and generating
knowledge
Compar ative educati
on can be used t o provi
de a descri
ption.“An accurate
descriptionisaki ndof‘ mapping’ofwhatot hercount
riesaredoi ngornotdoing,
planning, abandoning,orchangingi nthei
reducati
onalenter
prises”.Adescri
ption
ofwhatot her
sar edoingcanassi stinsheddingli
ghtononesownsy stem and
assistint headjustmenteducat i
on.

Compar ati
v eeducat ioni soneofthedi scipli
neswi thinthefi
eldofeducat ion.I
tis
a st udy concer ned wi t
h determi ning si mil
ari
ti
es and di fferences bet ween
dif
ferenteducat ionsy stemsoft hewor ld.Ifdonecor rectl
y,i
mpr ovement scanbe
madet oone’ sowneducat ionsystem.Onecanst udyapar ti
cul
araspectbet ween
twoeducat i
onssy stemsormanymor ef orexampl eonecancompar el ear
ner
achiev ementi nmat hemat i
csinSout hAf r
icaandZambi a.
Possi blequestions:
 Def ineiny ourownwor dswhatCompar at
iveeducat i
onisal labout(5)
 Di scusssi xr easonswhyy out hinki tisv aluabletost udyCompar ati
ve
Education( 12)

Thef acetsofcompar ison
Li
stedbel ow ar esomeoft heaspect st hatcanbecompar edwhenst udy inga
par
ticulareducat ionsy stem orsy stems:
 Gov er nanceandcont rolst r uctur es( who deci des?How i st hesy stem
cont rolled?)
 Legi sl at i
veframewor ks( count r
y’sconst itut
ionorl awandpol i
cies)
 Admi nistrati
onandmanagementaspect s( how t helawsandpol iciesar e
impl ement edandr egul ated
 Fi nanci ngofeducat ion( thedegr eeofr esponsi bili
tyoft hestatet opr ovide
educat ion,compar edwi thamountofpr i
vati
sat ion)
 Educat ionalstr
uct ur e( howmanyy earsoff ormal educationispr ovided)
 Lear ner s(quantityofl earner s, t
eacher -pupilratio,lear
ner s’di
versit
y )
 Teacher s(avai
labilityofeducat or s,lev
el oftraining,exper i
ence)
 Cur ricul um aspect s( howl ear ni
ngi sdivi
dedi ntolearningar easandl evels
ofdi fficulty)
 Languageaspect s( medi um ofi nst r
ucti
on, r
ol eofmot hertongue)
 Rel igionandcul t
ur e:how t hesear erecogni zedornoti nt heeducat ion


1

, system)
 Suppor tserv i
ces t o educat i
on ( alladditionalser vices made av ai
l
able
bey ond t he basi c schoolpr ovision such as r emedi al,medi cal,social
wel fare)
 Assessmentandachi evement( whatcount sasachi ev ement?How ar e
l
ev elsofeducat i
on di ff
erentiated and assessed?Whatand how i si t
assessed? )
 Qual itycontrol:Whatf or msofaccount abi
lit
yaret heret omoni torwhether
l
ev elsofachi ev ementorout comesar ebei ngachiev ed
 Ideol ogi
calaspect s:Aseducat i
onsy stemsar elargel yapr oductoft heir
cont ext,theyof tenr ef
lecttheunder l
yingideologyoft hatsoci ety(theway
thatacer tai
nsetofi deasachi ev esthepowert ogui deandmobi l
izethe
i
nt erestsoft hedomi nantgr oupsi nsoci et
y)
 Economi caspect s:Oneoft hemai nconcer nsherei spr oducti
v i
ty-
howt o
makesur et hatr esour cesinv estedi neducat i
onpr oducet hemaxi mum
economi cbenef i
t
 Pol i
ticalaspect s:becauseeducat i
onaloppor tunitycl ear l
yplay samaj or
rolei ndet er
mi ningcar eeroppor tuniti
es,weal thandpower ,thereisgreat
politicalcompet i
ti
onov ereducat ionalpol i
cy
 Change and i nnov ati
on:The r apidit
y and uncer taint y ofchange has
creat ed a cont exti n whi ch educat ion appear st o be per manent ly
dest abil
ized

Thereasonsf ordoi ngCompar ati
v eEducat i
on
 ItshowswhatIspossi blebyexami ningal ternat i
v estopr ovision‘athome’
 Of f
er say ar dstick bywhi ch t ojudge t he per formance ofeducat ion
syst ems
 Descr i
beswhatmi ghtbet heconsequencesofcer t
aincour sesofact ion,
byl ooki ngatexper iencesi nv ari
ouscount ri
es
 Prov idesabodyofdescr iptiveandexpl anat or ydat awhi chal lowsust o
seev ariouspr act i
cesandpr ocedur esi nav erywi decont extt hathel ps
throwl i
ghtupont hem
 Cont ribut es t o t he dev elopment of an i ncr easingly sophi sticated
theor eticalf ramewor ki n whi ch to descr i
be and anal yse educat i
onal
phenomena
 Serv est opr ov i
deaut hor i
tati
v eobjectivedat awhi chcanbeusedt oputt he
lessobj ect i
vedat aofot herst otest
 Has an i mpor tantsuppor tive and i nstructionalr olet o play i nt he
dev elopmentofanypl ansf oreducat ional refor m
 Helpst of osterco- oper at
ionandmut ualunder standingamongnat ionsby
discussi ngcul turaldiff
erencesandsi milarit
iesandof feri
ngexpl anations
fort hem
 Isofi nt ri
nsi ci ntell
ectualinterestasaschol ar l
yact i
vi
ty,inmucht hesame
wayast hecompar ativestudyofr el
igionorl i
teratur e
Possi
blequest ions:



2

,  Giv
efi
vereasonswhyandt eacherorpol
i
cymakercoul
dbenef
itf
rom
doi
ngComparat
iveEducat
ion(5)

Comparati
veEducat
ionandi
t’
sdev
elopmentt
owar
dsauni
ver
sal
l
yval
i
dsci
ence
ofeducat
ion
Pg9

TheusesandabusesofCompar ativeEducat ion
Theuses:
 Compar ati
v eeducat i
oncanai di ndeci sionmaki ngasf rom l ooki ngatot her
count r
iesexper i
ences, onecandeducewhatneedst obechangedandt hisf eeds
i
ntopol icymaki ngandt heref oredeci sionmaki ng.
 Compar ati
v eeducat ioni sseent obeadescr i
pt ivest udyandt heset y pesof
studi espr ov i
det heoppor tuni t
yt oest imat et hest andi ngofSout hAf ri
car elat i
ve
toot hercount riesal ongdi mensi onofeducat ion,t hist opi cf all
ingundert he
compar i
sonofst andar ds.
 Compar ingeducat ioncanal soassi sti nr emedy i
ngmi sper cept i
ons.
 Educat i
oncanbeseenasabenchmar kasi ti sof tenseent hatt hest at eof
school s coul d be an i ndi catorofmor et han j usteducat i
onalcondi tions.
Compar ati
v eeducat ioncanbesuccessf ulappr oachi nunder standi ngt hev alues,
achi evement sandcul tur eofdi f
ferentsoci eti
es.
 Compar ati
v e studi es can assi sti ni dent i
fying t he or igins and i nfl
uences of
diff
er enteducat ionsy st emsandpol icest oi dent ifywhet hert het ranspl ant ation
ofot hersy stemshasbenef it
edot her s.Compar at i
v eeducat i
oncant her efor ebe
used t oi dent i
fy pot ent ials and l imi ts ofbor rowi ng and adapt i
ng ofot her
educat i
onf ramewor ks.
 Wi t
ht heuseofcompar at i
veeducat ionst udies, onecanenl arget hef r
amewor kin
whi cht ov iew resul tsbyl ookingatcount eri nst ancesandt estingt hev alidit
y
agai nstot hersoci etiesandbypr ov idingpar allelr esul t
s,itcangi v ewayt ot he
conf irmat i
onofr esul t
sf rom ot hersour ces.I nt hisway ,compar ativeeducat ion
canassi stinmov ingf indi ngf rom par ticulartogener al.
Theabuses
 Ther ear ealsoabusesofcompar ativeeducat ion, orseenast hedanger sofusi ng
compar ati
veeducat i
oni nt hei ncor rectway .Onesuchdangercoul dbet ot akeon
refor msf r
om ot hersy st emsuncr iti
cal lyaswhatwor kswel linoneset tingmay
notbeabl et o bedi r ect l
yappl ied t o anot herset ti
ng aseducat ionsy st ems
dev elopov ertimeandneedt odev elopdi fferent lyf ordi fferi
ngsy stems.
 Theseconddangert hatmayoccuri st hemi sinter pr etationofdat aaswel last he
abuseofdat atodef endaper sonpoi nt .
Possi
blequest ion:
 Wi t
hr eferencet oWol hunt er( inReader )andNoah( i
nTut or ialletter103/ 2010) ,
andbyconsi deringi t
sv ariousphasesofhi st oricaldev el opment ,discusst he
aimsandusesofcompar ativeeducat ion.Concl udewi thacr i
ti
calcommenton
theneedt obeal ertedt ot hepossi bleabusesofcompar ati
v eeducat i
on( 15)
 Summar i
zeWol hunt er ’
schapt eront heai ms,usesandabusesofCompar at i
ve
Educat i
on, focusi ngont hesal i
entpoi nt smadei nt hatchapt er(15)


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