This book is a cutting-edge collection of articles inspired by the writings of Robert Cowen about comparative education. Authors take up Cowen’s central concerns: re-theorising the field of comparative education, rethinking the interpretive concepts that are used by comparative education researchers, and the relationships between them.

Originally published in 1992. This work provides insight into comparative and international education work in Australia and New Zealand, where an emerging local style may be developing into a full blown national approach. The 14 essays address issues such as education in third-world Asia, sexism, and culture and power. There is recurring focus on ethics in research, education development, the role of international agencies, inequality, legitimacy and the link between comparative education and education practice. This a great reflection on the field as a whole, with contributions mostly from one area of the world but with a complete international spread of consideration.

In the newly emerging global economic order governments and policy makers are keen to seek ideas from other countries and recognise the importance of looking comparatively. This expansion of interest in comparative education brings new challenges for the discipline: research may be undertaken by non-specialists (by consultants and politicians or educationists from quite different backgrounds); the short lifespan of democratically elected governments may lend attraction to ‘quick-fix’ solutions; statistics and data may be decontextualised. Added to these challenges there is the worldwide proliferation of education providers outside state control and the transformation of teaching and learning brought about by the new information technology. This book rethinks the role of comparative education in the light of these changing circumstances and looks at the new opportunities they bring.

This two-volume compendium brings together leading scholars from around the world who provide authoritative studies of the old and new epistemic motifs and theoretical strands that have characterized the interdisciplinary field of comparative and international education in the last 50 years. It analyses the shifting agendas of scholarly research, the different intellectual and ideological perspectives and the changing methodological approaches used to examine and interpret education and pedagogy across different political formations, societies and cultures.

Learning from Comparing is a major two-volume study which reassesses the contribution of comparative educational research and theory to our understanding of contemporary educational problems and to our capacity to solve them. At a time when educational research is under attack on the grounds of ‘bias’ and ‘irrelevance’, and under pressure to address only those questions which are acceptable politically (as good a definition of bias as any), this is a serious attempt to bridge the worlds of research, policy and practice. The editors have put together a collection – in terms of both perspective and nationality – which ensures contrasting viewpoints on each topic.

Drawing on a post-foundational approach to Deleuze and Guattari's seminal work on assemblage theory, this book explores the scholarly field of comparative and international education (CIE). Written by a diverse collection of international scholars from Australia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA, the chapters use the assemblage paradigm as an analytical tool to examine the continuously evolving field of CIE. The theoretical chapters unpack assemblage theory and its core components, whilst others draw on examples and international case studies to show how assemblage theory could be applied to future CIE research. The field of CIE is prone to constant (re)configurations and this book casts the shaping of the field in a fresh light, prompting new discussions on the field's variability and flexibility.