CROSS CULTURAL INTERVIEWING IN COMPARATIVE EDUCATION RESEARCH-A MEANS TO GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING

Abstract

Most of the conflicts, be it at local or international level, thrive on ignorance. The root cause of these disputes could be traced down to the belief of superiority of one over the other. It is through education that one can develop global understanding by getting to know of cultures other than ours. And for this, ‘if education is to contribute to the full realization of the individual, teachers and other educators remain key actors’ (UNESCO,2015, p.54). Cross cultural comparative studies can be one route towards developing our own capacities as educators entrusted with the task of illuminating young minds in our classrooms. The present paper aims to illustrate the role of cross cultural interviewing in comparative education research toward enhancing global understanding. It will demonstrate how a meaningful partnership between interviewer and interviewee in cross national and cross-cultural research in the field of teacher education enabled not only a comparative study of pre-service teacher education in an Indian and a Chinese university but led towards achievement of the one of the goals of education; ’developing an understanding of others and their history, traditions and spiritual values (UNESCO, 1996, p. 18).