Introduction: Continuity, challenge and change in comparative and international education

Abstract

The last Special Number of Comparative Education devoted to the field's 'present state and future prospects' was published in 1977, in what Nigel Grant, the then Editor, noted to be the 13th birthday and 'adolescence' of the journal. Now in its 36th year, and at the turn of the millennium, we devote a second issue to a reflective and forward-looking analysis-recognising the contemporary revitalisation of comparative and international research in education, and anticipating the emergence of new challenges and developments for the 21st century. This Special Number seeks to raise fundamental questions about the nature of comparative and international studies in the light of the implications of contemporary socio-political changes, the dramatic acceleration of globalisation, related theoretical and epistemological challenges and current developments in the theory, policy and practice of education. The issue also acknowledges the achievements of the field and the maturity of the journal itself, both of which are most appropriately represented in the contributions by Edmund King and Patricia Broadfoot. The significance of continuity with the past emerges as a core theme in the collective articles and many contributions echo a number of still fundamental issues raised previously in 1977. Most notably these include: the multi-disciplinary and applied strengths of the field; 'the complexities of this kind of study'; the dangers of the 'misapplication of findings'; the importance of theoretical analysis and methodological rigour; the (often unrealised and misunderstood) policy-oriented potential; and the enduring centrality of the concepts of cultural context and educational transfer for the field as a whole (see Grant, 1977). On the other hand, the world has changed rapidly since 1977 and there is much to set the current analysis apart from that of the past. Firstly, most contributors see the future of the field in a more optimistic but problematic light than was the case in 1977. This is attributed, across the various articles, to a combination of factors. These prioritise the exponential growth and widening of interest in international comparative research, the impact of computerised communications and information technologies, increased recognition of the cultural dimension of education, and the influence of the intensification of globalisation upon all dimensions of society and social policy world-wide. Such factors draw attention to the nature of contemporary changes and developments within the field-and to the very real challenges that need to be faced at the outset of the 21st century. Michael Crossley's article, for example, calls for a fundamental reconceptualisation of comparative and international research, but one that builds cumulatively upon the positive traditions embedded in past experience. Contemporary challenges to the field are reflected in, for example, the new priorities and