Is the moon more round in the Western world? Some important aspects of comparative education

Abstract

In this increasingly globalised age, ideas developed in different cultures and countries can be disseminated very rapidly, which is supposed to allow people who live in different cultures to exchange information and learn from each other easily. However, the process of adapting educational ideas developed within one culture for use in another should be slower because education is very complex and there are a great many factors that must be considered. In particular, it is necessary to consider human psychology in relation to differences between the two cultures and their traditions, including things such as teachers’ beliefs, teaching practices, students’ motivations and interests in learning, and the educational values held by various stakeholders (e.g. school rectors, politicians, parents, and researchers). Therefore, more comparative studies are needed to promote teaching and learning internationally. This article builds on the study on science education presented by Hằng et al. (Cult Stud of Sci Educ. doi: 10.1007/s11422-014-9634-8, 2014) and highlights three issues of relevance for science educators and science educational researchers who seek to implement educational ideas from one culture in another. The first is the importance of conducting comparative studies that will facilitate the development of educational practices in modern multi-cultural societies. Second, I discuss issues with data collection and the interpretation of results, with particular reference to the work of Hằng et al. (2014). Third, given the emerging focus on comparative studies in education, I discuss the important roles of teachers in such efforts and offer some advice on working in collaboration with them in a way that will enable them to develop their professional knowledge and teaching practices. I present three different approaches (action research, design-based research and learning study) that are currently used in teacher professional development programs and which may be useful for teacher educators to consider as means of increasing teachers’ professional knowledge. Hopefully, this article will encourage researchers to conduct improved comparative studies in science education in the near future and thereby benefit science teaching and learning globally.