Metaphorical Trajectories of Comparative and International Education Research in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

Abstract By juxtaposing Paulston’s [Paulston, R. G. (1999). Mapping comparative education after postmodernity. Comparative Education Review, 43(4), 438–463; Paulston, 1977] demonstration of relationships between theories of social and educational change/‘reform’ and Delamont’s Four great gates: dilemmas, directions and distractions in educational research (2007), this metanarrative explores how comparative and international education research in Australia and China has evolved in terms of self-determination, planned change and strokes of luck. The tendency to adopt a deterministic/fatalistic perspective in comparative education research in this part of the world rises from the general perception that, unlike its North American and European counterparts, the field is too narrowly defined by local institutions [Denman, B. D., & Higuchi, S. (2012). At a crossroads? Comparative and international education research in Asia and the Pacific. Asian Education and Development Studies, 2(1), 4–21] and often resorts to ‘hits’ and ‘misses’. By utilizing Paulston’s work and comparing it with Delamont’s, this analysis serves as a stop-gap measure to not only help justify its means and recognize its potential but also to counter the persistent dissatisfaction that scholars try to prove and promote comparative education as a field of study in the region. In addition, the terms of reference of self-determination, planned change and strokes of luck are broadly interpreted metaphorically, using the iChing or Book of Changes (Van Over, 1971), in order to help rationally order and rhetorically clarify trends in educational scholarship, policy and practice. In the Asia and Pacific region generally, comparative and international education research can be viewed as different ways of thinking and knowing, regardless of the research methods employed. The trends, challenges, opportunities and risks associated with the field are identified as location-specific, time-sensitive and culturally unique.