The Development of a Discipline: some reflections on the development of comparative education as seen through the pages of Compare

Abstract

The development of the concept and scope of comparative education is traced from a scrutiny of the origins of CESE and BCIES to the merger of BCIES with the new BACIE. A succession of editors of Compare, all of these being significant contributors to the practice of comparative education, have modified and shaped the concept into a recognised university discipline. The notion of ‘applied comparative education’ is considered in reviewing the suggestion that comparative education is research based, whereas international education makes practical use of comparative data. An illustration is given of how a new school was brought into being in which ‘applied comparative education’ was a pioneer feature through the six house units linked with different areas of the world.