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Discuss The Historical Development of Comparative Education
Comparative education first appeared in the early 19th century alongside the rise of national education, though it did not develop as an academic subject until the 20th century. Its early development was hindered by the two World Wars, where it was used for moral competition.
In the history of comparative education, Marc-Antoine Jullien de Paris is commonly referred to as the “father of Comparative Education”.
The historical development of comparative education can be divided into three stages. They are the descriptive stage, predictive stage and scientific stage.
Descriptive Stage – At this stage, an Educational Comparativist can make a description of his educational system as well as practices. The researcher has to start by reading extensively.
Predictive Stage– The second phase in the study of comparative education took place in the first half of the 20th. Century. The stage could be regarded as a stage of Prediction because at this stage, the study of. Comparative education has gone beyond borrowing sage.
Scientific stage- It involves seven critical stages: identification of the problem, development of a hypothesis, definitions of concepts and indicators, selection for cases of study, collection of data, manipulation of data, and interpretation of the result.
Comparative education examines education in one country (or group of countries) by using data and insights drawn from the practices and situation in another country, or countries”
Some of its important purposes are to describe educational systems, processes, or outcomes, second is to assist in the development of educational institutions and practices and fourth is to highlight the relationships between education and society.
First phase of the development of Comparative Education
The educational comparativists involved in this stage include: Marc-Anthony Jullien de Paris, 1817, Mathew Arnold of England, Victor cousin of France, Leo Tolstoy and K.D. Aushinsky of Russia, Domingo Sermiento of Argentina, Horace Mann and Henry Barbard of America.
At the borrowing stage, the education data collected would be compared so as to make use of it for the best educational practice of the country studied for the purpose of transplanting it to other countries.
Second Phase in the study of Comparative Education
This stage took place in the first half of the 20th century. The stage could be regarded as a stage of Prediction because at this stage, the study of comparative education has gone beyond the borrowing stage. At this stage, the educational comparativists studying the educational institutions and practices of another country will be in the position to predict what is likely to be the success or failure of adopting the educational practices of the country.
The educational comparativists involved in this stage included: Friedrich Schneider and Franz Hilker of Germany, Isaac Kandel as well as Robert Ulich of America., Nicholas Hans as well as Joseph Lanwerys of England including Pedro Rosselo of Switzerland.
They tried to find out the reasons behind the educational practices of the country visited by them and they became more careful in transplanting the educational practices of another country to their own.
The third Phase is the scientific period or analytical period.
This stage took place in the second half of the 20th century. The period witnessed rigorous analysis as well as objectivity in the study of educational practices of other countries.
At this stage, before transplanting the educational practices of another country to one’s country, such educational practices have to be subjected to a critical analysis.
The comparativists involved in this stage included: Schneider, Kandel as well as Uich.
Comparative education tries to compare educational problems as well as the solutions applied to such problems to help one’s educational practices.
It was concluded that the study of Comparative education will enhance a student’s knowledge regarding discipline.
