EDU-20022: COMPARATIVE EDUCATION

This module aims to enable students to explain differences in educational policy and practice across three regions - the US, the EU and the Arab world - in terms of governance, roles and responsibilities, and in terms of balances between the imperatives of competition, striving to maintain standards and being inclusive.
It aims to introduce differences between countries in $ùdeveloped&© and $ùdeveloping&© worlds as a central framework for such comparison.
It aims to enable students to develop comparative analysis skills using a range of sources including statistics, policy documents, personal experience/accounts and themed discussion.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Describe and explain key differences between education systems across the two countries

will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
Use a range of sources including statistics, NGO reports, policy documents, personal accounts and experiences, and discursive or themed analyses of educational policy and practice across these countries to produce such descriptions and analyses. will be achieved by assessments: 1,2
Evaluate key aspects of their own education system/experience through placing it in a wider context. will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
Illustrate how roles and responsibilities among educational stakeholders vary across the countries and regions according to history, and to political and economic priorities. will be achieved by assessments: 1
Explain how standards and inclusion are conceived differently across countries and regions, and how they interact to direct policy differentially. will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
Illustrate ways that educational borrowing and convergence occurs across countries, and some of the unintended outcomes of this.

will be achieved by assessments: 2
Ask theoretically productive questions of other education systems on the basis of critical reflection on their own. will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2
Work collaboratively with people from other countries to find out how and why their educational experiences differ, and relate these different experiences to broad policy and theoretical discussions. will be achieved by assessments: 1

Study hours

11 1-hour lectures
9 1-hour seminars
3 hours individual tutorial time
30 hours group work on project and presentation
60 hours essay preparation and writing
18 hours WebCT discussion and guided study
20 hours private study

Description of Module Assessment

01: Group Presentation weighted 20%

Group presentation of group project undertaken through the module
The cross-national groups (consisting of students with experience of more than one educational background) will inquire through their combined experience into educational difference in terms of one of the module themes. They will augment their pooled reflections with available statistics, policy documents and themed readings. They will present their analyses, findings and materials drawn on in Week 11. The feedback received from the class will help to inform their essay writing. The marks awarded will be shared across each group member, having been instructed and monitored to ensure equal contribution. The shared mark is designed to promote shared responsibility for collaborative learning, and to facilitate meaningful educational comparison from personal experience .

02: Essay weighted 80%

Summative essay from a choice of 6 questions
A 3,000 word essay answering one of 6 policy-related questions.

Version: (1.06B) Updated: 03/Mar/2013

This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.