Page 40 - Education in a Digital World

Theoretical Approaches 27

educational phenomena are observed” (Phillips and Schweisfurth 2008, p.12).
Moreover, as Bob Cowen (2006) reasons, as well as being concerned with the social
embeddedness of educational phenomena within particular local contexts, the most
successful comparative accounts are those that are interested in the concept of
transfer between contexts – i.e. the movement of educational ideas, policies and
practices from one place to another.
While not new, the emphasis now placed on context and transfer within the
comparative study of education has certainly intensified in light of the globalised
turn over the past thirty years. As Michael Apple (2010) reasons, any investigation
of the apparent globalisations of contemporary education is now expected to pay
particular attention to the bridges that exist between global and local contexts –
thereby exploring exactly how ‘meta-theoretical’ considerations of globalisation are
linked (or not) in practice to the rather less grandiose ‘lived realities’ of individuals,
local institutions and local communities. In this respect, some of the most powerful
recent comparative education analyses have been those seeking to move beyond
disingenuous accounts of the seamless ‘international transfer’ of policies and practices
and, instead, unpack the significance and dynamics of social, cultural and contextual
differences as technologies are implemented in various settings and contexts. As
Andrew Brown (2009, p.1144) concludes, the comparative approach therefore
offers educational scholars:

rich opportunities for the exploration of the effects of re-contextualisation,
both as these technologies and associated practices move from one context to
another and as the technologies themselves act as a conduit for the transfer of
knowledge and the bringing together of individuals and groups, and their
pedagogic, cultural and social practices. In the light of this, rather than address
the local and global impact of digital technology [we need to] address a
number of dimensions, and specific instances, of the educational use of digital
technologies in a range of contexts.

In this sense, comparative education offers a useful opening framework for
this book’s specific enquiries – in particular outlining different areas of education
worthy of consideration, and highlighting the forms and levels at which they are
comparable. First, then, in terms of the objects of comparison, there are at least four
main areas of ‘education’ that are of potential interest. As Dale (2005, p.142)
describes:

Educational practice: i.e. issues of who is taught (or more specifically, who
learns through processes explicitly designed to foster learning). This includes
questions of what is learnt, how and why, when, where, by/from whom,
under what immediate circumstances and broader conditions, and with what
results.