Current Issues in Comparative Education

Layers of Data, Layers of Skills Measurement in the E-Government Reform

2025-10-28T02:11:36+00:00

This conceptual article investigates the rationales for the fascination with soft skills (social-emotional skills, responsibility, engagement, etc.), propelled by a large and diverse group of proponents, including international organizations—such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank—that have a long-standing history with promoting hard skills, such as literacy and numeracy. It (i) outlines several reasons why global actors promote the development of soft skills, agentic teaching and learning, and social accountability; (ii) traces the evolution of social accountability—the regulatory mechanism behind the current E-Government or New Public Governance reform—by sequencing the global public administration reforms of the past five decades; and finally, (iii) examines the challenges of social accountability in today’s divisive societies plagued by information pollution, anti-globalization sentiments, and distrust in government.

Pedagogical Practices in Overcrowded Classrooms: Evidence from Education Stakeholders in Malawi

2025-10-16T13:50:19+00:00

This study investigates pedagogical practices for managing large classes in Malawi's primary education system, where overcrowded classrooms, driven by Free Primary Education and global education agendas, strain limited resources. Utilizing an exploratory research design, data were collected from six Teacher Training Colleges and nine public teaching practice schools across Malawi’s six education divisions. Participants included teacher educators, student teachers, teachers, head teachers, and teaching practice coordinators. Qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, focus group discussions, questionnaires, and classroom observations, were employed to examine effective pedagogical strategies, challenges, and patterns in large class instruction. Findings indicate that group work is the primary strategy used, with group leaders acting as assistant teachers and behavior monitors. However, challenges such as limited space, insufficient learning materials, and time constraints hinder effective implementation. Heterogeneous grouping and peer teaching are common but limit engagement due to dominant learners and resource scarcity. Barriers such as space limitations, material shortages, and time pressures interact to constrain sound pedagogy, forcing teachers to prioritize assessment over instruction. The Initial Primary Teacher Education Curriculum lacks adequate focus on large class management, and systemic issues, including low remuneration and limited professional development, demotivate educators. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to support effective teaching in resource-constrained, overcrowded classrooms.

Becoming a Knowing Person: How Women in a Dominican Batey Understand Literacy

2025-10-16T13:48:48+00:00

This qualitative study explores how Haitian-heritage adult women in a rural batey in the Dominican Republic understand and experience literacy. Drawing on one-on-one and group interviews with eight women enrolled in an adult literacy program, the research centers the voices of learners often marginalized in wider society. Through an inductive thematic analysis, the study reveals that participants view literacy not only as the ability to read and write, but as a form of empowerment closely tied to multilingualism, personal agency, and social participation. This study contributes to broader conversations about literacy as a social practice and the transformative potential of adult literacy education in contexts shaped by historical, structural, and protracted inequities.

Bridging teacher and student success: Investigating job satisfaction and self-efficacy in non-Islamic vs. Islamic schools in Indonesia

2025-10-28T02:20:39+00:00

Although teacher job satisfaction and self-efficacy are widely recognised as important for student learning and well-being, little is known about how their effects differ across educational contexts. This study examines how these factors shape student outcomes in Indonesian Islamic (IS) and non-Islamic/general (NS) secondary schools. Using a two-stage stratified sampling method, data were collected from 1,319 students in 64 classrooms, and multigroup and multilevel path analysis (Mplus 8.10) was conducted to assess cross-level relationships. The findings show clear differences between school types. In NS, teacher job satisfaction (TCJOBS) directly predicted student achievement, whereas in IS, its effect operated indirectly through student motivation. Teacher self-efficacy (TCEFF) directly improved achievement in IS, but in NS, it influenced achievement indirectly through TCJOBS. Job status strongly predicted TCJOBS, with permanent teachers reporting higher satisfaction, and gender differences showed higher self-efficacy among female teachers. While TCJOBS and TCEFF were not directly linked to student well-being or anxiety, higher student well-being consistently enhanced achievement and reduced anxiety in both school systems. This study demonstrates how teacher-related factors operate differently across educational frameworks, offering important insights for targeted policy and professional development.

The Case of Escola Eleva and the Janelas Abertas Scholarship Program: De/reterritorializing Elite Notions of a Brazilian International School

2025-10-08T02:48:15+00:00

This empirical case study considers the experience of scholarship students participating in the Janelas Abertas program from 2017 to 2022 at Escola Eleva, an elite international school in Rio de Janeiro. Using ethnographically-inspired methods and an assemblage theory framework, the study challenges dominant narratives about elite schooling by analyzing how racially and socioeconomically diverse scholarship students both shaped and were shaped by the school community. Narrative interviews with scholarship recipients reveal interconnected individual and collective transformation organized around three themes: confronting racism, fostering economic solidarity, and (re)affirming identities. The findings show that the students were integral to an assemblage that de/reterritorialized traditional notions of an elite school. This case contributes to research on racial and socioeconomic diversity in private international schools by offering a Brazilian example in which scholarship students were not passive markers of diversity but were conscious of the political and social significance of their belonging to the school.

Elaborating Policy Pervasion: Personal and Organizational Immigration Policy Impacts

2025-11-04T20:07:25+00:00

The term policy pervasion describes the influence of visa and study permit policies on the lives of international students, based on findings for students studying in Australia, Canada, and the United States. This conceptual article works to elaborate and expand on the concept of policy pervasion in two complementary ways. The first section explores the manifestation of policy pervasion in different national contexts and draws on news, literature, and the author’s own international student support experiences to refine the concept of policy pervasion as a crucial component of the international student experience globally. The second section introduces the idea of “organizational policy pervasion,” wherein the activities, processes, or decisions of higher education institutions are impacted by policy pervasion considerations. From there, the article proposes a tool for guiding or instigating responses that constitute a caring, productive, and student-centered organizational policy pervasion. The article concludes with an outline of potentially fruitful future research paths related to (organizational) policy pervasion, as well as clarification of the theoretical and practical utility of both forms of policy pervasion.

The Role of Climate Change Education in ESD for 2030: Selective Adaptation of a Global Script

2025-10-21T02:10:38+00:00

This paper examines the role of Climate Change Education (CCE) within UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development (ESD for 2030) framework, focusing on its selective adoption in the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASPnet) in Brazil and Germany. Drawing on the concept of global scripts, the study analyzes school websites (N=514) alongside four in-depth case studies to explore how schools integrate learning about climate and environmental sustainability. The findings reveal that while ESD’s broad and flexible framing allows for widespread diffusion, CCE remains unevenly integrated. In Germany, UNESCO schools are predominantly public and often emphasize sustainability and international aid projects. In Brazil, private schools play a larger role, and the analyzed websites show a stronger emphasis on socioemotional learning and bilingual education, reflecting the different types of schools represented in the two national samples. The paper demonstrates that although ASPnet holds potential to act as an innovative space for CCE, CCE has yet to become a clear priority in the network.