This collection of articles is a contribution to the debate about two important questions in the study of comparative education: ‘What lessons can be learned from cross-national studies of issues in education?’ and ‘What problems of comparative method do such studies have to address?’

The papers which make up this volume were for the most part presented at a program of seminars given in Oxford, England, in the autumn of 1990. The seminars represented the first activity of the new Centre for Comparative Studies in Education installed at the Department of Educational Studies of the University of Oxford in January 1990. The Centre's principal objective is to collect and analyze data on education in other countries in order to make comparisons with the United Kingdom that might inform policy discussions. The present collection seeks to make a contribution to two important questions in the study of comparative education: What lessons can be learned from cross-national studies of issues in education? and What problems of comparative method do such studies have to address? The nine papers in the collection include: "Introduction" (David Phillips); "An International Comparison of Access to Higher Education" (A.H. Halsey); "Schools of Education and Teacher Education" (Harry Judge); "Education Training and Economic Performance in Comparative Perspective" (David Finegold); "French Lessons: Comparative Perspectives on What It Means to be a Teacher" (Patricia Broadfoot; Marilyn Osborn); "Apprentice Training in Germany: The Experiences of the 1980s" (Bernard Casey); "Alternative Funding of Education Systems: Some Lessons from Third World Experiments" (Keith Watson); "Unlearnt European Lessons: Why Austria Abandoned the Comprehensive School Experiments and Restored the 'Gymnasium'" (Karl Heinz Gruber); and "Japan--Pupil Turned Teacher?" (Roger Goodman). (DB).

Uses the information gathered by the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 1995 to examine the connection between curriculum and achievement in the teaching of science and mathematics.

Since 1988, the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education (BICSE) at the (U.S.) National Research Council of the National Academies has engaged in activities designed to increase the rigor and sophistication of international comparative studies in education by encouraging synergies between large and smaller scale international comparative education research, to identify gaps in the existing research base, and to assist in communicating results to policy makers and the public. Under the current grant (1998-2002), funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, BICSE has sponsored public events and commissioned papers on the effects of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the power of video technology in international education research, international perspectives on teacher quality, and advances in the methodology of cross-national surveys of education achievement. This report responds to a request from the board's sponsors under the current grant to produce a report that builds on its previous work.

The comparison and borrowing of national policies is a widespread phenomenon in all major policy areas. In education, the PISA study has resulted in a renewed interest in cross-national comparison and reception of policies. In particular, the unexpectedly low results of Germany in the PISA study have sparked increased interest in educational policies and practice elsewhere. The chapters cover a wide variety of educational sectors: vocational education and training, preparation for career choice, citizenship education, secondary and higher education, teacher training and language learning policy. These chapters are framed by more general accounts of the influence of foreign educational reform on national reform agendas and the German reaction to the results of the PISA study. This book provides insights into educational policy formation and implementation of policies into educational practice in England and Germany from a comparative perspective, and is aimed at academics, students, policy makers and the wider public with an interest in the latest developments in the long-standing mutual interest in educational matters in the two countries.

Educational practices have rapidly changed in the last few decades, especially in how exchanges of information and learning are delivered and processed. Yet, while the field of international comparative studies has grown, there has not been an extensive study on the relationship between educational practices, students, and how practitioners are prepared and trained. This handbook explores international educational practices and behaviours through new research and a review of existing research, with chapters spread across six parts: Part I: Introduction to Research Practices in Comparative Studies of Education Part II: Research Methods Part III: Policy Transfer Research through International Comparisons Part IV: Use of Student time in Formal and Informal Settings Part V: School Practices from Early Childhood through Secondary School Part VI: Conclusion - Lessons from Large Scale Studies

It argues that the main purpose of educational research is to improve student learning, and that international comparative studies are no exception.