La educación ha sido hasta tiempos históricamente recientes un bien escaso, monopolizado por minorías privilegiadas. Esto explica las luchas sociales y políticas que en torno a la educación se libraron en los dos últimos siglos, similares a aquéllas que reivindicaron una mejor distribución de otros bienes escasos, como el poder o los recursos económicos. Es verdad que el siglo XX se caracterizó por un notable avance en la democratización de la educación, esto es, en el acceso universal a la educación básica, obligatoria y gratuita; sin embargo, la educación no dejó de ser conflictiva, desplazándose ahora la pugna social y política hacia la obtención de otro bien escaso: la calidad de la educación. El siglo XXI se abre con ese gran reto: la equitativa distribución de una educación de calidad para todos. Este libro se ocupa básicamente de los problemas reseñados. De ahí que la educación sea contemplada desde una óptica social y política, analizándose los conflictos que suscitaron, y suscitan, las políticas de libertad y de igualdad aplicadas a la educación, los problemas que plantea una escuela integrada que aspire a hacer posible una educación básica de calidad para toda la población escolar, los dilemas que alumbran las inacabables reformas educativas de nuestros días y, como marco actual ineludible, la relación problemática de la globalización con la educación. El libro se cierra, finalmente, con la consideración de la educación como un derecho social, una de las conquistas del siglo XX, en el contexto de la crisis del Estado de bienestar y de la aparición del neoliberalismo, nuevo fenómeno político que ha tenido una especial incidencia en las políticas educativas de nuestro tiempo. De este modo, Manuel de Puelles Benítez presenta en este libro los problemas de política educativa más actuales y que afectan al llamado mundo occidental (Europa, Estados Unidos y América Latina).

The present book aims to analyse key features of the field of International Education. It also intends to study crucial elements of the relevant dimensions of the dichotomy Politics versus Policies. Educational policy and politic together constitute a vast field of research and intellectual endeavour. 'Policy' and 'Politics' are two words that are often confused with regard to their connotations. There is in fact some difference between the two words. 'Policy' is a 'principle'. 'Politics' is all about organizational process.

Education is a contested terrain. The symmetry of education reform among the seven countries examined in this volume is remarkable. There is much commonality in the issues they raise, in the competing groups battling over education policy, their policy choices, and the implementation of such policies. Also, all seven countries address the same issues: equity, global competition, the performance of their students. There are at least six important traits characterizing these battles: the context, the combatants, the issues, the process, and the policies. To begin with, history, culture, and governance regime set the context for education policy and reform. Second, there is the process of how these battles are waged--is compromise an outcome or is it a zero sum contest? Third, there appear to be four groups of combatants each with its own ideology representing a particular social class in society and their views about education and its uses: Conservatives, Socialists, Neo-Liberals, and Elites. Education is an important and valued resource that each status group tries to control and shape to its own views. Fourth, there are key issues that drive education reform: how education can best flatten a social system, how education train students for work, and how education socializes students to be functioning citizens. In recent years, fifth issue has emerged: student performance on international standardized tests. Not only is a society’s international reputation based on their students’ performance, but nations see such performance as an indicator of the quality of their educational system and if it is good enough to secure its economic future. Finally, there are the policies themselves--do they reduce or increase inequality, who benefits and how? The chapters in this volume clearly point out that education reform is not a homogeneous process as some scholars have conjectured. Rather, education reform involves heated battles over the control of the educational system because education is seen as a key factor in maintaining a society’s vision and social structure.

This book contributes to the setting out of a new, better informed and complex basis for discussions about the relationships between the State, the civil society and the citizen in distinct European countries and regions. It will be useful to researchers in the field of adult education, as well as social scientists interested in topics related to civil society, such as NGOs, social economists, and practitioners concerned with the trends that are forcing adult education to recontextualise its aims and practices.

Enlightenment, Creativity and Education: polities, politics, performances presents some outcomes of the 24th Conference of the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE), held in Uppsala, in summer 2010. Bringing together studies related to knowledge and educational policies, the volume deals with the role of knowledge, globalisation and new trends what have an effect of identities and policies. Changes in societies have changed the rhetoric concerning the position and function of education. What – in comparative perspective – are the historical forces and sociological and economic structures which are infl uencing our ideas and assumptions about identity and wisdom and the future of polities and economies? So the conference asked: what are the contemporary and emergent nature of polities, and the politics of the future – and who says so? This publication is structured along three themes for the purpose of giving illustrations to some of the questions asked. The themes are I. Comparative Education – The role of Knowledge and Educational Research, II. Globalisation and New Trends, III. New Knowledge – Identities – Policies. Lennart Wikander is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Education at Uppsala University. His fi eld is Higher Education including its relations to the labour market. Educational policies in a comparative perspective have also been a major part of his lecturing and research. He is President of NOCIES (Nordic Comparative and International Education Society). He is also member of the CESE Executive Committee. Christina Gustafsson is Professor of Education at Uppsala University and Director of Research in Educational Science at the University of Gävle. She started as a classroom researcher, and spent some years working on evaluation as a research practice. For the past fi fteen years, she has been oriented towards higher education research, especially research related to teacher training and newly qualifi ed teachers. Ulla Riis is Professor of Education at Uppsala University and Director of the programme Studies in Higher Education (SHE) at the Department of Education. She also has publications in Science Education and Computer Education in school as curriculum issues. Her latest report deals with the outcomes of a reform of the promotion system for Swedish university professors.

Colombia ha vivido grandes crisis a través de los años; crisis que permiten, gracias al aprendizaje que ésta genera, el desarrollo humano y la esperanza espiritual para lograr una reflexión en la convivencia. El problema de pasar de una economía cafetera a una economía minera ha ocasionado, por ejemplo, que los recursos naturales sean hoy la base del mal llamado "desarrollo", "progreso" y "crecimiento". El texto, resultado del proceso de investigación de la tesis doctoral "El estado colombiano y el buen vivir, un proyecto político-educativo", muestra que el problema social de esta crisis civilizatoria es el camino para conscientizar las generaciones presentes, en la búsqueda de incrementar el índice de Felicidad y el Buen Vivir y, con ello, generar espacios que motiven una relación amigable entre el ser humano y la naturaleza. Este texto constituye su cuarto libro después de: "La vida y sus encrucijadas", "Rehenes del miedo" y "Colombia: política, encanto, amor y odio".