22 October 2015

Exporting Soviet Ideas Through Education

Our most recent edition of European Education: Issues and Studies was a special, guest-edited issue titled "Governing Educational Spaces: Historical Perspectives." In this issue, Tom G. Griffiths and Euridice Charon Cardona of the University of Newcastle in Australia have provided a helpful historical look at the Soviet university aid program during the Cold War. The paper explores the topic from a world-systems perspective. Griffiths and Cardona highlight the intended catch-up style modernization and national economic development for countries through their participation in the Soviet university aid program as well as the intended development of the human capital of participant countries. The Soviet university aid program was in place from 1956 to 1991 and it was one of history’s largest and most ambitious attempts to achieve global influence and to reshape the world through university education. Their look at Soviet soft power draws on existing research and Soviet archival materials. Specifically, they explore the program's focus on students from “developing” and newly-independent countries, and its ambition to form graduates who would return home to become national leaders sympathetic to Soviet socialism. If you would like to read this entire paper, "Education for Social Transformation: Soviet University Education Aid in the Cold War Capitalist World-System," or any other content from our journal, you can find out more about subscriptions at this page.

14 October 2015

Exploring European Education

Those who want a taste of European Education: Issues and Studies can sample some of the articles that we have published over the last few years. You can explore a collection of free access articles chosen by the editors at this page. As you can see from this limited selection, European Education takes seriously its mission to publish a wide range of theoretical and empirical studies that include interdisciplinary perspectives and critical examinations of the impact of political, economic, and social forces on education. Enjoy!

06 October 2015

The Idea of the Visiting Inquiry in Comparative Education

In our recent special issue entitled "Governing Educational Spaces: Historical Perspectives," Martin Lawn of the University of Edinburgh looks at state of comparative education in the early Twentieth Century. Here is the abstract of his paper, "The Idea of the Visiting Inquiry in Comparative Education: The 1903 Mosely Commission and the United States" (DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1065395):
Through a study of a privately funded and ambitious inquiry into the education system of the United States, the relations between the development of comparative education as an activity and the governing of education systems in the early 20th century can be illuminated. The relations and interests of early comparativists were mobilized and enhanced by private funding and significant numbers of public actors in education were involved in comparative inquiry. The 1903 Mosely Commission was a philanthropic intervention to reengineer the patchwork of English education, and an attempt to modernize it and influence its government on a large scale. Its innovation was in its methods of influence as well as its scientific reports. The Commission was a hybrid, transnational institution, using comparison to modernize the government of education, mainly involving policy actors and finally, claimed neither by the history or comparative study of education. Consequently, its significance has been lost.
If you would like to read the entire paper or any other content from our journal, you can find out more about subscriptions at this page.