Research in Comparative
and International Education

ISSN 1745-4999

Volume 3 Number 4 2008

CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text]

Giovanni Pampanini. Comparative Education: an inner treasure, pages 317‑322
C.C. Wolhuter. Review of the Review: constructing the identity of comparative education, pages 323‑344
Ararat L. Osipian. Corruption in Higher Education: does it differ across the nations and why?, pages 345‑365
Nitza Davidovitch, Dan Soen &Yaacov Iram. Collapse of Monopoly Privilege: from college to university, pages 366‑377
Terry Gatfield & Stephen Larmar. How Singaporean Students Decide to Study in Australia: towards building a model of their decision-making, pages 378‑393
Gabriela Walker. Overrepresented Minorities in Special Education in the United States and Romania: comparison between African-American and Roma populations in disability studies, pages 394‑403
Judy K. Dunham & Daniel Song’ony. Teacher Efficacy in Rural Zimbabwe, pages 404‑412

Comparative Education: an inner treasure

GIOVANNI PAMPANINI Co-opted Member of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies, 2007‑2010

doi:10.2304/rcie.2008.3.4.317

Inspired by his meeting with Nigel Grant at the beginning of the Nineties the author explains how this influenced and accompanied his career as a Comparative Education researcher and a teacher of Special Needs in Education, with a close, personal examination of the cultural themes of personal identity. Using an anecdotal, colloquial style, he demonstrates the importance, if not the necessity, for all Comparative Education and Intercultural researchers, in parallel to their research regarding the external and exterior aspects of their subject (comparison of different school systems, of educational reforms, of philosophies of education, etc.), to carry out a study into their own interior, personal aspects that will help them to define their own cultural identity and possible, inner ‘diversities’. In the author’s opinion, understanding and practising such a ‘interior route to Comparative Education’ can only lead to a more precise, aware use of those terms employed when describing the objects of external research.

Review of the Review: constructing the identity of comparative education

C.C. WOLHUTER North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

doi:10.2304/rcie.2008.3.4.323

The aim of this article is the explication of the identity of Comparative Education and a critical reflection thereon, by means of a journal analysis of articles published in the Comparative Education Review during the first 50 years of its existence. The 1157 articles were analyzed under the following rubrics: levels of analysis of articles; number of units covered by articles; geographical area which articles deal with authors: numbers, countries and institutional affiliation; research methods; paradigmatic affiliations; phase of education articles cover; mode of education articles deal with; and themes/topics focused on. The analysis revealed two equally strong trends – a remarkable resilience/constancy amidst a broadening. For example, the hermeneutic paradigm continues to be the most frequent paradigm, although there has been a significant diversification of paradigms recently. Comparative Education still has the ‘black box’ character, whereby things outside educational institutions (i.e. shaping forces of education and societal effects of education) are studied more than that which takes place inside educational institutions. The study suggests that there is much scope for the expansion of Comparative Education along new lines. Some of these are pointed out.

Corruption in Higher Education: does it differ across the nations and why?

ARARAT L. OSIPIAN Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA

doi:10.2304/rcie.2008.3.4.345

Corruption in higher education is a newly emerging topic in the field of education research. Some aspects of corruption in education have been addressed in recent works by Eckstein, Hallak & Poisson, Heyneman, Noah & Eckstein, Segal, and Washburn. However, rigorous systematic research is lacking. This article considers corruption in higher education as reported in the media, following publications in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Federation. It addresses the differences in forms of corruption across the nations, identifying how exactly they differ and why. Major findings point to the following: some forms of corruption are region-specific while others are universal; types of corruption are connected to the characteristics of the national systems; the general trend in the media attention reflects growing concern about corruption in academia; in the United States more attention is now paid to fraud, plagiarism, and cheating, but in Russia to bribery in admissions. The findings help to determine which aspects of corruption in higher education should be given more consideration in future research and which might be prioritised, as well as how the national systems of higher education can be improved.

Collapse of Monopoly Privilege: from college to university

NITZA DAVIDOVITCH Ariel University Center of Samaria, Israel
DAN SOEN Graduate School, Kibbutzim School of Education, Tel-Aviv, and Ariel University Center of Samaria, Israel
YAACOV IRAM Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

doi:10.2304/rcie.2008.3.4.367

This article focuses on the erosion of the monopoly by universities of the higher education system in Israel. The hegemony of the universities, the major player in the academic field, has been shattered by the development of the regional colleges that unsettled the preconceptions concerning the higher education system in Israel, including the goals, student profiles, curricula and organizational structure of the various types of academic institutions. This article examines how colleges and universities, the two major types of higher education institutions in Israel, were affected by enhanced access to higher education in the past decade.

How Singaporean Students Decide to Study in Australia: towards building a model of their decision-making

TERRY GATFIELD & STEPHEN LARMAR Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

doi:10.2304/rcie.2008.3.4.378

Higher education ranks as Australia’s sixth largest export sector, making a financial contribution of over $9 billion to the economy in 2004‑2005. Surveys of potential students and projections by IDP-Education Australia on marketing higher education in 2025 are that the overseas student intake will rise by 14% to 850,000, earning in export trade around $A56 billion annually. Australia currently has 10 per cent of the global market share for international students, being the second largest supplier after the USA. With additional places required, particularly from the Asian nations, primary beneficiaries will be Australia’s universities. Due to the size and growth potential of the industry, this article is designed to better understand the process of decision-making by international students in the Asian region, with a specific focus on Singapore. By examination of relevant theories, the literature and an analysis of the decision-making processes identified for students from Singapore, a model of decision-making is constructed to attempt to explain the behaviour of this student population.

Overrepresented Minorities in Special Education in the United States and Romania: comparison between African-American and Roma populations in disability studies

GABRIELA WALKER University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA

doi:10.2304/rcie.2008.3.4.394

This manuscript briefly examines minority participation within the school population that is eligible for special education services – namely, African Americans in the United States and the Roma population in Romania. A large percentage of students from both minorities come to school unprepared to learn and they remain behind because of the simultaneous action of several factors, such as family values, material support for child education, evaluation team members’ and teachers’ perceptions and expectations, insufficient student and parent guidance, and institutional racial/ethnic discrimination. Children coming from minority groups, and from low-socio-economic-status families, are more likely to be identified as having special needs in both the United States and Romania.

Teacher Efficacy in Rural Zimbabwe

JUDY K. DUNHAM & DANIEL SONG’ONY MidAmerica Nazarene University, Olathe, USA

doi:10.2304/rcie.2008.3.4.404

The need to address contextual variables, such as cultural bias and cultural norms, is a common challenge for researchers in international education. This article highlights societal conditions and cultural issues that could have impacted teacher efficacy data in Zimbabwe, a country known for its ongoing economic crisis, political repression, and societal instability. In light of the country’s circumstances, it is likely that Zimbabwean teachers’ efficacy (i.e. their self-confidence in their ability to produce positive student outcomes) is diminished. The 23 educators in this study were from nine impoverished rural schools where there are few opportunities for professional growth. During July of 2006, they completed the 24-item Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale (OSTES) at the beginning of a professional development workshop. The data were analysed to ascertain whether these educators had faith in their abilities to expect good results from their efforts. The results of this study suggest that the teachers possessed high levels of teacher efficacy. These results are interpreted in light of potential cultural differences in the construct of teacher efficacy.

© SYMPOSIUM JOURNALS
Symposium Journals is the trading name of wwwords Ltd
PO Box 204, Didcot, Oxford OX11 9ZQ, United Kingdom
info@symposium-journals.co.uk
www.symposium-journals.co.uk