Conceptual Framework for analysis

Comparative Education Methods

This qualitative study goes under the field of comparative education. Comparative education is the study of foreign systems of education. It is a theoretical field of study that compares education in one country by examining and using evidence and insights drawn from the practices and situation found in other countries (Altbach 1998). Comparative education has influences in the social sciences (Bereday, 1964, p. 5) and the purpose of comparative education has an interdisciplinary nature as well as a practical application. The study of outside systems of education helps the researcher better know his or her own (ibid.). Phillips (2006) claimed that “comparing is inherent in human thinking and the making of comparisons is fundamental to intellectual inquiry” (Phillips 2006). Sadler mentioned the importance of studying the context when comparing education methods. He said; “When studying foreign systems of education we should not forget that the things outside the schools matter even more than the things inside the schools, and govern and interpret the things inside” (Sadler, in Higginson, 1979, p. 49). The purposes of comparative education can be categorized into four fields (Harold Noah 1985, Farooq Joubish 2009).

Comparative education methods aims to:

1. Describe educational structures, processes, and effects.
2. Assist in the development of educational organizations and practices.
3. Highlight the relations