This course is for people interested in learning more about education as an international issue. The course explores the changing conditions of the society and the world, and their implications for education. Education is now central to the international policy agenda, as a core focus of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and highly relevant to other areas such as health, poverty eradication and environmental sustainability. The course offers an enjoyable way for students to develop critical knowledge and analytical tools to understand key issue in the field of international and comparative education such as sustainable development, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The students will use these concepts to analyse their own educational experiences and to develop global awareness and understanding of diverse perspectives.

Weekly teaching sessions

EDUC5858 International and Comparative Education

None

An analytical essay of 4000 words. The student will compare at least two countries/ regions/ local areas with regard to an educational topic. The literature-based essay should include a clear set of questions, a comparative analysis of the issue, and the implications of what the student have learned for education policy and/or practice. 100% of the overall mark will be based on this assessment.

The formative activities - short outline essay and small group presentation, and formative feedback will support student with the development of summative essay.

It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.

[No exceptions]

■ To introduce students to key concepts in international education such as sustainable development, equity and diversity.

■ To encourage students to read and reflect critically on the main contemporary challenges in providing quality education across the world, particularly in areas of poverty and deep inequalities.

■ To facilitate reflection about the changing nature of society, and the world, in relation to increased mobility, globalisation, and flow.

■ To familiarise students with basic comparative methods to facilitate reflection on the relationship between education, inequality and social justice within a global and local scale.

■ To critically question prevailing discourses of development, internationalisation and globalisation.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Critically analyse the impact of the forces of globalisation and internationalisation on education.

2. Demonstrate awareness of key debates in international education, particularly those concerning issues of sustainable development at global, national and local levels.

3. Understand of dominant paradigms of globalisation, development and human rights for understanding world-wide educational challenges.

4. Understand key global policy agendas in sustainable development and education.

5. Read and analyse international policy and data and critically navigate different interpretations and commentaries and relate these to contemporary educational issues.

6. Use theories and concepts derived from international and comparative studies to analyse your own educational experiences from a wider perspective.