This article reflects on the meanings of comparing and contrasting in international and comparative education, using two education utopias as case studies. It is inspired by our visits to schools in rural China and Finland and by our interest in issues of social justice, equality/equity. The article also discusses the meanings of the fashionable…

This article focuses on analysing the effect of educational differentiation policies of OECD educational systems on socioeconomically disadvantaged students, based on data from PISA 2009. The analysis is conducted on the basis of a definition of two subgroups of disadvantaged students: those that achieve high scores, and those obtaining scores…

This ethnographic study examines the educational struggles of Russian-born Buriat Mongolian children studying in China at a Mongolian/Mandarin school, by emphasizing conflicting educational paradigms between the Russian and Chinese systems. Educational practices are compared. Standardized assessment, teacher-centered classrooms, and group-…

In recent years, the Chinese government has initiated a national plan to universalize quality kindergartens for all age-eligible Chinese children. Kindergarten is the main form of early childhood education and care (ECEC) service across China. However, the government faces two thorny issues on the journey toward realizing educational equity for…

The Chinese have been using standardized testing for centuries. Ancient Greeks have tried it for centuries since 5th and 4th BC. There is no evidence that they have become successful in educating their children through an imperial or elitist system. The impact of standardizing the education on a nation is significant. This is not only true for not…

Described is China's education system which follows the three basic guidelines laid down by the Chinese Communist Party in 1959; namely, that education must serve proletarian politics, must be combined with productive labor, and must be under the direction of the Communist Party. Available from: American-Asian Educational Exchange, Inc., 88…

The present discussion attempts to relate current changes in kindergarten education in China to contemporary political, social, and intellectual reforms. Kindergarten education in China has always reflected the country's social policy as well as its view of the nature of childhood. Currently, in China, more kindergartens exist under more varied…

This article examines East Asian societies' response to students who are gifted academically or talented in the arts, music, or sports, focusing on educational practices in China, Taiwan, and Japan. The study concludes that establishment of gifted education programs is not determined by economic development level or school quality but by the…

Background: The Project Yi Jin (PYJ), an alternative pathway for secondary school leavers and adults to further their education, has been receiving full support from the government, the Federation for Continuing Education in Tertiary Institutions (FCE) in Hong Kong and the public. Graduates of PYJ have the equivalent academic status of their…

The Occasional Paper is intended as a resource document and is designed to provide teachers of Asian studies with an authoritative study of education in the People's Republic of China from 1949 to 1969 where educational effort focuses upon the needs of society rather than the individual. The first twenty years of the history of the People's…

This book examines the part played both by tradition and by the Cultural Revolution in the educational system of Communist China. The author discusses Mao's thoughts on the nature of man, society and knowledge, his relation to European Marxism and his ideas on education. These are then seen in the context of traditional history, philosophy, and…