Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2021: Volume 42B

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the potential of the disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic to break the stagnation in the field of comparative and international education, detected on many fronts of the field by various scholars in the field. The chapter commences with a survey of the historical evolution of the field of comparative and international education, showing how the field has historically come to be defined by contextually induced discourse. At the same time, the historically trodden furrows have resulted in the field becoming trapped by historical forces, resulting in some stagnation in the field. It is argued that impediments to progress in the field of comparative and international education are the severance from practice, the “black box” syndrome of paying more attention to the societal context than to education, the tenacious attachment to the nation-state as the sole geographic level of analysis, the lack of an autochthonous theory, persistent Northern hegemony, and the regression of space and infrastructure at universities. Thereafter, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact thereof on education are discussed. In conclusion, the potential of the disruption brought about by the pandemic for the revisitation of comparative and international education is assessed.

Education in Emergencies (EiE) as a subfield of Comparative and International Education (CIE) has played a vital role in advocating for the world’s most vulnerable people with a focus on short-term responses to specific events like conflict and natural disasters that often occur in the Global South. However, recent events, like the protests exposing structural racial and gender inequality, the COVID-19 pandemic, and multiple global “slow” conflicts, have revealed a different nature of modern emergencies where issues, which are often considered important but not urgent, can quickly become emergencies under the right circumstances or have in fact always been so. Accordingly, in this chapter, we reimagine a broader framework for EiE which includes long-term, systemic, and universal challenges that affect both the Global North and South. The chapter includes a historical review of EiE as a subfield within CIE along with evidence of new forms of modern emergencies in the United States, Bolivia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, and Syria that build toward a broader framework of EiE intended for both CIE scholars and practitioners.

This chapter addresses current trends regarding how the meta-theory of critical realism (CR) frames comparative and international education research and practice. It introduces the key tenets of CR and explores how these ideas have been and can be applied in educational research. It demonstrates how CR provides a valuable alternative to the positivist, interpretivist and constructivist paradigms, and leverages elements of all three to provide new approaches to develop knowledge that is free from the dualisms embedded in their ontological assumptions. I argue that by offering a dialectical understanding of structure and agency, as well as the material and ideational dimension of social reality, CR provides an ontological framework that does not do conceptual violence to the reality we seek to research. This ontological basis is particularly valuable to the social justice agenda of educational research in general because it allows researchers to work beneath the surface of empirical research to disclose the field of possibilities for social action.

The history of empire, conquest, and the role of the university occurs at the confluence of White supremacy and anti-Blackness. Knowledge is classified not only in texts but also through images, artwork, and even statues—all of which are found on university campuses around the world. The production of knowledge is uniquely tied to power through empire, belief systems, and economy. When universities house knowledge that is rooted in a Eurocentric view of the world and are situated in Black and Brown communities in the global South, they function as conflicted carriers of White dominance. This is evidenced via monuments, statues, physical architecture, curricula, language of instruction, and codes of conduct which all serve as indicators that the university stands at the nexus of empire maintenance and the cultures they invaded. This chapter includes case studies in three regions of the world: South Africa, Brazil, and Oceania (particularly Australia and New Zealand). The ways in which universities are both complicit actors in invasion as well as byproducts make the examination of universities as carriers of White dominance a global and complex project. This historical and contemporary examination provides an in-depth view of university participation in global White dominance through a tenacious and lasting global anti-Black sentiment.

These unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic have generated a variety of responses from national governments, local communities, and individuals. Using podcasting as a medium, this comparative educational project interviewed individuals living through and adapting to the unprecedented upheaval at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mumbai, India and Houston, USA. Using a decolonial lens, the podcasting project unpacks how similarities and differences in structures of privilege, prevailing ideologies, and sociopolitical contexts have influenced the experiences of people navigating this global challenge in two very different cities.

This chapter reflects on findings from this project and builds on it further to explore the use of podcasting as methodology. The inclusion of diverse voices from contrasting contexts provides opportunities for polyvocality and democratic dialogue. Podcasting is a medium that allows for academic content to be presented in an accessible format for education practitioners and the general public, ultimately contributing to reducing gatekeeping in academia. With the goal of contributing to comparative research, this essay closes with a reflection on the dynamics of power in the production of new media from two highly different primarily English-speaking contexts, whilst striving to consistently retain the authenticity of each city.

The intervention of international organizations in the development of the Global South has been credited with expanding the freedoms, capabilities, and well-being of people so that they are more able to lead valuable and flourishing lives. There are, however, critical issues that need to be considered regarding the extent to which powerful donor countries of the Global North shape educational development work in the Global South. The need for education might be universal, but local communities should have a leading role in shaping its content and determining its goals. Drawing on postcolonial perspectives, we raise questions about northern involvement in educational interventions in the Global South including the role of loan conditionalities; the gradual encroachment of international business and corporate interests; the hegemonic control of knowledge; the dismantling of cultural values and ways of life; and the stereotype, racism and deficit perspectives that are frequently perpetuated. We argue for the need to rethink, reframe and reconstruct educational development in a way that will place the Global South at the front and center of the education process.

In this comparative study, we explore the ways eight queer university students from Trinidad and Tobago and New Brunswick, Canada, use cellphilm production (cellphone + film production + intention) to share their experiences, make calls for change, and forge solidarities across racial, cultural, and national contexts. Engaging in cellphilm production as a research method for social change, we ask: What are queer, trans, and non-binary students’ experiences in campus spaces? What are the commonalities and tensions that exist between their experiences? How might cellphilm production work to disrupt unsafe campus spaces and create transnational queer solidarities? Through cellphilm production, participants crafted narratives highlighting significant systemic barriers, and speaking back to micro and macro aggressions. Both participating groups expressed feelings of exclusion and institutional neglect and highlighted their university’s disregard toward accommodating physical spaces, such as washrooms, downplaying of verbal hostilities, and other microaggressions. Participants also noted that students were at the forefront of creating purposefully queer spaces. Our comparative study disrupts the erasure of the experiences of queer, trans, and non-binary university students in Trinidad and Tobago and New Brunswick and speaks back to hegemonic whiteness in the context of queer campus spaces in New Brunswick, Canada.

This chapter contributes to the literature on surveillance in education toward the development of a new branch of studies in educational surveillance that foregrounds the intersections of surveillance with international education, internationalization in higher education, and the global competition for international student enrollments. This study examines the literature on the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a web-based data collection system that provides a pervasive surveillance mechanism to track the activities and locations of non-immigrant international students studying in the United States. Through a qualitative content analysis, I identified key themes evident in the literature; the findings serve as a measure of the current (though dated) state of research on SEVIS while also identifying that which is not examined or discussed in this scholarship. Often taken for granted as a background necessity for national security and labor market protection in relation to hosting international students, SEVIS is regrettably under-examined from student-centered, student affairs, and critical surveillance studies perspectives. In presenting the findings of this literature analysis, this chapter provides a research agenda for future empirical study of SEVIS and the surveillance of international students.

This research focuses on the elements of pedagogy related to teacher–student engagement that promotes a responsive learning environment and improved outcomes for diverse populations in diverse contexts. We examine the pedagogical practices occasioned by the shift to online learning as a result of schools’ closures that followed the declaration of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis first explores the status of pedagogical practices and access to education technology following the implementation of the SDG4 agenda for an inclusive quality education for all. It follows with an exploration of pedagogical shifts in response to the pandemic following school closures, paying attention to the implications for equity for diverse populations in diverse learning contexts. The analysis draws from the education practice discourse surrounding the pandemic response gained from educators and students, gray literature, emerging scholarly publications, and institutional reports on the topic of pedagogical practices. Lessons from the experiences of the authors as researchers, students, and teachers illustrate examples of Zoom classroom practices that evolved with time that might support productive experiences for learners in technology-mediated learning environments. The global pandemic experience provides an opportunity for the field of comparative education to reconsider planning for the delivery of education in unpredictable and emerging emergencies.

The objective of this chapter is to analyze educational leadership policy in New Jersey, US, and Ontario, Canada, focusing on the inclusion of the unique needs of systematically marginalized students, specifically refugees and forced immigrant (RFI) youth. Modes of inquiry are qualitative document analysis of New Jersey and Ontario leadership policies, preparation requirements, and standards. The objective of this paper is to present an extensive literature review of policies related to educational leadership and supporting RFI youth and their teachers as well as to reveal gaps in policies and examine pre- and in-service training requirements. Within the field of comparative and international education, this chapter highlights the institutionalization of trends in educational leadership at state or provincial levels and how these macro-level policies influence educators’ abilities to meet the needs of students from marginalized communities, such as refugees and immigrants.

This study examines the Career and Technical Education (CTE)/Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) higher education sector by focusing on international education at a US community college. The purpose is to examine how internationalization at CTE/TVET institutions engages students, many of whom are rural, poor, refugees, immigrants, and students of color and minoritized status. Employing a mixed methods research design, descriptive statistics sketch the CTE student profile and surveys and personal interviews detail the importance of international experiences to CTE students. Findings show that CTE students participate in internationalization activities at a higher rate than non-CTE students. The impact of international experiences is significant in the areas of career relevance, personal impact and understanding of diversity. This study substantiates the importance of CTE/TVET internationalization and shows that internationalization is an effective vehicle for impact and inclusivity of historically under-represented students in international education.

The internationalization of education introduces notable cross-cultural challenges and benefits for consideration by scholars of comparative and international education. When teachers move overseas to work, they become sojourners, “between-society culture travelers” (Ward et al., 2005, p. 6). Living and working between cultures offers a substantial set of both challenges and opportunities. Acculturation theory (Sam & Berry, 2006) was initially understood as culture shock (Oberg, 1960), an occupational malady. Acculturation theory seeks to explain adaptation processes and has mostly examined sojourners whose intent is to permanently adapt to a new culture. Educators who are sojourners require temporary states of adaptation. This chapter narrates a subset of a qualitative study examining educator acculturation from an asset orientation to explore what benefits acculturation offers to sojourning educators who work in international schools overseas. Findings include that even highly stressful episodes of culture shock can manifest in long-term benefits, such as the development of personal and professional resilience and self-leadership strategies, as well as the reflective curating of one’s personal and professional identity, which may include the development of an interstitial identity. These benefits serve to increase educators’ cultural competencies, to prepare educators for supporting sojourning students who are acculturating, and to prepare educators for smoother acculturation experiences afterwards.