Relevant data in comparative education

Conclusions

A number of further conclusions emerge from the group reports and discussions. Several assumptions about comparative education were unchallenged and there was general acceptance of the fact that theoretical understanding and an interest in the subject for the purposes of reform are complementary. Secondly, nobody questioned that an educational system can be understood only if it is viewed in relation to a wider social context. The main areas of the context were readily recognised and agreed. More detailed analysis of the socio-economic data proved to be more difficult except in rather general terms.

Still, a further systematic breakdown of these major categories — economic, social-structure, political and so on — proved to be a prerequisite for precise description and quantification. It was suggested that, for a number of reasons, several possible approaches to cross-classification were worthy of consideration. For example, it might be desirable to classify data on the basis of the methods by which they can be acquired, let us say, empirical, philosophical, and historical. Such distinctions imply that the sources from which information can be sought are likely to be different too. Among these, experimental, documentary and interpretative (philosophical) sources can be named.