Scholarly Enquiry and the Field of Comparative Education

Abstract

The article deals with the features of comparative education as a field of scientific search and academic discipline, its place in the system of sciences, its connection with other fields of scientific research. Attention is drawn to the fact that comparative education, characterized by utilitarianism, aims to improve professional activity, belongs to the social and applied sciences and, in the opinion of some scientists, formally has the status of an independent scientific discipline. Education as a whole and comparative education as a part of it have their own 'tribe' (community of scientists and scientific institutions) and 'territory' (their own scientific ideas, problems, methodological approaches and types of discourse). Its specificity is manifested in interdisciplinary character, interaction of representatives of different sciences, the use of approaches and methods of other scientific disciplines, methodological uncertainty. 'Geomorphic shifts' that the 'territory' of comparative education have undergone have been characterized. The shifts which are associated with the growing influence of the state on the area of higher education, increasing requirements for the results of research activities, financial difficulties, technological achievements, and geopolitical changes. It is indicated that the field of comparative education continues to cope with a significant amount of descriptive work of low intellectual level.