2.

PHASE II – Phase of Selective Educational Borrowing

Background

The 19th Century was characterised by the aftermath of the Agrarian Revolution, Industrial Revolution,
French Revolution and the process of colonisation.

Most reformers of the time were disturbed by the social and political conditions of revolutions and
reactions in Europe. In Education they saw a means of moral improvement and social betterment
(amelioration). In their view, the political and business of life of the people were based on self-interests
to a disturbing degree. It was lacking the necessary stability of religion and morality. The remedy lay in
education.

The reformers were concerned that the ability of individual school systems to improve themselves
seemed limited, even when there were good intentions.

What was needed was some kind of sharing the best ideas and practices available in many counties. This
presented a significant change of approach suggesting a more systematic collection of data and selective
borrowing in education.

Motivation and Activities Characteristic of the Phase – Motivations

Selective borrowing in education was motivated by:

a) The need to develop a methodology or systems of rules to be followed in studying foreign systems of
education.

b) A drive to learn lessons from foreign systems of education.

c) The need to discover what was going on in education in other countries in order to borrow the best
aspects for improvement of their own systems.

d) An interest in: - New educational theories and methodology.

- Organisation and financing of schools.

- Curriculum and teacher-training.

Reformers were of the view that their countries could borrow the best practices from other countries
for improvement of systems of education at home.

Activities
19th Century was characterised by journeys to foreign countries by travelers with specialised interests in
educational matters. There were serious attempts at observations and study of other systems of
education. Travellers no longer made journeys out of curiosity or general enlightenment but they
wanted to discover what was going on in education in order to borrow the best aspects for
improvement of education at home.

They were interested in those aspects in other countries which if borrowed could advance their school
system. The result was a series of reports comprising much information on foreign systems of education.
The aim was to achieve better social development in their own countries through reorganizing
institution within their systems of education.

Borrowing was encouraged by founding of colonies and missionary activities in Africa, America and Asia.
There was emphasis to learn the best lessons or make available the best education practices for
transplantation e.g. cataloguing descriptive educational data and then making comparisons with the
hope of yielding the best educational practice for borrowing.

Contributors to the Phase of Selective Educational Borrowing

1. Julian De Paris (1775 – 1848) in France

He lived during the times of Napoleon Bonaparte and Napoleonic wars. He was disturbed by the social
and political conditions of revolutions in the 19 th Century Europe. He saw education as a positive science
which could be used to improve the society. In 1817 he published a booklet entitled “Plan and
preliminary views of work in Comparative Education.”

It was the first comprehensive skill for comparative studies of systems of education. The plan suggested
a more systematic and comprehensive collection of data. He visited other countries like Prussia, Belgium
e.t.c. He used foreign examples (ideas) to herald the beginning of borrowing as a motivation for
conducting comparative studies.

2. Victor Cousin (1792 – 1867) in France

He lived at a time when Europe was in chaos after the Napoleonic wars. He was commissioned by his
national government to help in the improvement of education in France. He visited Prussia and other
countries where he investigated systems of education. In his report he recommended selective
educational borrowing from the Prussian experience. His report influenced ideas on education in France,
America and England.

3. Horace Mann (1796 – 1859) in America

He became the first Secretary of the Board of Education in the state of Massachusetts in 1837. He made
a 6-month tour to Europe, visited Scotland, Iceland, England, France, Germany and Holland (With sound
educ. Systems) just as you can visit Kakamega, Kamusinga, Alliance and other well performing schools).
On his return he made a report of his visits. The report was devoted to comparisons of school origins
and methods of instruction. He recommended that America should borrow from the educational
experience of Europe.

4. Henry Barnard (1811 – 1900) in America

He was a contemporary of Horace Mann, appointed the Secretary of the Board of Education in the State
of Connecticut in 1839. He visited Europe like H. Mann. He was impressed by the Prussian ideas on
education. He advocated the establishment of common schools or public schools similar to those he saw
in Prussia. He founded a journal entitled “The Connecticut Common School Journal” where there were
reports and details of foreign systems of education.

5. Mathew Arnold (1822 – 1888) in England

He was a poet by inclination. He became inspector of schools in England. He noted 3 groups in the
English society:

a) The Aristocratic Class (Barbarians) characterised by (lack) want of ideas and lack of flexibility.

b) The Middle Class – he called them the Philistines and were characterised by self satisfaction
(Bourgeoisie).

c) The Working Class – were hidden in poverty and squalor.

Arnold saw the need for a new democratic force in the English society. He toured countries on the
continent of Europe like France and Italy. On his return he advocated for the expansion of state activities
in education i.e. the state could do more in providing education for the people. This could help in
narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor.

RELEVANCE
1. The reports were mainly descriptive. Today descriptive studies are features still relevant in our
education. Major activities of the phase were utilitarianism i.e. were to make it respond to the needs of
the society it is supposed to serve.

2. We still have visits to other countries, institutions to observe what may be of value in order to bring it
back home. Emphasis here is the importance of learning from experiences of others.

3. PHASE III – Phase of Concern for Cultural Context (1900-1945)

Background

In the transition from 19th to 20th Century, two (2) points are worthy of note:

i) Sociology was gaining ground; there was a trend towards the study of relationships between
education and society.

ii) Essays were being written on Comparative Education i.e. establishing similarities and
differences in systems of education i.e. culture can inhibit certain aspects of the curriculum.

The role of government in encouraging and even sponsoring studies of foreign systems of education was
growing. As it did the people involved in these studies became more concerned with problems of
comparison. It was not enough to accumulate masses of information about educational practices in
other countries to borrow indiscriminately. There was need to: - Interpret observed practices

- Judge or predict whether a particular practice could be transplanted successfully from one
country to another.

Motivations and Major Activities

There was need to:

- Move away from encyclopedic descriptive and sometimes uncritical approach of the earlier phase to a
more analytical approach

- Understand forces or factors which helped to shape systems of education to be the way they were.

- Predict the likely success of transplants from one country to another. This called for knowledge of
cultural contexts in both the exporting and the receiving countries.
- Understand the school within the context of society.

- Promote international understanding vis a vis nationalism.

Major Activities

- Concern with accounting for features existing in systems of education i.e. accounting for factors and
forces which shaped systems of education.

- Emphasis on the importance of analysing cultural forces and factors which were within and beyond
national boundaries. These factors and forces would explain the variations in systems of education
(similarities and differences).

- The problem was no longer one of selective education borrowing but predicting the likely success of
educational transplants through knowledge of cultural contexts i.e. respect cultures.

- Using education to break through national boundaries and develop international harmony and
goodwill.

CONTRIBUTORS

Among the contributors to the development of Comparative Education are the following:

i) Michael Sadler (1886-1943)

ii) William T. Harris (1838-1909)

iii) Isaac Candel (1881-1965)

iv) Nicholas Hanns

1. Sadler Michael

At the University of Manchester in England in 1900 at Guildford, he gave a lecture on the topic “How far
can we learn anything of practical value from the study of the foreign systems of education?” In this
lecture, Sadler drew a lot of attention to relationships between the school and the society. He noted
that in studying foreign systems of education, we need to understand that things outside the school
matter more than things inside the school. They govern and interpret things inside the school. Thus
aspirations of the society must have their expression in the school and aspirations of the school must
have their basis in the society.
2. William Harris in America

Was a successor of Horace Mann and H. Bernard. His main interest was in philosophy. He stressed the
need for care when using statistics in education especially statistics of foreign education. He stressed the
need for scientific approach in studying problems of education. He noted that each individual nation
puts its own stand on its systems of education. Therefore it is not possible to borrow as freely as we may
wish. This is because what may work in one place may not work in another, due to cultural differences.

3. Isaac Candel in America

Was at the University of Colombia took interest in relationships between education and political systems
in several countries. He took effect of nationalism and prospects in internationalism.

He was concerned with accounting for systems of education in terms of forces and factors which shaped
them. He emphasised the importance of studying the national character. This is because the character
of the school can best be understood by getting information on the country’s national character.

He contributed to the theory of the relationship between school and society called “Theory of
Causation” – i.e. similar factors can lead to different effects in different contexts.

4. Nicholas Hans – University of London

He edited many books on Comparative Education which have influenced the teaching of Comparative
Education.

His articles on Comparative Education are found in the World Year Book of Educational Periodical.” His
book “Comparative Education – A Study of Factors” has been used as a textbook. at University and
colleges of education.