Iveta Silova - Böcker

The 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union is a time to reflect and call attention to the educational transformations in post-socialist nations of Southeast/Central Europe and the former Soviet Union and in educational systems around the world. While the educational landscape changed most obviously in the former socialist countries and aligned nations, the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union was felt in nations worldwide. This volume will provide a comparative account of the meanings and processes of post-socialist transformations in education by exploring recent theories, concepts, and debates on post-socialism and globalization in national, regional, and international contexts. Of particular interest is a critical examination of post-socialist transformations and the evolution of educational change globally since 1991. Understanding these complex developments since 1991 is critical to the study of education around the world in the new millennium.

Rarely do we find books in educational research that are both thick in context and rich in theory. Usually books emphasize one over the other. Authors that engage in thick descriptions tend to fall short of explaining what larger theoretical issue their case stands for. Vice versa, authors who make a case for a particular theory do not always describe their case in sufficient detail. From Sites to Occupation to Symbols of Multiculturalism is a remarkable exception. The book is a major break-through in case study methodology, multiculturalism and policy borrowing/lending research.The book investigates a puzzle: how is it that one and the same system, the system of separate schooling for Latvian and Russian speakers, is seen as a site of occupation during one period (1987-1990) and as a symbol of multiculturalism in the next (1991-1999)? The system has stayed in place, but the meaning attached to it has been completely inverted. Is cultural change without structural change possible? Does it mean that the dual school system has become anachronistic, and will eventually disappear in light of the cultural changes of the past decade? The book is the story of a great metamorphosis of one and the same system of separate schooling that, at first unbelievable, gradually makes sense.

Rarely do we find books in educational research that are both thick in context and rich in theory. Usually books emphasize one over the other. Authors that engage in thick descriptions tend to fall short of explaining what larger theoretical issue their case stands for. Vice versa, authors who make a case for a particular theory do not always describe their case in sufficient detail. From Sites to Occupation to Symbols of Multiculturalism is a remarkable exception. The book is a major break-through in case study methodology, multiculturalism and policy borrowing/lending research.The book investigates a puzzle: how is it that one and the same system, the system of separate schooling for Latvian and Russian speakers, is seen as a site of occupation during one period (1987-1990) and as a symbol of multiculturalism in the next (1991-1999)? The system has stayed in place, but the meaning attached to it has been completely inverted. Is cultural change without structural change possible? Does it mean that the dual school system has become anachronistic, and will eventually disappear in light of the cultural changes of the past decade? The book is the story of a great metamorphosis of one and the same system of separate schooling that, at first unbelievable, gradually makes sense.

Globalization has a profound effect on the mission and goals of education worldwide. One of its most visible manifestations is the worldwide endorsement of the idea of 'education for global citizenship,' which has been enthusiastically supported by national governments, politicians, and policy-makers across different nations. Increasingly, the educational institutions feel under pressure to respond to globalization forces by preparing students to engage competitively and successfully with this new realm, lest their nations be left in the dust. What is the role of international schools in implementing the idea of 'education for global citizenship'? How do these schools create a culturally unbiased global curriculum when the adopted models have been developed by Western societies and at the very least are replete with (Western) cultural values, traditions, and biases?This collection of essays attempts to grapple with these complex issues, while highlighting that culture and politics closely intertwine with schooling and curriculum as parents, administrators, teachers, and students of different backgrounds and interests negotiate definitions of self and each other to construct knowledge in particular contexts. The goal is to examine the complexity of factors that drive the global demand for 'education for global citizenship' and de-construct the contested nature of 'global citizenship' by examining how the phenomenon is understood, interpreted, and modified in different cultural settings. The authors provide not only a thick description of their cases, but also a critical assessment of various attempts to initiate and implement educational reforms aimed at the development of globally-minded citizens in various national settings.

Globalization has a profound effect on the mission and goals of education worldwide. One of its most visible manifestations is the worldwide endorsement of the idea of 'education for global citizenship,' which has been enthusiastically supported by national governments, politicians, and policy-makers across different nations. Increasingly, the educational institutions feel under pressure to respond to globalization forces by preparing students to engage competitively and successfully with this new realm, lest their nations be left in the dust. What is the role of international schools in implementing the idea of 'education for global citizenship'? How do these schools create a culturally unbiased global curriculum when the adopted models have been developed by Western societies and at the very least are replete with (Western) cultural values, traditions, and biases?This collection of essays attempts to grapple with these complex issues, while highlighting that culture and politics closely intertwine with schooling and curriculum as parents, administrators, teachers, and students of different backgrounds and interests negotiate definitions of self and each other to construct knowledge in particular contexts. The goal is to examine the complexity of factors that drive the global demand for 'education for global citizenship' and de-construct the contested nature of 'global citizenship' by examining how the phenomenon is understood, interpreted, and modified in different cultural settings. The authors provide not only a thick description of their cases, but also a critical assessment of various attempts to initiate and implement educational reforms aimed at the development of globally-minded citizens in various national settings.

Reflecting on almost three decades of postsocialist transformations, the second edition of Globalization on the Margins explores continuities and changes in Central Asian education development since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, with a particular focus on the developments that took place since the production of the first edition in 2011. Rather than viewing these transformations in isolation, the authors place their analyses within the global context by reflecting on the interaction between Soviet legacies and global education reform pressures in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This new edition, in addition to a revised introduction and a newly added conclusion, consists of four thematic sections, each reflecting a key theme in the educational life of the Central Asian states. These thematic sections, introduction and conclusion collectively update our understanding of the recent developments and challenges in education of the five Central Asian states. They, however, go beyond mere information update, so as to complicate, re-engage, re-form and re-define the margins, taking up ‘margins’ a conceptual, geographic, cultural, and geo-political construct. Notwithstanding the diversity of local and international authors, variety of theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and conceptual lenses, the essays reveal the complexity and uncertainty of the post-socialist education transformations. Instead of portraying the transition process as the influx of Western ideas into the region, Globalization on the Margins provides new lenses to critically example education as a contested field of diverse perspectives, competing forces, and multidirectional flow of ideas, concepts, and reforms in Central Asia.

Reflecting on almost three decades of postsocialist transformations, the second edition of Globalization on the Margins explores continuities and changes in Central Asian education development since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, with a particular focus on the developments that took place since the production of the first edition in 2011. Rather than viewing these transformations in isolation, the authors place their analyses within the global context by reflecting on the interaction between Soviet legacies and global education reform pressures in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This new edition, in addition to a revised introduction and a newly added conclusion, consists of four thematic sections, each reflecting a key theme in the educational life of the Central Asian states. These thematic sections, introduction and conclusion collectively update our understanding of the recent developments and challenges in education of the five Central Asian states. They, however, go beyond mere information update, so as to complicate, re-engage, re-form and re-define the margins, taking up ‘margins’ a conceptual, geographic, cultural, and geo-political construct. Notwithstanding the diversity of local and international authors, variety of theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and conceptual lenses, the essays reveal the complexity and uncertainty of the post-socialist education transformations. Instead of portraying the transition process as the influx of Western ideas into the region, Globalization on the Margins provides new lenses to critically example education as a contested field of diverse perspectives, competing forces, and multidirectional flow of ideas, concepts, and reforms in Central Asia.

This book explores childhood and schooling in late socialist societies by bringing into dialogue public narratives and personal memories that move beyond imaginaries of Cold War divisions between the East and West.