The Scope of Education in the BRICS Countries as Theme for Comparative and International Education Scholarship

• Main Authors: Charl Wolhuter, Oxsana Chigisheva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ACCB Publishing 2020-05-01
• Series: Space and Culture, India
• Subjects: Comparative and International Education; BRICS
• Online Access: http://www.spaceandculture.in/index.php/spaceandculture/article/view/681

The key purpose of this study is to survey the BRICS education project, that is, education in the BRICS countries. The final objective is, fitting in the framework of this special issue, to identify the value of the epistemology that has been developed and tested by BRICS education scholars, as well as their thematic focus for the broader, global social science community. The unfolding 21st Century world and its imperatives for education are outlined. How this education-societal context is studied by the scholarly field of Comparative and International Education is then explained. The BRICS education project is then surveyed and analysed by a model which distinguishes between three dimensions of a national education project, namely the quantitative, the qualitative, and the equality dimension. It is concluded that the BRICS education project has a lot to offer in a global social science scholarship enterprise. However, to bring this promise to fruition, two recommendations are made. These are prioritisation of research on the societal outcomes of education in the BRICS countries, and that scholars in the BRICS countries should assume ownership for a scholarship of education in the BRICS countries.