ABSTRACT
The interface between national systems and internationally comparative considerations is more contentious than it has ever been. Since, as teachers no less than as scholars, we care so much for effective education, we must now pay far more attention to the receiving end - indeed, we must think of it not as a "receiving end" but as a situation where education begins. There are important ways in which all systems of schooling have become frontier areas in industrialised countries too. Reform must be radical and continuous, from our inner concepts outwards through our institutions and practices - not just for reasons of social amelioration and so forth, though these are integral to our continuing civilisation, but also for reasons of technological necessity. Educational development and planning too must take the same stance, in preparation for varied and flexible response to ever-changing "crises".
