ABSTRACT
Media visibility and the political use of global rankings have highlighted the topicality and relevance of comparative studies in education. This popularity has not entailed the development of theoretical instruments in the field, however. Conversely, non-historical and de-contextualized concepts such as efficiency, accountability and quality are colonizing the educational world undisputed and uncontested, largely due to the fact that they have been internationally advocated. Comparative education is still suffering from certain methodological deficits and serious under-theorization (Simola, 2009). One trend is to consider ‘comparative’ a synonym for ‘international’, which refers to a descriptive collection of educational issues from different countries.
