2025 Volume 34 Issue 1 Pages 9-23
The aim of this paper is to explore the nature of a bridge between practice and research in international educational development, by using articles from The Journal of International Development Studies published by The Japan Society for International Development as a case study. By using the journal (from the first issue to Vol.33, No.2) as a case study, this paper explores the discussion on ‘quality of education’ in international educational development from the perspective of sociology of education. In doing so, it focuses on the discussion of primary education. Specifically, this paper conducts a review focusing on three articles which are thought to be working to bridge a gap between practice and research from the viewpoint of ‘quality of education.’
As a result of the review, this paper shows that the three articles raised issues with existing discussions that evaluate ‘quality of education’ quantitatively (also from ‘external’perspectives), and by exploring specific cases in detail at the school level, they tried to renew the discussion on ‘quality of education’ based on evidence which included ‘internal’ perspectives. From the results, this paper points out that one can learn some clue for furthering discussions on a bridge between practice and research in international education development.
In conclusion, this paper indicates that it is crucial to be aware of diverse perspectives which could not be covered even within the ‘internal’ perspectives, and therefore it is essential to proceed with a self-reflective inquiry. In addition, this paper suggests that it is important to continue to question the ‘common sense’ or values and norms that are positioned as existing mainstream by constantly reflecting on the fact that, no matter how much we try to examine things from ‘internal’ perspectives, ‘external’ perspectives will always remain, when considering a bridge between practice and research in international education development.
