Abstract:
In the broad field of comparative and international education, substantive lines of research have developed in recent decades that describe and explain similarities in educational systems’ structures, policies and practices globally. In this paper, I begin with an overview of what are described as ‘world culture’ and ‘world-systems’ approaches, as explanatory frameworks for convergence in educational systems. Immanuel Wallerstein’s work is elaborated in some detail for two primary reasons: 1) it’s long-standing focus on both the transition of the capitalist world-system toward an uncertain but potentially more just, democratic and equal future, and 2) the potential for education to positively contribute to this transition via the reconceptualisation of knowledge and preparation of citizens for this task. I then examine some limited comparative literature on national case-studies to illustrate points of general convergence with respect to the concept of student discipline in general, and the capacity for local agency within world-system level constraints. This global-local dialectic provides space for human agency to influence the transition of our current world-system, raising questions about how school and classroom discipline policy in particular might contribute to such projects.