Introduction to Part 1: Comparative Education Trends and Directions

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Annual Review of Comparative and International Education, this section reflects both on what comparison means and how it is activated in practice worldwide. This is done by both synthesizing and analyzing the Annual Review and the field itself, as well as by reflecting on the field more broadly through (1) overviews of key comparative and international education topics such as higher education, internationalization, and regional development; (2) critically synthesizing one of the most contentious approaches to comparative and international education (i.e., neoliberalism); (3) distinguishing international education within comparative education more broadly; (4) examining regional adaptations to global trends in education; and (5) more personally reflecting on the promises and pitfalls of research in comparative and international education. This ambitious section is a departure from the reflective essays that have comprised this section for nine of the past 10 years, and serves to illuminate the diversity of topics, issues, approaches, opinions, perspectives, and experiences that comprise the research and practice in the field of comparative and international education.