The Section for International and Intercultural Comparative Education in the German Society for Education (SIIVEDGE)

This chapter examines the development of comparative education in Germany during the 20^th and 21^st centuries, identifying four overlapping periods. During the second period, the Commission for Comparative Education was formed in the German Society for Education. It was admitted to the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) under the name Kommission für Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft (KVEDGE). Subsequent evolution led to merger with other groups in the German Society for Education, and renaming of the body as Section for International and Intercultural Comparative Education. This body then replaced KVEDGE in the WCCES under the name Sektion International und Interkulturell Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft (SIIVEDGE).

The chapter places discussion of these bodies within the broader framework of comparative studies of education. It remarks on the different patterns in West and East Germany as well as in the country as a whole. One feature of comparative education in Germany has been its incorporation into the broader academic field of education. Comparative education at universities is taught and researched in schools or institutes of education. It is often closely affiliated with the theoretical foundations and normative theories of education which are called general education (Allgemeine Pädagogik or Allgemeine Erziehungswissenschaft). General education intersects with the history of educational ideas and the history of philosophy, and sometimes also with theology and sociology. The academic field of general education kept the legacy of the early university chairs for philosophy and education, and combined it with the legacy of the teacher training institutes.