La ricerca comparativa oggi: dai sistemi educativi formali alla galassia del non-formale e dell’informale

In the galaxy of history of education, comparative education is a very important branch, especially in the Anglo-saxon context, where it is linked to the history of cultures and of the Nation-States and their educational systems. Formal education was the favorite field of research for comparative scholars since from the beginning, but nowadays education and training are very complex objects, determined by educational agencies parallel to schools, like youth movements, sport associations and the massmedia. Therefore, education of the III millennium needs a thick description, especially focused on non-formal educational events. Having already challenged the scout movement as a case study of international education, in this paper the author wants to go forward, presenting studies in the field of non-formal education. The first 2 studies are centered around the comparison of scout associations: a general overview of the Cub Scout movements in Italy and Spain, and the Cub Scouts in the Italian Corpo Nazionale Giovani Esploratori ed Esploratrici Italiani (National Corp of Italian Boy and Girl Scouts - CNGEI) and in the Acció Escolta de Catalunya (Scout Action of Catalunya), member of the Spanish Federation of Scouting; the third study is about the comparison of the care-giving activities to foster to children outside the family in Italy and Equador. In these cases, the question is to set up the real objects of comparison, rather than to deepen the research which is, at the matter of fact, still at the pioneering phase.