Different understandings of quality education across the globe: a special issue on the guiding theme of the BAICE 2016 Conference Editorial: Editorial, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education

While the concept of ‘quality education’ has been widely debated, there is by no means a universal definition in the literature (e.g. Harvey and Williams 2010; Mishra 2007; Tam 2001). Different approaches and conceptualisations reveal the context-based nature of quality as a value judgement. In the education field in particular, its vagueness is further compounded by the difficulty in measuring education performance: learning outcomes are reflected in transformations of
individuals in terms of their knowledge, characteristics and behaviour (Tsinidou, Gerogiannis, and Fitsilis 2010), and these outcomes are defined and understood in ways that are highly contextualised (Tikly 2011; Walker 2006). The critical role of context in the construction of quality education is a central theme in this special issue.