Andreas M. Kazamias is emeritus professor of educational policy studies of the University of Wisconsin (USA) and emeritus professor of comparative education of the University of Athens (Greece). He likes to think of himself as a scholar with a multiple identity: (a) a Greek-Cypriot (he was born in Cyprus); (b) a European cum American humanist intellectual and Socratic 'gadfly' (he studied liberal arts with a concentration in the humanities - history, classical Greek and modern English literature - for his BA degree at the University of Bristol in the UK (1948), and in the humanistic foundations of education - philosophy of education, history of education and comparative education - at Harvard University in the US (1958); and (c) for many years, since 1958, he has served as university professor and researcher in comparative education and the history of education in the United States and Greece. In the United States: he taught at Harvard University, Oberlin College, the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison; he was a founding member of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), of which he also served as President; and for a period of time, he was Editor of the Harvard Educational Review and the Comparative Education Review. In Greece: he taught at the University of Crete and the University of Athens; he was instrumental in the introduction of Comparative Education as a field of study in the Greek universities; he was a founding member of the Greek Comparative Education Society of which he served as President; he also served as President of the Greek Pedagogical Society and is currently co-editor of the Comparative and International Education Review.
The areas of Kazamias' scholarly interest, research, teaching and writing have included: (a) the theory, the epistemology and the methodology of Comparative Education, with particular reference to 'comparative historical analysis', a perspective that seeks to combine the methods of history with social science theories and/or concepts; (b) comparative historical enquiries into the formation and development of educational systems and the role of education in social, political and economic modernization; (c) politics of educational reforms in liberal democratic polities, with particular reference to the European Union and the United States; (d) comparative historical enquiries into European and American systems of knowledge and pedagogy; and (e) comparative studies of globalization and its impact on education, with particular reference to its impact on public provision of education, and on teaching, educational knowledge and pedagogy. In this connection, he 'engages' the ancient Greeks in their cultural system of Paideia to look critically at modern/ contemporary discourses and trends that prioritize techno-science and instrumental rationality and underemphasize Paideia and humanistic knowledge.
Kazamias is Honorary Fellow of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) and Honorary Member of the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE). He holds an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Bristol (UK) and honorary doctorates from the University of Ioannina (Greece) and the University of Crete (Greece). He was also elected as an Associate Member of the Academy of Athens (Greece) and was awarded an Aristeion (excellence award) in the Social Sciences from the Republic of Cyprus. He is the author or co-author of numerous books and scholarly articles on comparative education and the history of education, and notably:
- Tradition and Change in Education: A Comparative Study (1965) (co-author).
- Politics, Society and Secondary Education in England, 1895-1926 (1966).
- Education and the Quest for Modernity in Turkey (1966).
- The Educated Man: Studies in the History of Educational Thought (1965) (co-editor).
- On Comparative Education, or Toward a Promethean Humanism in the New Cosmopolis (2010) (in Greek).
- International Handbook of Comparative Education (2009)(co-editor).
- Education and the Structuring of the European Space (1998) (Senior Editor).
- "The Owl of Athena: Reflective Encounters with the Greeks on Pedagogical Eros and the Paideia of the Soul (Psyche)". In Changing Educational Landscapes (2010), Edited by D. Mattheou, pp. 21-42.
- "Paideia and Politeia in Europe- A Symposium on Education and Citizenship, Ancient and Modern". In Education Across Cultures: Comparative Studies (2004). Edited by E. Buk-Berge et al. pp. 147-169.
- "Agamemnon contra Prometheus: Globalisation, Knowledge/Learning Societies and Paideia in the New Cosmopolis". In International Handbook of Comparative Education (2009). Edited by R. Cowen and A.M Kazamias, pp. 1079-1111.