Alegre, M. À., Collet, J. & González, S. (2011). How policies of priority education shape educational needs: new fabrications and contradictions. Educational Policy, 25(2), 299–337.

This is a comparative study of four different approaches to educational need in four different countries. Though the actual initiatives themselves may be superseded, the article provides a very good background discussion of types of need, their causes and strategies of action.

Ertl, H., & Zierer, K. (2017). Why comparing? Some insights from a comparison of publications in educational journals in England and Germany. Research in Comparative and International Education, 12(3), 360–371.

This article examines comparative educational research in the UK and Germany to identify commonalties and differences in approaches to comparative education between both countries.