Werner Helsper
Elite and Excellence: Transformations in the field of education and science? An introduction
Bernd Zymek
Processes of Internationalization and Hierarchization in the Educational System. On the persistence and dissolution of national structures and mentalities
The author analyzes the effects of processes of internationalization on the – official and inofficial – hierarchies in the German educational system. Two contrary processes can be identified for the time following the II. World War: on the one hand, the general guideline in the educational policy of the Laender of the Federal republic of Germany (but not of the German Democratic Republic) was to defend traditional structures against foreign influences and international developments; on the other hand, it can be noticed that, behind the façade of the official struc-tures, new processes of hierarchization took place, with which the individual schools or milieus aware of educational developments reacted to processes of internationalization. However, it is to be expected that, in the years to come, the modification of the German educational system ac-cording to international standards will lead to new processes of hierarchization.
Norbert Ricken
Elite and Excellence. Power-theoretical analyses of the recent scientific discourse
Although the two terms “elite” and “excellence” frequently appear as a double terminology in the present discourse on education and science, the ongoing shiftings in the educational and scientific system are mainly being discussed under the heading “elite”. Analyses of “excellence” are rather rare and are furthermore often linked with discussions of the term “elite”. Thus, the author looks at the term of and the discourse on “excellence” in recent policy of science and research from a power-theoretical perspective. He starts by sketching the ongoing structural changes in the system of science and by explaining the semantics of “excellence” and then goes on to reconstruct selected lines of reasoning in the discourse on excellence. Against this background, two effects of power, in particular, may be described: the power of “excellence” cannot be considered solely with regard to its institutional and structural consequences, rather, it has also to be analyzed as to its specific effects of subjectivization and its effects of truth-speaking.
Kai Maaz/Gabriel Nagy/Kathrin Jonkmann/Jürgen Baumert
Elite Schools in Germany. An analysis concerning the existence of excellence and elites on the landscape of secondary education from an institutional perspective
The author examines whether elite schools or schools of excellence actually exist in the field of secondary education and how they may be identified. Elite schools were defined according to characteristics of social background, secondary schools of excellence according to the students´ test-related achievements. The random sample for the analysis was formed by N = 410 secondary schools that had taken part in the national expansion of the PISA 2000 study. Evaluations through latent profile analyses showed that both in the application of aggregated indicators of social composition as well as in the analysis of aggregated partial achievements four groups of secondary schools could be identified, one of which, respectively, could be described as an elite or excellence cluster. Those groups identified on the basis of social and achievement-related compositions revealed a clearly defined field in which findings overlapped; yet, they could not be treated as equivalents. These results show that the identification of elite schools or schools of excellence depends primarily on the choice of the defining criteria. Furthermore, the analyses suggest that the term elite secondary school or secondary school of excellence is to be conceived of as a gradual construct because none of the cases examined revealed a group clearly separated from the overall distribution.
Heiner Ullrich/Susanne Strunck
Between Continuity and Innovation. Current developments in the German private school system
Not only has the number of private schools increased continuously during the last few years, also the spectrum of their formats and their providers has expanded significantly. Thus, the traditional range of ecclesiastical and reform pedagogical schools is supplemented by new foundations, e.g., in the sector of international schools. Following a survey on the present developments in the private school sector and on the programs of the different groups of providers, this process of expansion and differentiation within the private school sector is exemplified by portraying two regional school landscapes, namely the Rhine-Main region and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Within this context, the question arises as to the reasons for the growing attraction and the success of these schools. Therefore, the author, in a final part, sketches educational-sociological and school-pedagogical approaches to an explanation of this phenomenon.
Gero Lenhardt/Manfred Stock
Educated Classes or Educated Citizens. University education and conceptions of an elite in Germany and in the United States
Different conceptions of what actually constitutes an elite are at work at German and American universities. In Germany, university policy aims at re-establishing the exclusiveness of university training and at reinforcing the currently dissolving differentiation between technical college training and university education. In the United States, on the other hand, educational differences are not considered a necessity of nature but, rather, the result of educational freedom. They are not to be accepted, rather, they are to be surmounted through the generalization of university education. This approach is based on a concept of classical liberalism according to which the education of each and every one is in the interest of all.
Richard Münch
Stratification of the University Landscape. Between achievement competition and the logic of power
According to the paradigm of differentiation, which has achieved global dominance and has also been taken up by the Council of Science, both a horizontal and a vertical differentiation of the university landscape is functionally required in order to increase the competitiveness and efficiency of research and of teaching at German universities. However, behind every rhetoric of the functionally required differentiation according to characteristics and levels of achievement there lies hidden a logic of the accumulation of material and symbolic power which works towards the closing of the competition for the definition of what is necessary and of how or by whom positions should be filled. The establishment of elite universities in a competition of excellence promotes this restriction of the achievement competition through a closing down of institutions and,thus, the constriction of the evolution of knowledge. This development is sketched with regard to the stratification of German universities, in general, and with regard to the faculties of chemistry at German universities, in particular.
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Johannes Bellmann/Manfred Weiß
Risks and Side Effects of New Control Strategies in the Educational System. Theoretical conceptualization and explanatory models
Since the 1990s, many educational systems have undergone a change in paradigm in the field of control strategies towards an output- and competition-oriented regulation. Findings as to the success of this new control strategy have so far not been definite. However, it is noticeable that, for some years now, unintended side effects of the new control instruments have increasingly been reported. Following a short sketch of the new control model and of findings as to its intended effects, the paper gives a survey on the spectrum of empirically documented side effects in order to discuss theoretical models explaining their occurrence. Thus, the authors develop a heuristics for research projects trying to ascertain whether and to what extent unintended effects of the reform documented in other countries can also be observed in Germany. According to the authors´ main hypothesis, there is cause for questioning the often claimed actual increase in efficiency and to draw attention to the hidden costs of the new control strategy.
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