Marcelo Caruso
Educational Policy between Expert Knowledge and Public Discussion.
An introduction
Michele S. Moses
Education-Policy-by-Ballot-Initiative: Considerations Related to Democracy and Justice
What is the relationship between direct democratic ballot initiatives, democratic deliberation, and justice? When voters collectively make policy decisions, what responsibilities do experts have to contribute to informing public deliberation about the relevant issues? This article investigates how the direct democratic ballot initiative process, increasingly and controversially used in the United States to allow citizens to make education policy decisions, may serve to enhance or constrain democracy and justice. Through the
lens of deliberative democratic theory, this article aims at providing greater understanding of the education-policy-by-ballot-initiative phenomenon and bringing to light the possibilities of tyranny of the majority when policies having to do with civil rights are left up to popular vote. It concludes with an argument for researchers to use their expertise in the service of public information and deliberation.
Lucien Criblez
Vox populi – On the challenges of semi-direct democracy with regard to educational policy
Referenda create the greatest possible publicity in educational policy because the populace eligible to vote has to be informed about the proposals submitted and because a public debate on the proposals is carried out in the run-up to a referendum. The author refers to the tradition of semi-direct democracy in Switzerland and, for the purpose of a heuristic approach, draws on three case studies in order to illustrate the educational-political issues on which a referendum was held as well as the results of these referenda. Against this background, some general development trends are outlined and research desiderata are formulated.
Florian Waldow
Lawyers or Test Specialists? On the role of experts in establishing equity of grades in Germany and in Sweden
The author discusses differences in the basis of legitimization of the equity of grades between Germany and Sweden, including the role played by different types of experts. In this, he draws on concepts from social justice research. For several decades now, the major instrument in Sweden for establishing equity with regard to grades has been the system of national tests; in Germany, equity with regard to grades is still based primarily on the professional evaluation made by the teacher. On the other hand, Sweden completely lacks the comprehensive legal possibilities to scrutinize grading available in Germany.
Bernd Zymek/Sabine Wendt/Moritz Hegemann/Frank Ragutt
Regional Governance and Local School Development Policy in the Process of De- or Reconstructing Regional Structures of Educational Institutions
For several years now, the political-scientific and economic discourse on governance has also dominated the school-political and educational-scientific debates on school development. Drawing on a concrete empirical example, the authors examine and discuss the opportunities and limitations of this political model – both as an educational-political strategy and as analytical instrument. The study’s empirical basis is formed by selected data and partial results from a research project for the scientific monitoring of local school development initiatives in Westphalia. In the process of de- and reconstructing regional structures of educational institutions – a process forced by present-day demographic change – inter-communal competition between locations and the established players on the local political field prove to be the decisive factors if strategies of political action are pursued which can be described as local governance.
Markus Maurer
The Myth of Free Education and the Problems of Legitimization Private Operators are confronted with in the Field of Higher Secondary Education in Sri Lanka
The author discusses recent debates on the role of private operators in the field of higher secondary education in Sri Lanka. The island of Sri Lanka is the only country in South Asia which still does not yet tolerate private universities. Against the background of a historical-institutionalist theoretical framework, the reasons for this special status are outlined. After the country had become independent in 1948, egalitarian educational institutions of a high public legitimacy were created, which have impeded such a reform well into the present despite the development of a global market of higher secondary education and despite repeated experts´ recommendations. However, changes in the social structure and the increase in demand for private educational programs will probably lead to the approval of private universities.
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Jürgen Wiechmann
The Implementation of the Comprehensive School (Gemeinschaftsschule) in Schleswig-Holstein – Systemic change and local decision making
With the comprehensive school and the regional school, the Federal Land of Schleswig-Holstein introduced two alternative school types on the lower secondary level of schooling between 2007 and 2010. Within this four-year-timeframe, the decision for the implementation of the comprehensive school as an inclusive form of schooling was transferred to the local sphere of action. The procedure chosen constitutes a turning away from the tradition of nationwide uniform decision making with regard to systemic change and is instead oriented by decentralist approaches to the organization of innovation processes. This leads to the question of the peculiarities of the local and regional context in which an early decision is brought about in favor of a school form which is all in all attributed a rather low level of acceptance. Data collected at 359 schools affected by this decision reveal a complex interplay of local and regional factors, which is primarily characterized by active design intent, by the development of a locally accepted understanding of the educational mandate of schools, and by the access to necessary development resources for the realization of the school development process.
Tobias Diemer/Harm Kuper
Forms of School-Internal Control by means of Central Surveys on Student Achievement
Central surveys on student achievement are part of a new paradigm of controlling labeled “new control”. Unlike other instruments associated with this paradigm, such as international comparisons on school achievement or national education reports, central surveys on student achievement bring the new aradigm directly to the schools and teachers. On the basis of a qualitative interview study, the authors examine in how far control processes take place within schools in connection with the feedback from achievement surveys. The results reveal considerable variation in the logics of controlling which are not reduced to the paradigmatic expectation of output-oriented control.
Beat Bertschy
Unknown, Misunderstood, Underestimated – Gregor Girard’s multifaceted theory of education
The Swiss Franciscan padre Gregor Girard (1765-1850) was an important and versatile mastermind and organizer of the primary school (Volksschule). Nonetheless, he is hardly known or merely considered a local celebrity lacking in originality. The reception of Girard’s work has reduced his multifaceted school conception to the concept of reciprocal instruction and has, at best, honored his art of instruction.
Furthermore, Girard has always remained in the shadow of the Pestalozzi cult. This picture is in need of correction. On the basis of the reception history, it can be illustrated that it strongly depends on slogans, “new” concepts, adherents and myths whether an author finds entry into the history of pedagogics. Insofar, the debate on the canon of educational theories is taken up.
New Books