Policy Change in Secondary Education: Germany and England Compared

Abstract

In many OECD countries, education policy has been transformed over the last decade.¹ In response to labour market demands, increasing costs for public education institutions and demographic challenges, the education sector has gradually come under growing pressure. Most significantly, international organizations (IO) have started to play a central role in education policy-making by developing new forms of governance for that field. As a result, education policy — traditionally considered an exclusive national domain of Western welfare states — has become a highly contested area of international governance (Martens et al. 2007). Yet it is not clear what kind of effect the activities of IOs have: Do they bring about greater harmonization among national education policies by promoting uniform solutions for commonly shared problems? Or do national institutions continue to follow their own logic, thereby hindering effective coordination through IO governance?