Oskar Anweiler/Hans-Jürgen Fuchs/Martina Dorner/Eberhard Petermann (Hrsg.): Bildungspolitik in Deutschland 1945-1990. Ein historisch-vergleichender Quellenband. Opladen: Leske + Budrich 1992 [Rezension]

Rezension von: Oskar Anweiler/Hans-Jürgen Fuchs/Martina Dorner/Eberhard Petermann (Hrsg.): Bildungspolitik in Deutschland 1945-1990. Ein historisch-vergleichender Quellenband. Opladen: Leske + Budrich 1992, 574 S.

Schule, Lehrerschaft und Bildungspolitik um 1800. Neue Studien im Umfeld der Helvetischen Stapfer-Enquête von 1799

Dieser zweite Sammelband im Rahmen der Reihe „Studien zur Stapfer-Schulenquête von 1799“ beinhaltet [...] Beiträge zu der 1799 durch den Helvetischen Bildungsminister Philipp Albert Stapfer initiierten großangelegten Schulumfrage. Gegenüber den Beiträgen im ersten Sammelband „Volksschule um 1800“ konnten diese hier versammelten Studien auf die komplette Edition der rund 2400 überlieferten Antwortbögen der Stapfer-Enquête zurückgreifen (www. stapferenquete.ch). Der nun vollständig mögliche Zugriff auf die Daten hat dementsprechend umfassendere Forschungsresultate zur Folge und erlaubt repräsentativere Tiefenbohrungen. Noch deutlicher als beim ersten Band vermögen diese Beiträge ein gegenüber der traditionellen Schulgeschichte wesentlich differenzierteres, in vielen Fällen auch korrigiertes Bild der Volksschule um 1800 zu zeichnen. (DIPF/Orig.)

Effective Approaches to Enhancing the Social Dimension of Higher Education

Despite all intentions in the course of the Bologna Process and decades of investment into improving the social dimension, results in many national and international studies show that inequity remains stubbornly persistent, and that inequity based on socio-economic status, parental education, gender, country-of-origin, rural background and more continues to prevail in our Higher Education systems and at the labour market. While improvement has been shown, extrapolation of the gains of the last 40 years in the field show that it could take over 100 years for disadvantaged groups to catch up with their more advantaged peers, should the current rate of improvement be maintained. Many of the traditional approaches to improving equity have also necessitated large-scale public investments, in the form of direct support to underrepresented groups. In an age of austerity, many countries in Europe are finding it necessary to revisit and scale down these policies, so as to accommodate other priorities, such as balanced budgets or dealing with an aging population. An analysis of the current situation indicates that the time is ripe for disruptive innovations to mobilise the cause forward by leaps and bounds, instead of through incrementalist approaches. Despite the list of programmes in this analysis there is very little evidence as to the causal link between programmes, methodologies for their use and increases/improvements in equity in institutions. This creates a significant information gap for institutions and public authorities seeking for indicators to allocate limited resources to equity improving initiatives, without adequate evidence of effectiveness. The IDEAS project and this publication aims at addressing and improving this information gap. (DIPF/Orig.)

High-stakes testing and Educational Governance – insights and innovations in European school systems. Special Issue Editorial

International research with regard to the intended as well as to the unintended outcomes and effects of high-stakes testing shows that the impact of high-stakes tests has important consequences for the participants involved in the respective educational systems. The purpose of this special issue is to examine the implementation of high-stakes testing in different national school systems and to refer to the effects in view of the concept of Educational Governance. (DIPF/Orig.)

How do teachers prepare their students for statewide exit exams? A comparison of Finland, Ireland, and the Netherlands

Statewide exit exams are often believed to have a positive impact on school effectiveness and the alignment between instructional practice and state standards because of their mandatory nature and the stakes attached for students and teachers. They may also, however, lead to teaching to the test and to a perceived de-professionalization of the teaching role. While some studies suggest a narrowing of contents and an increase in teacher-centered instruction, little is known about how the impact on instructional practices and teacher cognitions varies between different exam systems. This study compares the strategies teachers use to prepare their students for the exams at the end of upper secondary education in Finland, Ireland, and the Netherlands using a standardized questionnaire survey with responses from 385 teachers. The goal was to develop hypotheses about the relationship between differences in the exam procedures and the stakes attached, and the differences in teacher preparation strategies. The results suggest country-specific variations regarding teacher beliefs as to how much time should be spent on exam preparation; however, there were smaller differences in the strategies applied. Regression analyses indicated that the way in which preparation intensity was associated with the stakes for students and schools, and the attitudes towards the exams themselves varied across the three countries. The different exam systems appeared to affect preparation in markedly different ways, but nevertheless led to the exercise of comparable strategies. (DIPF/Orig.)

Governing the transition to higher levels of education and differences between achievement and school grades by gender

The author will explore the performance of boys and girls in external examinations in Slovenia at the beginning of upper secondary and tertiary education. These are critical points in students’ educational career at which he/she has to choose a school/university. Since both transitions are managed centrally by appropriate authorities, this is also a question of Educational Governance. Transitions between levels of education should, above all, assure fairness in selection procedures. At the point of transition to upper secondary schools we will explore differences between students’ achievements in various school subjects tested at the national assessment of knowledge (NA), and their school grades by gender. Since only school grades are used as admission criteria to upper secondary schools, this comparison of school grades with external and more objective measure of students’ achievement will show possible bias. In Slovenia admission to tertiary education usually consists of (externally assessed) Matura results and school grades in the last two years of upper secondary school. The author will compare the effects of both most commonly used measures of academic achievement on admission in view of gender differences. Study courses where selection procedure was actually applied will be of specific interest since they can show signs of (un)fairness. Results show signs of bias and build case for better Educational Governance. (DIPF/Orig.)

The problem posed by exam choice on the comparability of results in the Finnish matriculation examination

The article focuses on the upper secondary matriculation examination in Finland as a school leaving and university entrance examination. The presented research addresses the question of whether increased choice of the subject-specific examinations has the potential to undermine the comparability of examination results and to direct students’ choices not only in the examination but already beforehand at school. The authors refer to Finland’s tradition of more than 160 years of a national examination connecting the academic track of upper secondary schools with universities. The authors explain the Finnish system by describing the adoption of a course-based (vs. class- or year-based) curriculum for the three-year upper secondary education and the subsequent reforms in the matriculation examination. This increases students’ choices considerably with regard to the subject-specific exams included in the examination (a minimum of four). As a result, high-achieving students compete against each other in the more demanding subjects while the less able share the same normal distribution of grades in the less demanding subjects. As a consequence, students tend to strategic exam-planning, which in turn affects their study choices at school, often to the detriment of the more demanding subjects and, subsequently, of students’ career opportunities, endangering the traditional national objective of an all-round pre-academic upper secondary education. This contribution provides an overview of Finnish upper secondary education and of the matriculation examination (cf. Klein, 2013) while studying three separate but related issues by using data from several years of Finnish matriculation results: the relation of the matriculation examination and the curriculum; the problems of comparability vis-à-vis university entry due to the increased choice within the examination; the relations between students’ examination choices and their course selection and achievement during upper secondary school. (DIPF/Orig.)

Abs, Hermann Josef/Brüsemeister, Thomas/Schemmann, Michael & Wissinger, Jochen (Hrsg.). (2015). Governance im Bildungssystem. Analysen zur Mehrebenenperspektive, Steuerung und Koordination. [Rezension]

Rezension von: Abs, Hermann Josef/Brüsemeister, Thomas/Schemmann,Michael & Wissinger, Jochen (Hrsg.). (2015). Governance im Bildungssystem. Analysen zur Mehrebenenperspektive, Steuerung und Koordination.

Prädiktoren der LehrerInnenverantwortung

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Frage ob Lenks Modell zur Erfassung von grundsätzlichen Determinanten der LehrerInnenverantwortung, das durch Lauermann und Karabenick übernommen wurde, empirisch gestützt werden kann. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, kausale Beziehungen innerhalb dieses Modells mit Hilfe eines Strukturgleichungsmodells zu bewerten. Basierend auf Daten einer norwegischen LehrerInnenuntersuchung ergaben sich deutliche Zusammenhänge zwischen den Elementen des Modells. Relationales Vertrauen, informelles Lernen zwischen den LehrerInnen und wahrgenommene Unterstützung durch SchulleiterInnen haben sich als wichtige Determinanten für die LehrerInnenverantwortung erwiesen, wenngleich die kontextuellen Faktoren in ihrer Eigenart komplexer zu sein scheinen. Es bedarf weiterer Forschung, um diese zu verstehen. Angesichts der Ergebnisse ist zu empfehlen, dass Schulbehörden einen Schwerpunkt auf die Gestaltung einer Politik legen, die die Vertrauensbeziehungen zwischen den LehrerInnen berücksichtigt. (DIPF/Orig.)

Regulatory governance of ‘training markets’, ‘market failure’, and ‘quasi’ markets: historical dimensions of the post-initial training market in the Netherlands

This article examines regulatory governance of the post-initial training market in The Netherlands. From an historical perspective on policy formation processes, it examines market formation in terms of social, economic, and cultural factors in the development of provision and demand for post-initial training; the roles of stakeholders in the longterm construction of regulatory governance of the market; regulation of and public providers; policy responses to market failure; and tripartite division of responsibilities between the state, social partners, commercial and publicly-funded providers. Historical description and analysis examine policy narratives of key stakeholders with reference to: a) influence of societal stakeholders on regulatory decision-making; b) state regulation of the post-initial training market; c) public intervention regulating the market to prevent market failure; d) market deregulation, competition, employability and individual responsibility; and, e) regulatory governance to prevent ‘allocative failure’ by the market in non-delivery of post-initial training to specific target groups, particularly the low-qualified. Dominant policy narratives have resulted in limited state regulation of the supply-side, a tripartite system of regulatory governance by the state, social partners and commercial providers as regulatory actors. Current policy discourses address interventions on the demand-side to redistribute structures of opportunity throughout the life courses of individuals. Further empirical research from a comparative historical perspective is required to deepen contemporary understandings of regulatory governance of markets and the commodification of adult learning in knowledge societies and information economies. (DIPF/Orig.)

Albrecht Wacker / Uwe Maier / Jochen Wissinger (Hrsg.): Schul- und Unterrichtsreform durch ergebnisorientierte Steuerung. Empirische Befunde und forschungsmethodische Implikationen. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag 2012 (324 S.) [Rezension]

Rezension von: Albrecht Wacker / Uwe Maier / Jochen Wissinger (Hrsg.): Schul- und Unterrichtsreform durch ergebnisorientierte Steuerung. Empirische Befunde und forschungsmethodische Implikationen. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag 2012 (324 S.; ISBN 978-3-531-16615-5)

Elisabeth Baum / Till-Sebastian Idel / Heiner Ullrich (Hrsg.): Kollegialität und Kooperation in der Schule. Theoretische Konzepte und empirische Befunde. Wiesbaden: Springer VS 2012 (207 S.) [Rezension]

Rezension von: Elisabeth Baum / Till-Sebastian Idel / Heiner Ullrich (Hrsg.): Kollegialität und Kooperation in der Schule. Theoretische Konzepte und empirische Befunde. Wiesbaden. Springer VS 2012 (207 S.; ISBN 978-3-531-18104-2)