Marcelo Parreira do Amaral

Institutional Frameworks and Structural Factors Relating to Educational Access Across Europe

In this article institutional and structural factors relating to access to education are assessed. First, the macro frameworks of institutional regulation that exert influence on the educational trajectories of young Europeans are demonstrated. Based on different aspects of these frameworks and drawing from extant research, the article presents a typology of education systems that provide varying levels of access to and accessibility of education in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom. Second, using survey data (N = 6,366) it analyzes the impact of gender and parental education on young people’s educational aspirations and early labor-market entry across the countries.

Regime theory and educational governance: The emergence of an international education regime

International rule-governed activity also includes nonstate actors on the national as well as on the international and transnational levels. This chapter first discusses the relationship between educational governance and regime theory, then some observations on the theoretical perspective and the analytical categories are outlined. Second, a concise discussion of regime theory is presented and a definition of an emerging international education regime (IER) is elaborated, including some of the key elements and features that illustrate the adopted theoretical framework. Third, the chapter addresses some methodological questions and presents one possible research design to discuss empirical implications of an emerging IER.

Access to and Accessibility of Education: An Analytic and Conceptual Approach to a Multidimensional Issue

This article presents analytical considerations for the discussion of issues of access to education and inequality. It first sharpens the concept of access and inequality by pointing to the interplay of structure and agency as well as to processes of social differentiation in which differences are constructed. This implies a critical view on “access” not as something that is simply given in educational systems or as something students “have.” Referring to interactional and intersectional considerations, the more comprehensive concept of “accessibility” is suggested, which points to the process of making education accessible. Second, the chapter distinguishes and discusses four levels of analysis to be considered, while providing a review of the existing research and putting into context the research findings of the European research project GOETE. In the concluding section, accessibility is discussed as requiring a multidimensional and multidisciplinary theoretical approach.

Política pública educacional e sua dimensão internacional: abordagens teóricas

A dimensao internacional das politicas publicas de educacao tem sido bastante discutida nos ultimos anos. Este artigo argumenta que as atividades dos agentes internacionais no dominio das politicas da educacao nao podem ser compreendidas inteira e exclusivamente a partir da perspectiva nacional e, por isso, devem ser estudadas em um nivel distinto de analise. Questionando como melhor conceituar teoricamente esse campo de estudo, o artigo apresenta tres abordagens teoricas: neoinstitucionalismo/ isomorfia, externalizacao e teoria do regime internacional. O foco dessa contribuicao esta centrado na analise da politica internacional da educacao a partir do ultimo conceito indicado.

Der Beitrag Der Educational Governance Zur Analyse Der Internationalen Bildungspolitik

International education policy is an integral part of the thematic spectrum of International and Comparative Education and has been discussed since the early 1990s from different perspectives. Although this research strand shares its subject with Educational Governance, their findings have not yet been systematically brought together. Based on the international research literature this contribution first presents findings from comparative international education policy research, second it explores the potential for a crossfertilization and finally points out some perspectives for future research within the framework of an International Educational Governance.

The research university in context: The examples of Brazil and Germany

For the longest period of its history, the university was the guardian and transmitter – not the producer – of knowledge. This relatively recent change of transmitting canonical knowledge and generating new knowledge is normally associated with Wilhelm von Humboldt. Other highly influential university models were provided by France and Great Britain. The association of certain types of universities with particular countries is a strong indicator of the intricate link between nation-state and education. Hence, the history of tertiary education and its elite institutions, the research universities, must be considered in relation with a sea change in educational history – the gradual emergence of national education systems. Only under the conditions of the by now standard form of organizing modern societies as nation-states did education become a central institution (Meyer, Boli, Thomas, & Ramirez, 1997) collapsing individual perfectibility and national progress. The nationally redefined university was integrated into the education system as its keystone while also being considered the motor of societal development. From a social history perspective, the latter aspect in particular indicates the pragmatic (training professionals, imparting military and technical knowledge, etc.) and symbolic expectations, “myths” of the nation-state that have been so aptly described and analyzed in numerous macro-sociological neo-institutionalist studies (Meyer, Ramirez, & Soysal, 1992; Meyer et al., 1997; Ramirez & Boli, 1987). In a macro-phenomenological perspective, the term “myth” is used to denote a fundamental change in the self-description of European society which since the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries no longer views itself as consisting of separate collectivities divided from each other by social origin – as was the case under feudal conditions – with each collectivity providing itself the necessary education for its members or being provided for by others in the case of neediness. Instead, as a result of a number of material and immaterial changes, society now defines the individual as its key unit, with the nation being consequently the aggregate of individuals and not of collectivities and the state redefined as the guardian of the nation. This conception might be taken as a kind of overlapping area which includes different approaches, such as Michel Foucaults concept of the disciplinary society (Foucault, 1977), Balibar and Wallersteins (1991) deliberations on the relation between race, class, and nation, and Benedict Andersons (1991) description of nations as imagined communities. All these studies could be taken as sharing the notion of “constructedness” (cf. Berger & Luckmann, 1972) of modern society with the neo-institutionalist perspective. The concept of a “world polity” which encompasses the “myths” society is based on, the overall notion of a cognitive culture, which takes Max Webers concept of rationality as a point of departure, is identified as the basis of isomorphic change in the organizational structure of modern education systems (cf. Baker & Wiseman, 2006). However, the strong emphasis on international, world system embeddedness of nation-states and their education systems is not to be taken as a unidirectional dependence on external forces. While modern nation-states originate from and remain tied to international dynamics and developments, they are conceived as unique entities. For most of their history, modern nation-states have been preoccupied with making themselves distinct from each other. Thus, while international competition has always been present, looking abroad traditionally meant reworking, adapting, and reshaping what was imported, or borrowed (Halpin & Troyna, 1995; Steiner-Khamsi, 2004). This is true for education as well as for other areas of society.

Educational Governance: International vergleichende Perspektiven auf Neue Steuerung im Bildungsbereich

Die bildungspolitischen Diskussionen der vergangenen 15 Jahre haben den Begriff educational governance popular gemacht, vor allem im Rahmen der Debatten um die Einfuhrung von „Neuer Steuerung“ im Bildungsbereich. Die governance-Thematik verweist dabei auf Veranderungen und Verschiebungen auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen im Beziehungsgeflecht zwischen Staat, Markt und Gesellschaft, die fur das Zeitalter der „neuen Unubersichtlichkeit“ (Habermas 1985) kennzeichnend sind. Wissenschaftlich wird mit der (Neu-)Pragung dieses Begriffs der Versuch verknupft, ein Instrumentarium fur die Konzeptualisierung und Analyse der neuen Formen von Steuerung und Koordination zu scharfen. Knapp formuliert fokussiert governance Handlungskoordination zwischen verschiedenen Akteuren, die mit unterschiedlichen Logiken und Steuerungspotentialen ausgestattet und auf verschiedenen Ebenen verortet sind.

Neue Akteure der Governance des Bildungssystems – Typen, Einflussmöglichkeiten und Instrumente

Gegenwartig finden in wichtigen Teilen der bildungspolitischen, professionellen und disziplinaren Diskussionen der Erziehungswissenschaft Auseinandersetzungen um die ‚Governance‘ des Bildungswesens statt. Der Grund fur die zunehmende Verwendung des Governance-Konzepts auch fur die Beschreibung und Analyse von Bildungssystem und -politik liegt vor allem darin, dass dieser Bereich in den vergangenen zwei Jahrzehnten wichtige Veranderungen durchlaufen hat. Diese Veranderungen betreffen die Emergenz neuer Akteure in der Gestaltung der Bildungspolitik einen weitreichenden Wandel im Bildungssystem.

Migration und Bildungspolitik: eine vergleichende Analyse des Umgangs mit Migration in der Regulierung von Bildungsverläufen Jugendlicher in Europa

Der Themenkomplex ‚Migration und Bildung‘ ist ein allgegenwartiges Thema in akademischen, politischen und praktischen Kontexten. Mit dem gesellschaftlichen Phanomen Migration – Bildungspolitik stellt dabei keine Ausnahme dar – wird in den verschiedenen nationalen Kontexten unterschiedlich umgegangen; auch dies wird allseits prompt akzeptiert. In verschiedenen Landern pragen diese spezifischen Umgangsweisen die Bildungsverlaufe Jugendlicher nachhaltig.

Comparative and International Education in Germany: A Discussion of Current Trends

Abstract The chapter discusses Comparative and International Education (CIE) in Germany and reviews some recent developments that are seen to impact the field in important ways. The current state of CIE in Germany is characterized by three major developments. First, there are visible signs of intensified interest in comparative knowledge – both from policy and academic circles – as illustrated by external indicators such as publications, activities in academic-professional societies, etc. Second, there is an increasing diversification of CIE, with intercultural, international and development education attracting much attention. Finally, since the early 2000s, there has been growing significance and reception of large-scale international comparative assessment studies. The essay discusses these current developments in turn and poses questions as to their relevance and potential impact for CIE in Germany.