Rita Nikolai

Welfare Regimes and Education Regimes: Equality of Opportunity and Expenditure in the EU (and US)

Education is crucially important for later outcomes but has received limited attention in comparative research on welfare states. In light of this, we present an exploratory analysis of education systems across fourteen EU countries and the US. This builds on existing work on educational institutions, educational outcomes and welfare regimes. We focus on institutional features associated with inequality of educational opportunity, including academic selection, tracking and public/private provision; on educational outcomes; and on education expenditure. Our quantitative analysis identifies four clusters of countries: the Nordic, Continental, Mediterranean and English-speaking, which bear similarities to those identified in the welfare states literature. Each ‘education regime’ is associated with particular institutional features, educational outcomes and levels of public expenditure. Our analysis suggests that further comparative research on education, viewed as a key component of the welfare state, is warranted.

Decentralisation and Educational Achievement in Germany and the UK

We examine decentralisation in school-based education, with particular reference to two countries, Germany and the UK. In section 2 we explore the notions of devolution and decentralisation. We examine different types of decentralisation and some of the ideas with which it is associated including, in education, improving educational standards. In section 3 we consider the decentralisation of education in Germany and the UK. We examine the decentralisation of political authority, policies pursued at national and subnational levels, and the delegation of responsibilities to school level. We then compare achievement levels in the two case study countries and explore whether particular policies, pursued at subnational levels, might be associated with differing levels of attainment. We argue that decentralisation in the field of education is multifaceted and complex, with different types of decentralisation coexisting. Our analysis suggests that certain policies, pursued as a result of decentralisation, may be associated with different educational outcomes, but it is not possible to draw definitive conclusions particularly in light of the differing political, policy, and socioeconomic contexts.

New Institutional Linkages Between Dual Vocational Training and Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis of Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have traditionally provided a large proportion of their workforces with qualifications obtained in the dual vocational training system. However, due to the growing demand for abstract and codified knowledge, all three countries aim at increasing the permeability and individual mobility between the dual training sector and the higher education system. In this chapter we analyse the ways in which Germany, Austria and Switzerland have tried to establish institutional linkages between dual vocational training and higher education. We begin by discussing options for creating such linkages: (1.) upgrading of vocational education and training courses, (2.) introducing dual courses of study, (3.) facilitating attendance of general upper secondary schools for people with vocational qualifications, (4.) enabling the parallel acquisition of a dual vocational training qualification and a higher education entrance qualification, (5.) allowing admission to higher education on the basis of prior dual vocational training qualifications and a certain amount of work experience, and (6.) recognising prior learning as an element in higher education programmes. Our analysis shows that, recently, Germany has relied strongly on the admission to higher education based on vocational training certificates in combination with work experience. Switzerland and Austria are rather pushing the comprehensive introduction of programmes that enable the parallel acquisition of a dual vocational training qualification and a higher education entrance qualification. Finally, we raise questions about the risk of institutional ambiguity and institutional task overload.

The Expansion of “Private” Schools in England, Sweden and Eastern Germany: A Comparative Perspective on Policy Development, Regulation, Policy Goals and Ideas

Abstract In a diverse range of European countries, there has been an increase in the proportion of pupils attending schools owned by private bodies but funded by the state. This article compares the policy development and governance of private government-dependent schools in three countries/regions: England, Sweden and Berlin/Brandenburg in Eastern Germany. It is found that the regulatory frameworks vary and are associated with specific policy goals and ideas, with apparently similar ideas having different meanings. It is also found that the growth of private government-dependent schools is related to policy goals, differing institutional configurations and political parties.

Long Tradition, Moderate Distribution and Growing Importance: Private Schools in Germany as ‘Change Agents’ of School Choice

In Germany today every tenth school in compulsory education is a private institution, where about 9% of all children and youth between 6 and 18 years are enrolled. During the last two decades, more and more private schools have been established all over Germany. Especially in major cities like Berlin, Frankfurt or Hamburg and in the Eastern German Lander, private schools have undergone a kind of a ‘boom’.

Private Schooling and School Choice as Global Phenomena: An Introduction

More than 25 years ago, Chubb and Moe (Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, 1990) revitalised Friedman’s (Capitalism and freedom, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1982 [1962]) earlier contention that a market-driven approach to education, in which parents have primary control over schools, will produce better schools than a state-driven one. More power to the consumers (pupils and parents) and less influence by state authorities would improve academic achievement and make schools more efficient and just. School organisation and school control should therefore no longer be the business of the state, but of the civil society and private respectively market protagonists—more (private) suppliers and more choice would make schools ‘great again’.

Privatschulen und die soziale Frage: Wirkung rechtlicher Vorgaben zum Sonderungsverbot in den Bundesländern

Die Genehmigung einer privaten Ersatzschule darf in Deutschland nur gewahrt werden, wenn »eine Sonderung der Schuler nach den Besitzverhaltnissen der Eltern nicht gefordert wird« (Art 7 Abs. 4 S. 3 GG). Dieses Sonderungsverbot wird in den Bundeslandern unterschiedlich umgesetzt. Bei seiner rechtlichen Umsetzung wird sich dabei ausschlieslich auf Vorgaben zur Einhaltung des Schulgelds konzentriert. Es wird auf weitere Grunde eingegangen, warum der Zugang zu Privatschulen sozial ungleich ist. Wir zeigen in diesem Beitrag anhand von Daten aus Berlin (rechtlicher Verstos gegen das Sonderungsverbot) und Rheinland-Pfalz (faktisches Verbot von Schulgeld), dass der Verzicht auf Schulgeld zwar eine notwendige, aber keine hinreichende Voraussetzung zur Einhaltung des Sonderungsverbots ist.

Bildung in der Vergleichenden Politikwissenschaft

Die vergleichende Politikwissenschaft leistet einen bedeutenden Beitrag in der Bildungsforschung, denn sie kann die Determinanten der Veranderungsprozesse in Bildungssystemen analytisch erklaren. In der Mehrheit der OECD-Staaten lasst sich mit dem Wandel von der Input- zur Output- und Wettbewerbssteuerung ein ubergreifender Paradigmenwechsel in der Organisations- und Steuerungsphilosophie von Schulsystemen feststellen. Dabei bestehen deutliche Unterschiede zwischen den Landern in Auspragung und Geschwindigkeit. Am Beispiel von Schulreformen in Deutschland, Schweden und den USA zeigt unser Beitrag die Potenziale vergleichender, politikwissenschaftlicher Forschung. Unseren Analysen zufolge sind Veranderungen in den Schulsystemen auf vielfaltige politische wie institutionelle Faktoren zuruckzufuhren und erst durch eine Vergleichsperspektive konnen Determinanten identifiziert werden.

School Type and Inequality

Educational outcomes are strongly associated with family background, with children from higher socio-economic backgrounds being more likely to be academically successful than those from lower socio-economic backgrounds (Breen and Jonsson, 2005; OECD, 2012; Pfeffer, 2008). However, since the Second World War, in the majority of developed states, attention has been focused on increasing educational opportunities between different socio-economic groups; girls and boys; those from different migrant, ethnic or racial groups; and those with and without special educational needs.