Changes in Educational Governance Through More Autonomous Decision-Making and In-School Curricula?

Author(s):

Herbert Altrichter

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

23 SES 05B, Politics of the Curriculum

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-11

08:30-10:00

Room:

B1 114

Chair:

Anne Larson

Contribution

Since the beginning of the 1990s we see an intensifying discussion about 'modernizing school systems' (Brüsemeister/Eubel 2003) and various measures to change the governance of educational systems in German speaking countries. Initially, there was an emphasis on a policy of "school autonomy" which opened up a room for manoeuvre for in-school decision-making, in particular, with respect to curricular matters (see Altrichter et al. 2005a). This policy allowed schools to develop specific in-school curricula and, based on them, so-called "Schulprofile" ("school profiles"). These "school profiles" are usually packages of specific curricular elements (characterized by a thematic and/or methodical speciality) plus same additional features (such as extra-curricular learning opportunities, special features with respect to school culture, specific services) by which individual schools tried to make themselves visible an attractive for special target groups of students and parents and by which they compete with ether schools. If this development of "school profiles" is, indeed, a central element of a historical transformation of German speaking educations systems (see Fend 2000, 55), then it seems worthwhile to study the processes and results of this innovation. In particular, we are interested whether or not and how in the course of these transformations existing forms of coordination and governance are altered (see Lange/Schimank 2004; Arnott/Raab 2000; Altrichter/Heinrich 2007; Martens et al. 2007).

Method

Until now these questions have remained surprisingly under-researched in German education research: The studies by Horak/Johanns (2001; Horak 2005) traced selection processes in a period of development of such "school profiles" in the city of Frankfurt/Main. Bueler et al. (2005) analysed a project in a Swiss canton aiming at establishing in-school decision-making and specific "school profiles". In a prior study (see Altrichter et al. 2005b) we have analysed cases of Austrian schools which developed such "school profiles" with respect to new infonl1ation and communication technologies (ICT) and found an increase in attention to competition and external communication which was not paralleled by changes of similar amount with respect to classroom teaching and internal work organisation. In a follow up project we used a case study approach (based on qualitative interviews and analysis of documents) to study processes of developing "school profiles" in thematic areas other than ICT (e.g. languages, social competence, inclusion of handicapped, arts and creativity) for which we expect different trajectories of transformation.

Expected Outcomes

In the proposed paper we want to present results of our cross-case analysis. In particular, we aim to develop some hypotheses about change/persistence of in-school modes of coordination (with respect to classroom teaching, teachers' work coordination, external presentation of schools) and about the role of an 'education market' in transforming school systems.

References

Altrichter, H./Bruesemeister, T./Heinrich, M. (2005): Merkmale und Fragen einer Governance-Reform am Beispiel des oesterreichischen Schulwesens. In: Oesterreichische Zeitschrift fuer Soziologie 30, 4, 6-28. Altrichter, H./Heinrich, M. (2007): Kategorien der Governance-Analyse und Transfor¬mationen der Systemsteuerung in Österreich. In: Altrichter, Herbert/Brüsemeister, Thomas /Wissinger, Jochen (Hrsg.): Educational Governance – Handlungskoordination und Steuerung im Bildungssystem. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 55 - 103. Altrichter, H./Prexl-Krausz, U./Soukup-Altrichter, K (2005): Schulprofilierung und neue Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien. Klinkhardt: Bad Heilbrunn. Arnott, M. A./Raab, C. D. (2000; eds.): The Governance of Schooling. Routledge-Falmer: London. Benz, A. (2004; ed.): Governance - Regieren in komplexen Regelsystemen. VS: Wiesbaden. Bruesemeister, T./Eubel, K.-D. (2003; eds.): Zur Modernisierung der Schule. Transcript: Bielefeld. Bueler, Xaver; Alois Buholzer, Markus Roos (2005; eds.): Schulen mit Profil. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag Fend, Helmut (2000): Qualitaet und Qualitaetssicherung im Bildungswesen. In: Zeitschrift für Paedagogik, 41. Beiheft, 55-72 Horak, Robert; Dirk Johanns (2001): Schulische Profilbildungs- Ul1d Selektionsprozesse. In: Jahrbuch für Paedagogik 2000: Gleichheit und Ungleichheit in der Paedagogik. Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang, 191-206 Horak, Robert (2005): Schulische Profilbildung und Selektion. Unpubl. Ms. Frankfurt/M. Kogan, M. (1996): Monitoring, control and governance of school systems. In: OECD: Evaluating and Reforming Education Systems. OECD: Paris, 25-45. Lange, S./Schimank, U. (2004): Governance und gesellschaftliche Integration. In: Lange, S./Schimank, U. (eds.): Governance und gesellschaftliche Integration. Wiesbaden: VS, 9-46. Martens, K./Rusconi, A./ Leuze, K. (2007; eds.): New Arenas of Education Governance. The Impact of International Organizations and Markets on Educational Policy Making . Palgrave MacMillan.

Author Information

Herbert Altrichter

Johannes Kepler University Linz

Education and Psychology

Linz

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