Educational Policy in an International Context

KAREN SEASHORE LOUIS is Regents Professor and Robert H. Beck Chair of Ideas in Education at the University of Minnesota, USA. BOUDEWIJN A.M VAN VELZEN is a Senior Consultant at APS, National Centre for School Improvement in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

"'Global trends in education' is a topic that saturates both popular media and professional writings about contemporary schooling, no doubt fueled in large part by seemingly irresistible comparisons of student achievement across nations. Using a unique database from seven Western countries, the authors demonstrate how the shape and consequences of similar reform ideas are significantly influenced by local political cultures, thus providing a compelling argument for modest expectations in response to grand visions. This book is a must-read, especially for those attempting to use policy for improving educational practice." - Kenneth Leithwood, professor emeritus, OISE/University of Toronto, Canada "This excellent book reminds us that national education systems have an 'institutional memory,' a local color and a history that cannot be ignored by policymakers and bureaucrats. At the same time it shows that today's systems are affected by global trends in an unprecedented way. Interesting to see how globalization and the 'great narrative' of NPM reconfigures every system in its own unique way. The research team did an excellent job!" - Frans de Vijlder, professor of Governance and Innovation Dynamics in the Social Sectors, HAN University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands

• PART I POLITICAL CULTURE, EDUCATION AND HISTORY – AN INTRODUCTION - Karen Seashore Louis and Boudewijn van Velzen Political Culture and Educational Reform - Geert Devos, Mats Ekholm, Kaspar Kofod, Karen Seashore Louis, Lejf Moos, Michael Schratz, and Boudewijn van Velz Historical Perspectives on Educational Policy and Political Cultures - Karen Seashore Louis, Kasper Kofod, Lejf Moos, and Boudewijn van Velzen PART II INTRODUCTION Many Cooks Will Not Spoil the Broth: Educational Policy in Sweden - Mats Ekholm Denmark: Bildung in a Competitive State? - Lejf Moos and Klaus Kasper Kofod The Netherlands: The Clergyman and the Merchant Revisited - Boudewijn A.M. van Velzen Flanders (Belgium): Regulated Anarchy in Catholic and Public Education - Geert Devos Austria's Balancing Act: Walking the Tightrope Between Federalism And Centralization - Michael Schratz The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: The English Case - Karen Seashore and John MacBeath E Pluribus Unum? Dissonance in the U.S. Educational Political Culture - Karen Seashore Louis PART III THE CROSS COUNTRY STUDIES Reform in Stable systems: The Impossible Dream? - Geert Devos and Michael Schratz Political Cultures in England and the Netherlands: Similar Discourse, Different Results - Karen Seashore Louis and Boudewijn van Velzen Examining the Myth of Nordic Uniformity: The Production of Educational Policy in Denmark and Sweden - Mats Ekholm and Lejf Moos Educational Systems in North Carolina and Nebraska - Molly F. Gordon and Karen Seashore Louis PART IV REFLECTIONS 'Wer Vorwärts Kommen Will, Muss Auch Mal Rückwarts Denken' Reflections On the Case Studies - Boudewijn van Velzen, Karen Seashore Louis, Geert Devos, Mats Ekholm, Kasper Kofod, Lejf Moos, and Michael Schratz Policy Cultures and Education Policy: A Central and Eastern European Perspective - Gábor Halász The Possibilities and Challenges of Comparative Policy: Reflections on the Limits of Policy, Globalization and Prediction - Ben Levin