Educational Reform in Europe

Education is a contested terrain. The symmetry of education reform among the seven countries
examined in this volume is remarkable. There is much commonality in the issues they raise, in
the competing groups battling over education policy, their policy choices, and the
implementation of such policies. Also, all seven countries address the same issues: equity,
global competition, the performance of their students. Nonetheless, differences are subtle and
significant.
There are at least six important traits characterizing these battles: the context, the combatants, the
issues, the process, student performance and the policies. To begin with, history, culture, and
governance regime set the context for education policy and reform. Second, there is the process
of how these battles are waged--is compromise an outcome or is it a zero sum contest? Third,
there appear to be four groups of combatants each with its own ideology representing a particular
social class in society and their views about education and its uses: Conservatives, Socialists, Neo-Liberals, and Elites. Education is an
important and valued resource that each status group tries to control and shape to its own views. Fourth, there are key issues that drive
education reform: how education can best flatten a social system, how education trains students for work, and how education socializes
students to be functioning citizens. In recent years, a fifth issue has emerged: student performance on international standardized tests.
Not only is a society's international reputation based on their students' performance, but nations see such performance as an indicator of
the quality of their educational system and if it is good enough to secure its economic future. Finally, there are the policies themselves-
-do they reduce or increase inequality, who benefits and how?
The chapters in this volume clearly point out that education reform is not a homogeneous
process as some scholars have conjectured. Rather, education reform involves heated battles
over the control of the educational system because education is seen as a key factor in
maintaining a society's vision and social structure.