Why are school systems structured differently across countries? The Politics of Comprehensive School Reform examines this question through an in-depth analysis of school politics in Germany and Norway during the post-war period of educational expansion. Using a Rokkanian theoretical framework, the book argues that school politics can only be understood in light of the cleavages, or political divides, that shape actors' interests, ideologies, and inclinations for who they want to cooperate with - or not. The book analyzes cross-cutting cleavages connected to religion, geography, language, anticommunism, and gender, and demonstrates how Norwegian social democrats and German Christian democrats built successful coalitions by mobilizing support from different social groups. Extensively researched and expansively applicable, this book contributes to the interdisciplinary literature on the politics of education, and to the field of comparative welfare and education regime research. This book is also available Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Author(s): Katharina Sass
Series: Cambridge Studies in the Comparative Politics of Education
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Tags: school reform, education reform, school politics, political divides
Cover
Half-title page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
The Literature
Theoretical Framework
Power Resources Theory
Rokkanian Cleavage Theory
The Politics of Comprehensive School Reforms: Reflections and Expectations
The Argument and Structure of This Book
A Note on the Book’s History, Methodology, and Case Selection
2 Back to the Roots
Schooling in Norway up to the 1950s
The Formation of the Norwegian State and Education System
The School As a Nation-Building Institution
Educational Expansion and the First Comprehensive School Reforms
The Introduction of the Seven-Year Comprehensive School
The Reform Movement of the 1920s and 1930s
Warming Up for New Reforms: The 1940s and Early 1950s
Schooling in Prussia/North Rhine–Westphalia up to the 1950s
Prussian State-Building and the Education System
State-Church Conflicts in Prussian Education Politics
Educational Expansion: Liberal and Social-Democratic Demands
Reform Struggles during the Weimar Republic
Nazi Politics of Educational Restriction
Restoration or Reform? The Late 1940s and 1950s
Comparison: Setting the Scene for the Postwar Reform Period
3 Political Playing Fields: Actors’ Power Resources and Social Base
The Norwegian Playing Field
Political Parties
Teachers’ Organizations
Other Actors
The German Playing Field
Political Parties
Teachers’ Organizations
Other Actors
Comparison: Playing Fields in Postwar Education Politics
4 The Class Cleavage: Struggles over Comprehensive Schooling
The Norwegian Youth School Reform
Experiments with the First Youth Schools and Nine-Year Obligatory Schooling
Experiments with Reduced Organizational Differentiation
The Regularization of the Youth School
The Grading Debate
The Final Debate on Differentiation
Comprehensive School Reforms in North Rhine–Westphalia
Early Debates on Comprehensive and Nine-Year Obligatory Schooling
The Introduction of the Integrated Comprehensive School
Reforms Suggested by the Christian Democratic Union
Continued Struggles over the Integrated Comprehensive School
The Failed Introduction of the Cooperative School
Comparison: The Class Cleavage in Postwar Education Politics
5 The Crosscutting Cleavages: Struggles over Religion, Centralization, Language, Anti-communism, and Gender
Struggles over Religion
The Norwegian Debate about Christian Education and Christian Private Schools
The Debate on Denominational Schooling and Private Schools in North Rhine–Westphalia
Struggles over Centralization
The Centralization Debate in Norway
Debates about Rural Schooling and Centralization in North Rhine–Westphalia
The Norwegian Language Struggle in Education Politics
German Anti-communism in Education Politics
Struggles over Gender
Norwegian Debates on Gender Roles, Girls’ Education, and Homemaking Education
Debates on Gender Roles, Girls’ Education, and Coeducation in North Rhine–Westphalia
Comparison: The Significance of Crosscutting Cleavages
6 Conclusion
Cleavage Structures and Education Politics in Norway and Germany
Implications for Comparative Welfare State and Education Regime Research
Open Questions
The Politics of Schooling Today: Is the Rokkanian Perspective Still Relevant?
Annex
Documents Published by the Norwegian Parliament and Its Committees
Documents Published by the North Rhine–Westphalian Parliament and Its Committees
Manifestos of Norwegian Parties
Manifestos of German Parties
Expert Interviews: Biographical Introductions
References
Index
