The Transformation of school in a changing society - a german example

Kurzfassung/Abstract

The following text gives an impression, from an educational science perspective, of the objections against current school reforms in the Federal German Republic. Using several examples, the social challenges that schools have to meet as well as recent structural changes to the school system are explained (1). Two state management strategies in the context of the new forms of output orientation, the establishment of skill-based national education standards (2) and ensuring the accountability of schools by means of state top-down external evaluation (3) are highlighted and analysed on the basis of educational theories. A summary points out the weaknesses of the school reforms, providing recommendations for developing an education that takes the true vocation of schooling seriously (4).