1. Applying a Critical Framework to
Understand Educational Restructuring in
England - Two Germanies: Historical
Ideological Perspectives; Pages 178-191
Lisa Smith
Chapman College University
EDUU 607

2. Tools as the Critical Evaluation of
Educational Reform
 Theoretical adequacy
 Policy effectiveness
 Empirical validity

3. Theoretical Adequacy of the ERA
 Results of the ERA were more political than
pedagogical
 Reform was to reverse England’s economic decline,
maximize human resource, and stimulate social
progress
 Based on theoretical foundation of human capital
formation
 Assumption that national economic improvement is
connected with education improvement

4. Two guiding assertions of the ERA
 Accountability
 Clearer management roles
 Administration of prescribed curriculum
 Regular assessments
 Holds educators and educational leaders responsible
 Parental choice and localized control
 Parents allowed to chose schools
 School funding tied to enrollment
 Schools must raise standard to attract students
 Faced school closure with inadequate enrollment
 Reduced teacher autonomy by increasing interest in parent
preferences and aligning instructional practice accordingly

5. Broad ERA Goals
 Address lack of standards
 Government adopted a highly detailed national curriculum
 Expectations that schools will “bring 80 to 90 percent of all
pupils at least to the level of pupils of average ability in
individual subjects”
 Make available the educational rigor long available to
the English elite extended to society
 Potential to promote greater homogeneity in schools
throughout the system
 Policy reinforced differences from school to school rather
than a standard educational experience

6. Flaws of the ERA
 Proponents philosophy is the policy would help empower the parents of
British schoolchildren, however, ERA’s move to curricular standards and
assessments allowed little parent input
 Funding latitude to certain schools but not to others
 Educational variation within the school system
 Freedom of parent choice is illusionary
 Parents were free to chose which school to teach the centralized curriculum
 Relationship of the reform’s measures to its promised outcome
 Meaningful factor for assessing accomplishment is the equitability of educational
financing and distribution
 England’s reformed schools are potentially elitists
 Diagnoses of the educational system’s problems received little attention
 Failed to directly attack underlying causes of ineffective schooling

7. Theoretical Adequacy Questions –
Teachers can apply these questions in thinking about plans for change
that they encounter in school
 Is there a theoretical foundation for the proposed
reform?
 What is the hypothesized relationship of the reform to
its stated outcome?
 Are the claims being made in favor of the reform
theoretically sound? Plausible?
 What other factors might theoretically account for the
observed outcomes?
 Is the reform program taking those factors into
consideration?

8. Policy Effectiveness of the ERA
 Appeal of choice school enlisted the support of the English citizenry for changes
 Furthered the interests of the business and industry sectors sympathetic to
conservative ideologies
 Problem of serving the minority populations continued to grow
 Teachers objected to the national curriculum because of its emphasis on factual
learning and had little input in its development
 Major expenses in developing and implementing its standard curriculum and national
tests, and constant adjustments
 Similar to NCLB
 No teacher flexibility in curriculum
 Expected to adhere to instructional directives
 Impeded teachers from applying professional judgments; accommodations, unexpected
situations, and ability levels
 Popular schools were crowded
 Due to constant revisions, teachers had insufficient time and resources to do their job
properly

9. Policy Effectiveness Questions –
Teachers can apply these questions in thinking about plans for change
that they encounter in school
 Is there support for this reform (e.g., public,
governmental)?
 Will there be threatened interest groups that will
attempt to sabotage it?
 What are the resource allocation, teacher
training, and cost requirements of the reform?
 How long will it take to implement it, and is it
enough time being given to adequately assess it?

10. Empirical Validity of ERA
 Polls and survey results concluded that a relatively high level of support existed among
both parents and teachers just after the reform was put into place
 Others refuted those claims using detailed anecdotal information
 Parents had mixed feelings about the new system
 Perception was the schools and curriculum were vulnerable to political manipulation
 Parents identified themselves and consumers and schooling as a product
 Little evidence existed on the validity the reform supplied what the parents needed
 Research prior to the reform suggested that parents cared more about student
happiness, extra-curricular offerings, and school location than instructional excellence
 Government ensured that parents would receive an annual report identifying their
school’s standing on a number of counts
 Did not address broader interests among the parents such as general student contentment
 Early research showed that some empirical justification existed about the system’s
potential to provide equitable opportunity

11. Empirical Validity Questions – Teachers
can apply these questions in thinking about plans for change that they
encounter in school
 Is there any empirical evidence regarding the reform?
 Is research available elsewhere regarding the successes
of similar programs?
 If research was conducted, how satisfactory was the
research design?
 What kind of claims and interpretations are being made
of the research findings?
 Are the research findings unequivocal or ambiguous?
What might account for these findings?

12. Conclusions Regarding ERA
 Similarities between Britain and the United States are obvious
 Calls for educational change have been enthusiastic and relentless
 Critics encouraging change identified educational reform as a key to
national economic progress, especially to the forces of globalization
 Differences between Britain and the United States are obvious
 England has enacted reform more quickly
 British model had limitations in terms of its potential to demonstrate that
choice and competition can drive successful change
 The British plan was self-contradictory

13. Sociopolitical Factors Shaping
Education in England and Germany
 England  Germany
 Factor  Factor
 England has retained strong links to its  Enormous war penalties on the
aristocratic past Germans contributed to a near loss of
 Response confidence on the German economy
 Mid 19th century “public schools” were
 Hyperinflation was so pronounced
privately endowed schools as a charity during the early 1920s, a U.S. dollar
for poorer members of society was worth several trillion marks
 Wealthier members were educated with  Response
tutors  Adolf Hitler rose to power
 Educational Implications  Educational Implications
 Growth of middle class and the  Schools were one of Hitler's’ most
Industrial Revolution brought a important mouthpiece for propaganda
demand for a secondary school that  Contemporary German school system
might exclude the working class reflects safeguards against manipulation
 Public schools were reformed to
provide an alternative to exclude the
poor

14. Education and New Challenges in
Post-Reunification Germany
 No similar popular input or normal policy formulation
process existed
 Integration of the former German Democratic
Republic (GDR) into the Federal Republic of Germany
(FDG) resulted in the overturning of East Germany’s
patterns of social commitment
 East Germany was authoritarian in its control of
education
 Directed the country’s teaching and learning with a
level of manipulation that matched the country’s
economy

15. Two Germanies: Historical and
Ideological Perspectives
 Germany was divided following WWII as a
result of ideological differences among the Allies
 Soviet Union embraced socialist beliefs
 Western Allies supported capitalism

16. The Context of Reform: Schooling in
the Former GDR
 Three overarching functions of the country’s
school system
 Guarantee society’s economic development
 Dismantle class structures and establish a
classless society
 Ensure allegiance to the ideals of communist
SED (Socialist Unity Party) party and the active
engagement of East German citizens in securing
the party’s objectives

17. Polytechnical Upper Schools
 Unified the tandem aims of academic and vocational education
 10-year institutions
 Attended 6 to 16 years of age
 Emphasis on science and math
 Near universal mode of education for East German youths
 Embodied the principle of a classless society
 All students attended the polytechnical school together
 Aimed to produce well-rounded and versatile citizens and become
contributing members of the working class
 Polytechnical education was “not any special subject of instruction”, but rather,
was intended to “penetrate all subjects,” linking them with practical activity,
especially with manual skills”
 In the Marxist conception, their contributions in the workforce would create
an “unprecedented expansion of productivity” that would render class
distinctions meaningless

18. Polytechnical Upper Schools…continued
 Youth’s allegiance to communist ideals were pursued in a
number of ways
 A focus in civic class influence political values in students
 Membership in the Free German Youth organization was
necessary for East German youths to secure their prospects for
advancement
 Premilitary training was in the curriculum
 Teacher monitored student activities noting progress toward
outcomes that were ideologically favorably and interceding
sometime heavy-handedly when students behaved unfavorably