This book addresses one the most contentious issues of postwar Western Europe, namely the organization of the primary and secondary stages of schooling in state education systems. In examining the politics of continuity and change in postwar schooling in Britain and the Federal Republic Germany, Gregory Baldi seeks to contribute to more general understandings of education's place in the welfare state, the development of social institutions, and the relationship between material and ideational factors in shaping political outcomes over time.

Gregory Baldi is Associate Professor of Political Science at Western Illinois University, USA. His work has been published in West European Politics and The British Journal of Politics and International Relations.

'A masterful account of how the education systems of Britain and Germany have developed in different directions over the past decades, in spite of starting from relatively similar positionsafter the Second World War. Contributing to a growing dynamic literature exploring the political foundations of education policy, this book adds an innovative and important aspect to the debate by pointing to the central role of discourses and ideas in shaping policy trajectories. A must-read for everybody interested in education and inequality.'

• Marius R. Busemeyer, University of Konstanz, Germany 'Elegantly demonstrates the power of ideas and discourses for the politics of education. Gregory Baldi fills an important gap in the literature on the politics of education, which has largely neglected the role of ideas and discourses. The book offers a novel argument and well-researched case studies on school policies in Germany and Britain to show that we cannot understand the politics of education without paying attention to discourses and ideas. The book explains why policy-makers in Britain and Germany chose distinct policy paths,with far-reaching consequences for educational and socio-economic inequality.'

• Julian Garritzmann, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

Autorentext

Gregory Baldi is an associate professor of political science at Western Illinois University, where he teaches courses on European and comparative politics. His work has been published in West European Politics and The British Journal of Politics and International Relations. In 2018-2019 he was the Fulbright National Library of Scotland Scholar. He earned his Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University and was co-winner of the American Political Science Association Ernst. B. Haas award for best dissertation in European politics.

Klappentext

This book deals with one the most contentious issues for Britain and Germany in the postwar era: namely the organization of primary and secondary stages in state general education systems. It is centered on an empirical puzzle. The current education systems in Britain and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) are frequently viewed as contrasting organizational types, yet both countries began the postwar period with similar 'tripartite' systems of separate schools in which pupils were selected at age ten or eleven for placement in separate schools that varied in prestige. In the 1960s and 1970s, center-left governments in Britain and the FRG sought to reform these systems, but only the British achieved significant change by largely replacing the tripartite system with the comprehensive school model, while Germany retained its selective and highly differentiated school system. What explains change in Britain and continuity in the FRG?

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Organizing General Education.- 3. Explaining Educational Outcomes.- 4. Britain I: The Tripartite System.- 5. Britain II: Shifting Discourses in Education.- 6. Britain III: Comprehensive Change.- 7. Germany I: The Reconstruction of General Education.- 8. Germany II: Historical Legacies and Frozen Discourses.- 9. Germany III: The Failure of Reform.- 10. The Contemporary Politics of Schooling.- 11. Conclusion: The Ideational Logic of Comparative Education.