Research outline

Abstract

“Lifelong learning,” a “knowledge-based society,” a “new culture of learning,” the generation of skills in order to “maintain international competitiveness,” or “PISA” – all of these terms show the paramount importance that is currently given to one particular policy field, namely educational policy. As a result, educational systems are currently in flux; being changed, adapted, and reformed in many different countries. England and Germany do not, therefore, constitute an exception in this regard. As an initial glance at the English and German agendas for educational policy in the last decade shows, a plethora of reforms have taken place. As we will see, these reforms resemble each other in many regards. Given similar discourses, this might hardly be surprising. However, contemplating these developments from a theoretical perspective reveals the central research puzzle of this study. According to theoretical considerations, we should expect fundamentally different reforms to be implemented in fundamentally different institutional structures. The political economy literature on the varieties of capitalism (VoC) highlights these expectations. So, how can we account for this puzzling situation of similar reforms in different institutional settings?