This book aims to clarify the contemporary characteristics of education policy, primarily through an analysis of German education policy, and thereby derive insights for Japanese education policy.
In the 1980s, a national system based on so-called "NPM (New Public Management)," which combined market-driven competition with the utilization of private sector vitality to reduce government spending, was established. In Japan and Germany, the introduction was delayed due to sustained economic growth, but in Germany, the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990, and in Japan, the Great Recession of the Heisei Era following the collapse of the bubble economy, created a need to reduce the fiscal deficit by cutting national spending. In each country, instead of uniformly allocating resources to areas such as education, the cost-effectiveness of education policies became a key consideration.
Educational administration methods for outcome-oriented control include: ① school inspections and external evaluations, ② standardized final examinations, ③ educational standards, ④ learning progress surveys, and ⑤ school programs (Fuchs 2009, 373).
Chapter 1 presented how, following the "PISA shock" of 2001, the KMK and the Education Forum in Germany outlined directions for educational reform.
Chapter 2 focused on education policies at the pre-primary and primary education levels in Germany. It showed that the "PISA shock" of 2001 led to an emphasis on full-day schooling and German language acquisition support in an effort to raise the academic level of lower-achieving students.
Chapter 3 revealed that in order to achieve both equal educational opportunities and quality assurance at the lower secondary education level, the traditional three-branch school system was transformed into a two-branch school system.
Chapter 4 clarified the process of improving schools through external evaluation of their educational outcomes.
Chapter 5 discusses policies related to ensuring the quality of teachers, noting that Germany promoted learning curricula that encourage modularization and the interaction between theory and practice.
