Effective School Governance: Improving Performance and Reducing Achievement Gaps in Education? A Five Country Comparative and Longitudinal Analysis
Final Report Abstract
School reforms aiming at improving educational performance (quality) and reducing the impact of family background on performance (equity) have been on the agenda worldwide for three decades. These reforms converge in a common core which puts emphasis on school autonomy, free school choice, competition between schools, managerial school leadership, high teacher quality and test-based accountability of schools. A most influential carrier of these reforms is the network of policy advisors surrounding the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We started with a network analysis of these advisors revealing a core of closely linked actors who disseminate policy recommendations worldwide through relationships of patronage to local administrators. On this basis, we investigated how far reforms following the global agenda have been associated with improvements in quality and equity in eight countries proceeding on their own developmental path: the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Finland, USA, Canada, South Korea and Singapore. We first reviewed the literature addressing the reforms and their effects in these countries. Secondly, using PISA data, we conducted multi-level linear regression analyses to test the association of governance tools of the reform agenda with individual student performance and their effect on reducing the impact of socioeconomic background. Our literature review as well as our multilevel linear regression analyses of PISA data covering the test waves of 2000, 2009 and 2015 have not generated any evidence that marketbased reforms in the UK, school-monitoring reforms in Germany, market-based reforms in Sweden and decentralization reforms in Finland have led to any visible achievements. Individual and school socioeconomic status and - to a smaller extent - school discipline are of crucial significance. A further multilevel regression analysis for the United States, Canada, South Korea and Singapore, using PISA data from the test waves of 2009 and 2015, has brought forth the same results. The governance instruments under scrutiny do not change the impact of individual and school socioeconomic background. In an additional study focusing on these countries, we investigated the effect of four learning strategies on students’ PISA scores: memorization, control, internalization and elaboration/transfer. Of these strategies only control, that is learning in examination mode, was significantly and positively associated with PISA scores, demonstrating that PISA favors this kind of learning in line with the Confucian tradition of learning for exams, but not elaboration in the Western tradition of Enlightenment. Nevertheless, the effect was not strong enough to reduce the effect of socioeconomic background significantly. As there is no evidence left supporting the global reform movement, rethinking the agenda of this movement is our central policy advice.
Publications
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Effektive Schulsteuerung: Nur eine Illusion? Interview ZU Daily
Münch, R.
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New Public Management in der Schule: Ein Erfolgsmodell? In: sowi-online
Münch, R.
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Bildungsgerechtigkeit: Noch hat man gar nichts erreicht. Interview ZU Daily
Münch, R.
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Der bildungsindustrielle Komplex – Schule und Unterricht im Wettbewerbsstaat. Streitgespräch mit Klaus Bullan. Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung. Gesprächskreis Bildungspolitik, 15. Dezember 2022
Münch, R. & Klaus Bullan
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Der bildungsindustrielle Komplex. Video-Impuls zur Tagung „Bildung und digitaler Kapitalismus“, Remscheid, 20.-21. Juni, 2022
Münch, R.
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Dialog Erwachsenenbildung: Interview mit Dieter Nittel, Fernuniversität Hagen zum Thema „Bildungsindustrieller Komplex.“ Fernuniversität Hagen, 11. April, 2022
Münch, R. & Dieter Nittel
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Die Herrschaft der Inzidenzen und Evidenzen. Regieren in den Fallstricken des Szientismus. Frankfurt/New York: Campus. ISBN 978-3-593-51603-5
Münch, R.
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Education regime and creativity: the Eastern Confucian and the Western Enlightenment types of learning in the PISA test. Cogent Education, 9(1).
Muench, Richard; Wieczorek, Oliver & Gerl, Robin
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Effektive Schulsteuerung? Bilanz einer globalen Reformagenda. Video-Impuls zur Tagung „Bildung und digitaler Kapitalismus“, Remscheid, 20.-21. Juni, 2022
Münch, R.
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Equity lost: Sweden and Finland in the struggle for PISA scores. European Educational Research Journal, 22(3), 413-432.
Muench, Richard; Wieczorek, Oliver & Dressler, Julian
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Globale Bewegung der Bildungsreform: eine Erfolgsgeschichte? In: Bildung.Table
Münch, R.
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Governing the school: Results of three decades of neoliberal reform. University of Bergen, Norway, June 15, 2022
Münch, R.
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Improving schooling through effective governance? The United States, Canada, South Korea, and Singapore in the struggle for PISA scores. Comparative Education, 59(1), 59-76.
Münch, Richard & Wieczorek, Oliver
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In search of quality and equity: The United Kingdom and Germany in the struggle for PISA scores. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 3, 100165.
Muench, Richard & Wieczorek, Oliver
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Wissenschaft und Politik: Wirklich die Zahlen sprechen lassen?
Münch, R.
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Commentary on Heinz-Dieter Meyer: The Logic of Administration and the Logic of Education. Did Managers trump Educators? Reflections on Two Decades of Ed Reform. State University of New York, Albany, March 30, 2023, online
Münch, R.
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Field-crossing social capital and patronage as cornerstones of the transnational OECD-PISA network infrastructure. Comparative Education, 59(4), 544-563.
Wieczorek, Oliver; Münch, Richard; Brand, Alexander & Schwanhäuser, Silvia
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Alle Macht der OECD? lautstark. Herausgeber GEW NRW, 04/2024, S. 24-25
Münch, R. & Wieczorek, O.
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Effektive Schulsteuerung? Bilanz einer globalen Reformagenda. Weinheim und Basel: Beltz Juventa. ISBN 978-3-7799—7910-4
Münch, R. & Wieczorek, O.
