The Global Educational Reform Movement: A Success Story?
Department of Sociology is pleased to invite you to a guest lecture by Richard Münch, professor emeritus, University of Bamberg and senior professor for Theory of Society and Comparative Macrosociology at Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen. Richard Münch is a prominent international scholar of social theory and comparative sociology. His latest books on sociological critique of growing global inequality, academic capitalism and on the consequences of the neoliberal era on education and educational politics have given significant contributions to the international research and debates on the themes. In this lecture he will discuss the role of the educational reforms of the last three decades.
Main content
School reforms aiming at improving educational performance (quality), closing achievement gaps 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. This lecture asks in international comparison how far these reforms have been associated with improvements in quality and equity, how far the application of governance tools following the global reform agenda has made a difference between schools. For answering this question, a literature review and multilevel regression analyses have been conducted using data from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the test waves 2000, 2009 and 2015.
Recent publications:
Münch, R. (2020). Governing the School under Three Decades of Neoliberal Reform: From Educracy to the Edcucation-Industrial Complex. London and New York: Routledge.
Muench, R., & Wieczorek, O. (2022). 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, R., Wieczorek, O., & Dressler, J. (2022). Equity lost: Sweden and Finland in the struggle for PISA scores. European Educational Research Journal, 14749041211069240.
