Quality Assurance in the German School System

Abstract

Whereas internationally the shift towards quality control of school systems started in the early 1980s, mainly promoted by transnational agencies, this development only began in Germany in the mid 1990s. However, a clear-cut change from an input-controlled and centralised to a more output-controlled, decentralised and deregulated supervision system was initiated in most of the German Länder (the states of the German Federal Republic) no more than at the beginning of the new century. Main triggers were the sobering results of German pupils in international assessment tests like the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) compared to other countries which regularly assessed the school system's performance by various means. Now, all 16 German Länder have started model projects with certain groups of schools in each state to try out how self-managing of schools or local management of schools works. They are on their way to an output-controlled steering system of school quality. Due to the federal constitutional system, the progression in this regard is differently advanced and the characteristics of the local management of schools are manifold. Nevertheless, in all Länder several concurrent aspects can be identified. The five structural components on which the new system of quality control is based are: the traditional tasks of the school supervisory authorities, external school inspections, internal self-evaluations, assessment tests for system monitoring combined with regular educational reports, and last but not least, teacher professionalisation. The fundament of this control system is an understanding of school as a self-managing organisation, which is responsible for educational, financial, and personnel matters. In this area of school self-management, Germany is just beginning to reform its highly centralised and regulated school system towards more self-managing structures at its base.