System-Level Conditions: Miscellaneous Results

Abstract

In this chapter, research results on the effects of system-level conditions, i.e. characteristics of the larger societal context of national education systems and policy amenable variables, are discussed. Since system-level educational effectiveness is a relatively young field of study, a narrative review of research findings on the most relevant system-level conditions appeared to be the only feasible approach. The main system-level variables on which research results were summarized are: school autonomy, accountability, school choice and private schooling and tracked versus horizontal secondary school systems. In terms of direct effects of these variables on student achievement, the structure of secondary schooling and school autonomy in the domain of learning and instruction showed significant results in the expected direction, while the evidence for the other system-level factors were less straightforward or altogether absent. In the chapter, research was cited that looked more closely at indirect influence of system-level conditions mediated by school-level conditions, and at stability and change on these indicators over a period of 9 years, comparing results from PISA 2009 with those of PISA 2000. The results presented in this chapter are interpreted against the background of the hierarchical framework that was introduced in Chap. 1, as they speak to “vertical alignment” in education systems as compared to “loose coupling”. The conclusions enforce the motivation to pay more attention to “ineffectiveness” and explanations on why what is believed to work in education may not work, or not work so well, after all.