THE FEDERALIZED BILDUNGSRAT (EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL) - REFORM PROGRAMS OF THE LAENDER

The author discusses three programs of school reform developed for the federal states of Bremen, Hamburg, and North Rhine-Westfalia, respect ively aimed at overcoming the stalemate of educational policy debates during the last decade. Despite differences in the definition of tasks for the three commissions responsible for the recommendations it can be shown that they fully agree on the basic objectives of school refor m and on the principles guiding reform strategies. All three start fro m the premise that a reform proposing a single structural model of an integrated school is doomed to fail, and it is against this background that they discuss possibilities and procedures of a partial integrati on of schooling beyond the Primary stage. That the individual school w ill be the principal actor in further school development is, according ly, a basic assumption in all three reports. The corresponding changes in the structure and function of school administration are developed in detail by the North Rhine-Westfalian commission. Results of empiric al research that cast doubt on the feasibility of some of the recommen dations receive little attention in the three reports.