In Europe a very intensive discussion is in full swing as to whether vocational schools should in future be guided and monitored by the state or whether they should be freed from state dependency. Within the framework of a number of pilot projects in German-speaking countries, vocational school centers are currently testing their autonomy. This…

The Czech Republic, England, France, Germany and Sweden differ culturally and economically, but they commonly exhibit general trends of decentralisation in the control of educational processes and outcomes. The present contribution looks at these five European countries as the venue for case studies in educational restructuring as well as…

States that the increasingly unrestricted growth of competition places national public institutions of education under escalating pressure. Notes that creeping privatization is passing more costs of education onto the citizen. Argues that this internationally subversive process is seldom critically addressed but is instead dominated by a high-brow…