Evidence-Based Education Policy: Lip Service or Common Practice? Empirical Findings from Germany

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, it has been the practice in Germany that decisions in educational policy and educational administration should primarily be subject to evidence in terms of reliable empirical data. However, little research has been conducted so far as to the question of how actors in charge receive and process the existing data, and how they use them in decision-making processes. In this article, new empirical findings are presented concerning the way in which the reception and processing of educational scientific evidence is currently carried out. Moreover, differences in the use of data within the last decade are revealed. Relating to an explorative study that consists of 12 qualitative interviews with ministerial personnel in four German school ministries, the findings generally indicate that evidence-based educational policy in Germany is less a matter of paying lip service, but rather increasingly becoming common practice. On the whole, the findings indicate an increasing routine and a more professional treatment of the demands for processing data. All of the school ministries reveal approaches towards systematising the use of data.A few years later than in other European countries and countries outside Europe, the 'empirical shift' in educational policy in Germany occurred in the late 1990s (Lange, 1999). According to the demand that has since been practice, decisions in educational policy and educational administration are no longer solely subject to the scope of knowledge and experience of the bodies in charge, but they are primarily subject to evidence. Thus, they are to be made on an empirical basis, scientifically grounded on the basis of reliable data. The actions of the respective agents are thus considered to be more effective and efficient, and governing activities optimised.In order to generate the necessary database, a general strategy for the area of school educational monitoring was agreed on by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (Kultusministerkonferenz -KMK [1]) in 2006. This strategy includes: (1) regular participation in international large-scale assessment studies; (2) centralised national tests for examining the achievement of educational standards (at school levels 4, 9 and 10); (3) comparative tests for examining the achievement of educational standards regarding individual schools (at different levels); and (4) a joint educational reporting system. Furthermore, the Länder have introduced school inspection systems and educational reporting at the state level.However, little research has been conducted in Germany so far as regards the question of how actors in educational policy and educational administration receive and process the existing data, and how they use them in decision-making processes. New empirical findings in this regard are presented in this article, relating to an explorative study on how the reception and processing of educational scientific evidence is currently carr...

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