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Why are interest groups on the march in Europe? How do they become so powerful? Why do reformers struggle with plans to overhaul education systems? In Who Controls Education?, Susanne Wiborg investigates the dynamics of educational interest groups across four European countries: England, France, Germany and Sweden, alongside their counterparts in the European Union. She delves into why some groups wield more power than others and how they gain access to policymaking venues to shape education reforms. The book reveals a gap between reformers' intentions and policy outcomes, often attributed to group politics, with significant consequences for education users, historically a weak organisational group. Wiborg shows that addressing the role of vested interest is crucial for creating an education system where all children benefit.
List of contents
1. Battle for influence: interest group politics in education; 2. Getting entrenched: influencing multi-level governance structures, 1960-1980; 3. Shifting power: losing power centrally but making gains locally and in the EU, 1980-2000; 4. Domination: exercising influence at all levels, 2000-2020; 5. Conclusion: controlling education from both the top and the bottom.
About the author
Susanne Wiborg is Reader in Education at University College London, UK. Her research focusses on the policy and politics of education reform in Europe. She is co-editor of The Comparative Politics of Education: Teacher Unions and Educations Systems Around the World (2017) with Terry M. Moe.
Summary
This book explores the role vested interests play in shaping European education policy, often at the expense of children. Interest groups are powerful, users of education are not. The consequence of this inequality in organisational power is explored in this book for the first in time in over forty years.
Foreword
Examines the rise of vested interests in European education and the consequences this has for users of education.
