This volume is concerned with aspects of education in Germany over the 10 years prior to 2000, focusing on schools, teachers, vocational training and higher education in those eastern parts of the Federal Republic which formerly constituted the territory of the German Democratic Republic. The articles deal with notions of transition and adaptation at a time of considerable upheaval and rapid change. There is a particular focus in some contributions on the problems involved in conducting research on the views of teachers involved in complex processes of adjustment to a new status quo.

This book brings together the work of established researcher Professor David Phillips, in one authoritative volume. Including key chapters on education in Germany from the last three decades, topics range from historical studies of universities and schools, to detailed research on the role of the British in reconstructing education in Germany after 1945, and education in post-unification Germany. Together, the body of work draws from a multitude of primary sources and constitutes a comprehensive analysis of educational provision in Germany over a long historical period. In addition to 16 chapters spanning Phillips’ research from 1981 to 2012, the book includes a new introduction, bringing his ideas together and demonstrating their continuing relevance to the field. Investigating Education in Germany will be invaluable reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of international and comparative education, German studies, history of education and sociology.

The essays in the book are organized into three sections in order to address the conceptualization of democracy and citizenship, reform efforts towards democratization in various societies, and educational efforts to foster democratic citizens. Each is written from a different historical and national perspective by an international panel of prominent comparative education scholars and each tackles the theme of democracy and civic duty in education.

Globalisation processes are currently having a powerful and far-reaching influence upon all societies worldwide. At the same time, many communities are ever more forcefully acknowledging their distinctive characteristics and celebrating their cultural differences. In this turbulent era, societies that have undergone particularly rapid political, economic and social change have a collective experience from which others have much to learn. The analysis of such ‘societies in transition’, and their efforts to transform educational policy and practice, is one focus for this volume. The collective studies are also concerned with the impact of the processes of globalisation and geopolitical change upon the related transitions of post-colonial societies; and upon the implications of the analysis for international agency policy and practice throughout the developing world. Contributors are drawn from a wide range of professional and academic backgrounds representing national governments, international agencies, research bodies, policy makers, researchers and practitioners. All have extensive first-hand experience of the issues and contexts that they deal with. Together they report upon original field research, theoretically informed analyses, political perspectives and recent professional and practical experience. Specific national contexts considered in depth include the European states of Estonia, Poland and Germany, the new Republic of South Africa, contemporary Brazil, the transitional phases of Hong Kong and Macau as ‘remnants of empire’, and the small states of Eritrea and Belize. In broad scope the volume highlights the tensions that exist between powerful global agendas and efforts to improve the quality and relevance of educational provision in vastly different sociocultural contexts. As such, the book will be of direct interest to a wide range of researchers, students, policy makers, consultants and development agency personnel involved with comparative and international studies in education and across the social sciences.

Despite the increased trend towards secularisation in state schooling, issues of religion and spirituality have remained important. Increased pluralism within societies through expanding migration patterns is changing the religious and cultural contours of many countries in Europe and North America, and is creating a need for a deeper understanding of religious diversity. However, the lack of religious or spiritual education within the educational curriculum leaves a moral vacuum that can become a space to be exploited by religious extremism. More recently, religiously motivated incidences of terrorism in several parts of the world have heightened prejudicial attitudes and distrust of certain religions, in particular. These are profound concerns and there is an urgency to examine how religion, religious education and interfaith initiatives can address such misconceptions. This book is thus timely, focusing on an area that is often neglected, particularly on the role of religion in education for sustainable development. While religious organisations and faith communities have had a long history of involvement in both schooling and social service delivery in many countries, their role in reaching development goals has not always been explicitly recognised, as is evident even in the United Nations’ most recently conceptualised 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Undeniably, the integration of religious dialogue into mainstream development issues is crucial because deep cleavages resulting from the issue of minority religious rights continue to give cause for concern and conflict in many countries. This edited book explores some of these tensions and issues and draws parallels across differing geographical contexts to help enhance our collective and comparative understanding of the role of religious education and institutions in advancing the post-2015 development agenda. The contributors to this volume each demonstrate that, while religion in education can contribute to understanding and respect, it is also a space that can be contested and co-opted. Without addressing the salience of religion, however, it will not be possible to foster peace and combat discrimination and prejudice. This book will be of interest to researchers, scholars and students in the field of comparative education and development, religious studies, theology and teacher development and training. This book may also be of interest to national and international policy makers. There are also numerous faith-based organisations, as well as other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on religion and education issues that may find these case studies a useful resource.

Dieses Buch untersucht, wie die Bildungsexpansion, der Trend zur Dienstleistungsgesellschaft sowie die deutsche Wiedervereinigung die Lebensverläufe und das Familienleben ost- und westdeutscher Frauen beeinflussen. Es konzentriert sich auf die Bildungsbeteiligung, das Bildungsniveau, die Erwerbsbeteiligung, die Karriereressourcen, die soziale Herkunft, den Bildungsmatch der Partner sowie die historischen Perioden und untersucht ihre Konsequenzen auf den Eintritt von Frauen in die erste Mutterschaft sowie Partnerschaftsbildungs- und Scheidungsprozesse. Auf Basis der Längsschnittdaten des Nationalen Bildungspanels (NEPS) wurden multivariate Methoden wie z.B. die Ereignisanalyse angewandt. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass der Eintritt der Frauen in Mutterschaft während der Vollzeitausbildung in hohem Maße von Frauenalter, sozialer Herkunft und den politischen Maßnahmen in einem Land abhängig ist.

Regimes of Twentieth-Century Germany is a concise theory of and empirical study on action consciousness as an integral dimension of historical consciousness with specific emphasis on National Socialist Germany and the German Democratic Republic.

Reform and reconstruction of education in places as diverse as Chile, South Africa and the former East Germany has highlighted the issue of 'education in transition'. In cases such as these there has been a rapid and profound change of political context from autocratic to democratic, and theory has been generated relating to this. Such cases are included here, but the aim of this volume is to illustrate the fact that all nations are in some form of transition generated by a range of pressures and factors. Consequently, the contributing chapters are structured within three broad themes with the consideration of such issues as 'market orientation' and 'gender' as well as change arising from physical conflict. The resultant book makes a distinctive contribution to the understanding of relationships between policy making for educational provision and the realities of outcomes in practice.