Trajectories in the Development of Modern School Systems ─ Between the National and the Global

As contemporary education becomes increasingly tied to global economic power, national school systems attempting to influence one another inevitably confront significant tensions caused by differences in heritage, politics, and formal structures.Trajectories in the Development of Modern School Systems provides a comprehensive theoretical and empirical critique of the reform movements that seek to homogenize schooling around the world. Informed by historical and sociological insight into a variety of nations and eras, these in-depth case studies reveal how and why sweeping, convergent reform agendas clash with specific institutional policies, practices, and curricula. Countering current theoretical models which fail to address the potential pressures born from these challenging isomorphic developments, this book illuminates the cultural idiosyncrasies that both produce and problematize global reform efforts and offers a new way of understanding curriculum as a manifestation of national identity.

Daniel Trohler is Professor of Education and Director of the Doctoral School in Educational Sciences at the University of Luxembourg and visiting Professor of Comparative Education at the University of Granada, Spain.

Thomas Lenz is a post-doctoral research associate at the Research Unit for Education, Culture, Cognition and Society (ECCS) at the University of Luxembourg. He was a scientific collaborator at the University of Trier, Germany, and has taught courses at Hamline University, USA and at the Babes-Bolyai University, Romania