Lessons from Germany? The case of German secondary schools [1987]

It is not hard to discern the ideas which mould education in France and Germany, because these ideas are deliberately accepted by the educational authorities, and to be traced in their regulations. It is far less easy to discern the governing ideas in English […] education, because in [that country] there is more variety, more clashing of systems, a struggle for existence rather than a victorious creed and purpose. Yet unless we can track the underlying ideas, we move in the dark. ¹