A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Bieber, Tonia Working Paper Soft governance in education: The PISA study and the Bologna Process in Switzerland TranState Working Papers, No. 117 Provided in Cooperation with: University of Bremen, Collaborative Research Center 597: Transformations of the State Suggested Citation: Bieber, Tonia (2010) : Soft governance in education: The PISA study and the Bologna Process in Switzerland, TranState Working Papers, No. 117, Universität Bremen, Collaborative Research Center 597 - Transformations of the State, Bremen This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/37091 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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THE PISA STUDY AND THE BOLO G NA PROCE ss IN SWITZERLAND TONIA BIE B ER NO. 117 Tonia Bieber Soft Governance in Education The PISA Study and the Bologna Process in Switzerland TranState Working Papers No. 117 Sfb597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“ − „Transformations of the State“ Bremen, 2010 [ISSN 1861-1176] Sfb 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“ - „Transformations of the State“ (WP 117) Tonia Bieber Soft Governance in Education. The PISA Study and the Bologna Process in Switzerland (TranState Working Papers, x) Bremen: Sfb 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“, 2010 ISSN 1861-1176 Universität Bremen Sonderforschungsbereich 597 / Collaborative Research Center 597 Staatlichkeit im Wandel / Transformations of the State Postfach 33 04 40 D - 28334 Bremen Tel.:+ 49 421 218-8720 Fax:+ 49 421 218-8721 Homepage: http://www.staatlichkeit.uni-bremen.de Diese Arbeit ist im Sonderforschungsbereich 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“, Bremen, entstanden und wurde auf dessen Veranlassung unter Verwendung der ihm von der Deutschen Forschungsgemein- schaft zur Verfügung gestellten Mittel veröffentlicht. Sfb 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“ - „Transformations of the State“ (WP 117) Soft Governance in Education The PISA Study and the Bologna Process in Switzerland ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the importance of governance of international organizations (IOs) to Swiss policy making in the field of education. The focus is on the Bologna Process driven by the European Commission, and the ‘Programme for International Student As- sessment’ (PISA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The theoretical framework draws on sociological institutionalism and rational- ism. The results demonstrate that IOs gave impulses for domestic reforms by applying diverse governance instruments. National transformation capacities of veto-players and cultural guiding principles on education in Switzerland were not able to hinder these impulses as supposed. Instead, the empirical findings show a surprisingly high impact of IO governance instruments, particularly of standard setting, coordinative activities and discursive dissemination on reforms in Swiss education policy-making. This is be- cause IO governance modified domestic guiding principles on education so that they matched those of the IOs. Another reason is that the domestic level strategically used the international initiatives of PISA and Bologna to overcome long-standing backlog of reform. KEY WORDS Bologna Process, Direct Democracy, Education Policy-Making, EU, Federalism, Inter- national Initiative, International Organization, OECD, PISA Study, Switzerland, Veto- Player Sfb 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“ - „Transformations of the State“ (WP 117) CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCING SOFT GOVERNANCE IN EDUCATION POLICY.............................................1 2 EDUCATION POLICY MAKING IN SWITZERLAND..............................................................6 2.1 The Structure of the Education System....................................................................... 7 2.2 Historical Background and Guiding Principles of Education ..................................... 8 2.3 The Context of Internationalization........................................................................... 10 3 LATEST REFORMS IN SWISS EDUCATION POLICY MAKING.............................................11 3.1 The Domestic Harmonization of Secondary Education ............................................ 12 3.2 The International Harmonization of Higher Education............................................. 14 3.3 Comparing Reforms in Secondary and Higher Education ........................................ 18 4 GOVERNANCE INSTRUMENTS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS..............................19 4.1 The Influence of PISA on Secondary Education....................................................... 19 4.2 The Influence of Bologna on Higher Education........................................................ 21 4.3 Comparison of Governance Instruments of the OECD and the EU.......................... 22 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................24 6 INTERVIEWEES..............................................................................................................27 7 REFERENCES.................................................................................................................29 8 ABBREVIATIONS ...........................................................................................................33 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ........................................................................................................34 Sfb 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“ - „Transformations of the State“ (WP 117) Soft Governance in Education The PISA Study and the Bologna Process in Switzerland 1 INTRODUCING SOFT GOVERNANCE IN EDUCATION POLICY As the importance of knowledge for the economy steadily rises, education policy is be- coming a key factor for economic growth, competitiveness and social integration. Therefore, the adaptation to international developments and discourses in the tradition- ally nationally hold policy field of education has become inevitable for any country (Drezner 2001). On the international level, the aim of enhancing global competitiveness is the special focus of diverse educational initiatives furthered by international organiza- tions (IOs) such as the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Economic Coop- eration and Development (OECD). The two most outstanding international initiatives in education policy making in the last decade are examined (Stöckling 2005). First, the intergovernmental ‘Bologna Proc- ess’ of 1999 is an initiative with the aim of integrating European higher education as the most important example of international higher education policy, nowadays driven by the European Commission. Second, the ‘Programme for International Student Assess- ment’ (PISA) is a study on student performance in secondary education performed by the OECD every three years since 2000. As a consequence, the new international actors in education, the OECD and EU, turned the two-level game between the cantons and the Federation in the federalist country of Switzerland into a multi-level game in the last decade. In this context of edu- cational internationalization, Switzerland takes a special position. On the one hand, Switzerland is not a formal EU member (Fischer/Nicolet et al. 2002; Sciarini/Fischer et al. 2004), but has taken part in the Bologna Process as a bottom up initiative since its very beginning. Thus we assume a weaker influence of Bologna in Switzerland than in EU countries, since the EU is a key Bologna actor. On the other hand, as a founding member of the OECD and participant in diverse OECD education programs, we expect the PISA Study to have a high influence. However, institutional settings in Switzerland hardly further reforms (Bonoli/Mach 2000). Federalism, direct democracy, and conso- ciationalism not only prolong decision making processes and involve many veto players in the domestic sphere, but also handicap coordination with IOs and other countries. These facts make Switzerland an unlikely candidate for policy change induced by IOs. In a similar vein, the two international initiatives are least likely cases for changing the education policy making of countries: They are voluntary, legally non-binding initia- tives and can be categorized as so-called ‘soft governance’. The resulting question is: Do international organizations have an impact on education policy-making in Switzer- - 1 - Sfb 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“ - „Transformations of the State“ (WP 117) land, and if so, what are the consequences for