Kenneth Wong, The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Professor in Education Policy and Director of the Brown University Urban Education Policy Program
“Federalism and Education: Cross National Lessons”
Federalism as a system of decentralized governance has played a central role in charting educational progress in many countries. With an evolving balance between centralization and decentralization, federalism is designed to promote accountability standards without tempering regional and local preferences. Federalism facilitates negotiations both vertically between the central authority and local entities as well as horizontally among diverse interests. Innovative educational practices are often validated by a few local entities prior to scaling up to the national level. Federalism encourages a certain degree of competition at the local and regional level.
Given these critical issues in federalism and education, this presentation examines ongoing challenges and policy strategies in ten countries, namely Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. These case studies, recently published in an edited volume, aim to examine how countries with federal systems govern, finance, and assure quality in their educational systems spanning from early childhood to secondary school graduation. Particular attention is given to functional division between governmental layers of the federal system as well as mechanisms of intergovernmental cooperation both vertically and horizontally. The presentation aims to draw out education policy lessons across the ten federal systems.