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Comparison of the Education Systems of Germany and Canada

A glance at the international PISA findings (PISA 2000) shows that there are distinct differences between Germany and Canada, for instance in the profile of student achievements in the domain of reading competence as well as in basic mathematical and natural science education. The results of 15 year old students in Canada are on the whole not only clearly better than those of German students; in all three areas they also predominantly achieve middle and top competence levels (competence level 3 to 5), their German counterparts predominantly lower and middle levels (competence level 1 to 3). In absolute contrast to the German students the respective socio-economic background of the Canadian students has comparatively little effect on their achievements.
The project funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research will study to what extent these differences in achievement can be attributed to different governance strategies of the two countries despite similar structural conditions („autonomy in cultural and educational matters“ of the provinces and territories in Canada on the one hand, of the Länder in Germany on the other) and, if so, what these differences are and how they effect school achievements. This simultaneously leads to the question of what (possibly immanent) powers and advantages the Canadian „educational federalism“ has in comparison to the German and how these powers have been made productive. The aim of the project is to analyse the connection between the success of a school system, in particular in terms of school achievements, and the governance of school systems by comparing the education systems of Canada and Germany with respect to various criteria.