| Abstract: | At the end of 1987 the lower house of the German parliament (Bundestag) established a Commission of Enquiry to make recommendations by the end of the parliamentary session in 1990 on the future direction of education policy in the Federal Republic. The problems and disagreements associated with its establishment and terms of reference are discussed. Attempts to reach a new consensus in educational policy were crucial to its activities. Against this background, and following a short discussion of the development of educational policy from the early 1970s to the end of the 1980s, the next sections of the paper present the essential findings of the Commission. It is seen that the Interim Report, and particularly the Final Report, were marked by a large number of divergent votes between the majority CDU/CSU and FDP Members of Parliament and experts, and the minority SPD and Green MPs and experts. There was also a remarkable degree of consensus, albeit at a relatively abstract level. The last section of the paper looks forward to further parliamentary consideration of the Final Report, and to the likelihood of the Commission's recommendations' being implemented, insofar as this can be delineated or anticipated two years after the conclusion of its work. In this context it is proper to address also the problems for educational policy posed by the unification of Germany on 3rd October 1990, two weeks after the Commission completed its work, and by the drawing together of Europe through the single internal market from 1993. |
