Reforming Education Governance Through Local Capacity-building: A Case Study of the “Learning Locally” Programme in Germany

This report is an assessment of the programme “Lernen vor Ort” [LvO – “Learning Locally”] initiated by the German federal government in order to support the development of local governance structures in education. LvO ran between 2009 and 2014 in about 40 participating local governments, which were chosen in a competitive process. It aimed at promoting cooperation between local governments and civil society stakeholders, creating sustainable structures in educational monitoring, management and consulting as well as improving local capacities in knowledge management. Besides providing important background information on the German education system and the design of the LvO programme, this study engages in five detailed case studies of the implementation of the LvO programme in different local authorities. These studies are mainly based on approximately 90 interviews with local and national experts, and stakeholders. The main findings are that LvO can be regarded as a success due to the fact that it had a lasting and probably sustainable impact in the cases studied in this report, in particular with regard to those structures that produce concrete and visible outputs, such as educational monitoring. The case studies also reveal a number of local factors that influence the relative effectiveness of the implementation of the programme. Political leadership and support from the head of the local government are crucial, in particular during critical situations during the implementation. Furthermore, the impact of the programme was particularly positive, when the process of local implementation was characterised by clear communication strategies, broad stakeholder involvement in governing bodies and the implementation of concrete goals and projects. However, relative success also depended on important background factors such as local socio-economic conditions as well as financial and administrative capacities, which could not be adressed directly by the programme’s goals. The report concludes with some general recommendations and lessons learned of relevance for other countries. Par le biais de l’initiative « Lernen-vor-Ort (LvO)» (« Apprentissage local »), le niveau central en Allemagne a lancé un programme politique d’envergure en 2009, qui vise à renforcer la gestion de l’éducation au niveau local. Active entre les années 2009-2014, environs 40 communes participaient à LvO. Le programme vise à promouvoir la collaboration entre les gouvernements locaux et les organisations de la société civile, et la création des structures viables pour améliorer le suivi pédagogique. Par ailleurs, l’organisation du programme facilite la création d’un nouveau système de connaissances dans l’éducation et l’amélioration de la capacité locale dans ce domaine. Le programme LvO peut être considéré comme une réussite car il a eu des répercussions durables et probablement pérennes au niveau de structures comme le suivi pédagogique. Le leadership politique et le soutien apporté par les collectivités locales constituent d’importants facteurs de réussite. L’incidence de ce programme a été particulièrement marquée au moment où la mise en place au niveau local s’est traduite par des stratégies de communication claires, une large implication des parties prenantes dans la direction des organes et la concrétisation des objectifs et des projets. Son succès a néanmoins été lié à d’importants facteurs comme les conditions socio-économiques locales ainsi que les capacités financières et administratives, qui ne pouvaient pas être abordées directement dans le contexte des objectifs du programme. Le rapport conclut avec des recommandations d’ordre général et les leçons pertinentes que d’autre pays peuvent en tirer.