Regulation and governance of school systems: towards harmonization in two historically decentralised school systems, England and French speaking Belgium

Abstract

The school systems of England and French speaking Belgium have both gone through a process of harmonization and standardization throughout the past 15 years. The comparison of these two systems reveals how much the characteristics of these transformations are related to differences in the contexts. Also, the assessments for students and schools are considerably different. As a similarity appears, however, that the increase in harmonization and use of standards seems to lead to a decrease of recognition of teachers as legitimate professionals and experts, and therefore undermines their influence.