Education reforms have been on the political agenda for many years. Earlier with several years between reforms, in this century each day seems to bring a new educational reform – some would say that there is no reason for calling it reforms anymore. What is going on is continuous change

or, as some scholars prefer, it is about

modernization processes.

New perspectives have influenced education

reforms, societal trends like the market- and

customer-approach, the autonomy of schools, and

the outcomes orientation and focus on

competence. Later flexibility, open access to

education, quality assurance, transparency and

accountability were introduced as policy

instruments to ensure that the citizens (and

society) got what they paid for.