A Moral Entrepreneur in the Land of Consensus: Making School Policy in Switzerland

Abstract

This article examines the way in which political decisions on schooling are made, with the double constraint of a search for consensus, anchored in Swiss politics, and the presence of moral entrepreneurs (Becker, 1985).We analyse the tensions that this creates in the design of a reform of lower secondary education and the forms that the conflict takes. The analyses show an over-politicisation of educational issues, exacerbating the divisions between policy actors.