Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the influences and the problems of the controversy concerning the school management reform in West Germany in the 1980s, by analysing the reform of the School Act in Baden-Wurttemberg (1983). The controversy in the Parliament concerning the bills which FDP/DVP, SPD and local government/CDU each presented had two points of issue. One was the problem about the organization of decision-making in a school and the other was about the efficiency in the decision-making process in a school. FDP/DVP's bill intended to solve the school conflict through teachers' participation. But this bill could not grasp precisely the structure of the school conflict and could not solve the complexity in the decision-making process. SPD's bill understood "sachliche Uberlegenheit der Lehrer", and guaranteed each members' rights in detail. But this bill too could not solve the complexity and could not take into consideration the differences of each members' character. Local government/CDU's bill was able to grasp the decline of teachers', students' and parents' ability to participate and grope for the decision-making process that would adapt to the realities. However there was the posibility of the principal having very storng competence. My conclusion to this whole controversy in this reform is as follows. In this controversy concerning the reform, the problems of the participation theory in the 1960s-70s were recognized precisely, and the participation theory reached a new phase and gave a clue to it's institutionalization. The following two problems were left. 1. The positions and roles of teachers, students and parents in schools today are not completely analysed. 2. It is necessary to find a new core of participation in schools today that is huge and complex.
