儘管台灣和德國的社會文化背景極其迥異，研究觀察卻發現兩個國家教制的歷史演變呈顯有許多雷同性可供進一步思考及比較。透過跨國的比較，本文試圖說明兩個不同文化及政治背景的現代社會，在其現代化發展的過程中呈顯了什麼樣值得關注的共同特徵。本文從國家、市場及民間團體的這三個影響面向切入，發現不論在台灣或在德國，市場及民間團體這兩造對社會中「教育」的看法及定位有越來越重要的影響。其中也發現兩國教改訴求的基調都呈現有相同的轉向：由強調人本價值轉而變成效率導向的基調。此外，研究進一步指出，國家教育決策根本上面對的是「效率考量」和「人本價值」的兩難困境，而這正是現代社會內在結構運作邏輯一體兩面的張力展現。結論將指出，這內在矛盾的結構性張力將無法由國家政府獨自承擔及解決，第三部門的教改論述在現代社會中將會持續扮演一個重要角色。

Some similarities can be found between the educational reform in Taiwan and Germany, which continue to occur in different cultural and political background. The similarities shall be viewed as the common characteristics of the modern societies. This study starts with analyzing three important agents in relation to the discursive construction of educational reform, i.e. the state, market and civil organizations. It shows that the market and civil organizations are becoming much more important nowadays. In addition, I shall argue that the criteria of “efficiency” and “humanistic idea” are intrinsically in conflict with each other in the educational discourses of modern societies. In conclusion, I shall clarify that the state will not play and should not play the dominant role in regulating the state educational policy any more. The balance between market and the influences of civil organizations becomes a key issue in the discourse of the state educational reform. The civil organizations shall continue to play an important role in the discursive production of educational reform.