Coordinating the Assessment of Education – Examining the Formalization of German Abitur Examination Standards.

In light of the federal structure of the German educational system, its upper secondary school level has been reformed several times since the 1970s to make the Abitur certificate more comparable. This paper explores the formalization of the assessment for the Abitur, focusing on how the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs resolves conflicting ideas about good educational quality. By analyzing all four versions of the Agreement on Standardized Examination Requirements for the Abitur Examination from 1979 to 2007 as an investment in form, it examines how the Standing Conference stabilizes dominant modes of coordination, offering insights into how educational systems navigate uncertainty and justice in the assessment of education for certification purposes. Combining situational analysis with key concepts of the sociology of convention, the findings reveal a space of valorization that progressed from balancing multiple educational logics to emphasizing standardization and measurable criteria in their students’ education.