Education policy is regarded as one of the last policy fields in which the German states have almost full authority. Many critics state that while education is an important instrument to grant comparable living conditions in the German states, that goal is jeopardized by a situation where state’s policies are scattered and little co-ordinated. As these voices are getting louder, it is time to take a closer look at how the German states act in education policy: Do they make full use of their independence? When does co-ordination take place? Is there any mutual inspiration? As political science has by now contributed very little to the knowledge about the functioning and the effects of federalism in education policy, this paper takes an empirical approach. The paper chooses a policy field that addresses the elementary question about who should benefit from which sort of education and has little financial implications (and is hence not dominated by budgetary considerations): The permeability between the vocational (VET) and the higher education (HE) system, more precisely: the higher education access for VET graduates without the regular HE entry qualification (“Abitur”). The respective regulations have widely spread among the states in the last 10 years, which could be interpreted as a diffusion process. Alternative explanations would however favour similar social challenges in the states or national/international pressure. My in-depth analysis of the respective decision making processes in the states supports the diffusion hypothesis. The diffusion is eased by the institutional co-ordination body (KMK), but also by systematic exchange of actors at all levels: politicians, administration and even interest groups. In opposition to authors who state that co-ordination only happens if there is some kind top-down coercion – my findings show that in education policy, the German states are constantly confronted with the policies of other states and don’t act independently.
