Which government for which education? A critical study of Flemish policy documents

In the international educational policy literature, a lot of studies are indicating that the relationship between government and education has changed. This process is often labelled as a transition from a welfare state to an advanced liberal way of governing. In this descriptions a specific type of government and education are presupposed. Using a critical analysis of official policy documents from the Flemish (education) government, we investigate whether these tendencies are manifesting themselves in the Flemish context, and which type of government and education field appear in the policy documents. We conclude that we can indeed recognise a withdrawing and facilitating government, with an education field as the critical customer of government and an important role for communication and information strategies. We label this new relationship as a coaching relation.