Rosalind Pritchard begins her examination of Germany's educational system with a general analysis of the processes of German unification in an attempt to determine whether it was really necessary to proceed so quickly. The answer she finds, comes in the affirmative. Given this imperative and in light of Easterners' dissatisfaction with their existing system, the New Bundeslander accepted and implemented variants of the content and structures of the Old Bundeslander.

The book deals with school structure and its implications for equaity, the political dimensions of methodology and curriculum content, and the introduction of the Dual System of vocational education in a sick economy. It also looks at how the authorities dealt with the values vacuum left by the demise of Marxism-Leninism, and how the churches handled the challenge of setting up denominational schools and religious education in a country where there has been little mandate for Christianity.

Finally, Reconstructing Education also addresses, in some detail, the important issues facing higher education in the East.