At present, surprisingly optimistic ideas about the controllability of teaching are in full swing. A school policy disappointed by TIMMS, PISA, and other studies tries to make up for the national stigma by administratively decreed reforms that are under high pressure to succeed. Planning staffs, steering groups, and competence centers formed in many places are called upon to present forward-looking concepts to ensure the quality, effectiveness, and sustainability of school education. But can school learning success be planned with the help of a general staff, as the ministries of education hope? Can teaching be planned as easily as many didactic theories suggest? The closer one approaches teaching, the clearer it becomes how little power there is to determine the outcome of prior planning, beyond the framework conditions that can be created by educational policy.