Educational Policy Analysis

Educational policies are the rules, guidelines and or boundaries that have shaped my career as student, a teacher and most recently as an educational administrator. Throughout my career I have not questioned always questioned the reasons for the development of these policies. From the readings in this course, I have begun to examine the how and why of policy development and beginning to understand role the policy analysis has in the evaluation of educational policies over time. The role of the state, the role of the individual within the state, changes to political ideologies and the development of globalization have all directly impacted policy development and the directions that education has taken over the last century.

“Policies are thus dynamic and interactive and not merely a set of instructions or intentions. They represent political compromises between conflicting images of how educational change should proceed.” (Taylor, Rizvi, Lingard & Henry, 1997, pg. 15)

What is the meaning/purpose of a policy? As Taylor (1997) puts it, “a policy is a plan of action”, and more specifically public policy is a plan of action made of behalf of the state to guide individuals. In practice, policies are responses by the state to an identified problem. I believe that understanding the purpose of public policy is only half of the battle, it is equally important to be able to identify if a particular policy is needed, is effective, is transparent in its purpose, therefore, public policies should be under constant analysis and scrutiny. This essay is going to examine the “what’s the problem approach” to policy analysis, as defined by Bacchi (1999). I feel that this approach makes sense when examining educational policy. Asking q...

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...2004). The magic mirror: An inquiry into the purposes of education. Journal of Educational Policy, 19(4), 515-528.

Smith, W., & Lusthaus, C. (1995). The nexus of equality and quality in education: A framework for debate. Canadian Journal of Education, 20(3), 378-391. Retrieved October 22, 2008, from http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE20-3-11Smith.pdf

Taylor, S., Rizvi, F., Lingard, B., & Henry, M. (1997). The Policy Phenomenon. Educational policy and the politics of change (pp. 1-21). London: Routledge.

Thomas, S. (2004). Reconfiguring in the Public Sphere; implications for analyses of educational policy. British Journal of Educational Studies, 52(3), 228-248.

Torres, C. (1996). State and Education Revisited: Why educational researchers should think politically about education. Review of Research in Education: 1995-1996 (pp. 255-331). .: AERA.