Dept. of Educational Administration & Policy The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Dept. of Educational Administration & PolicyThe Chinese University of Hong Kong PEDU 6209 Policy Studies in Education TSANG, Wing Kwong Tel. 39436922

Topic 1Introduction to Policy Studies in Education: Definitions of a Discipline and a Field PEDu 6209 Policy Studies in Education TSANG Wing-kwong

What is at Issue? What is your decision? What is your action?

How can I make sense of this complex and politically charged situation? What is at Issue? What is your decision? How should I act, given this complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity? What is your action?

Definitions of the discipline: Policy Studies Definition of the subject of inquiry Definition of the issue of inquiry Study for policy Study of policy Definition of the method of inquiry Definition of the field: Policy studies in education Study for education policy Study of education policy Policy Studies in Education: An Overview

Policy Studies: Definitions of a Discipline • Definitions of the subject inquiry • Definition of policy • The Oxford English Dictionary: "A course of action or principle adopted or proposed by a government, party, individual, etc.; any course of action adopted as advantageous or expedient." • “Policy is defined as a ‘standing decision’ characterized by behavioral consistency and repetitiveness on the part of both who make it and those who abide by it.” (Eulau & Prewitt, 1973, p. 465) • “Routinization (in complex social life) is achieved through the formulation and implementation of policies. Policies are statements that prescribe courses of action in organizations. They govern the internal functioning of the organizations, their external relations, and the way they attain their goals.” (Midgley, 2000, p. 3)

Policy Studies: Definitions of a Discipline • Definitions of the subject inquiry • Definition of policy • Policy is “a projected program of goals, values, and practices.” (Lasswell & Kaplan, 1970, p. 71) • "To have a policy is to have rational reasons or argurments which contain both a claim to an understanding of a problem and a solution. It put forward what is and what ought to be done. A policy offers a kind of theory upon which a claim for legitimacy is made." (Parson, 1995, p. 15)

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definitions of the subject inquiry • Definition of public policy • “Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do.” (Dye, 1998, p. 2) • William Jenkins conceptualizes public policy as “ a set of interrelated decisions taken by a political actor or group of actors concerning the selection of goals and the means of achieving them within a specific situation where those decisions should, in principle, be within the power of those actors to achieve.” (Quoted in Howlett & Ramesh, 1995, p. 5) • David Easton defines public policy as “the authoritative allocation of values for the whole society.” (Easton, 1953, p. 129)

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definitions of the subject inquiry • Definition of public policy • Giandomenico Majone “As politicians know too well but social scientists too often forget, public policy is made of language. Whether in written or oral form, argument is central in all stages of the policy process.” (Majone, 1989, p.1) • “The practice of public policy making largely a matter of persuasion. So is the discipline of studying public policy making aptly described as itself being a ‘persuasion’. It is a mood more than a science, a loosely organized body of percepts and positions rather than a tightly integrated body of systemic knowledge, more art and craft and genuine ‘science’.” (Goodin, Rein and Moran, 2006, p. 5)

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definitions of the subject inquiry • Definition of public policy • “Public policy is a discursive construct rather than a self-defining phenomenon.” (Fischer, 2003, p. 69) ” “We define policy as a political agreement on a course of action (or inaction) designed to resolve or mitigate problems on the political agenda. This agreement…is an intellectual constructs rather than a self-defining phenomenon. Discursively constructed, there can be no inherently unique decision, institutions, or actors constituting public policy that are to be identified, uncovered, and explained. Public policy, as such, is an analytical category with a substantive content cannot be simply researched; more fundamentally, it has to be interpreted.” (p.60)

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definitions of the subject inquiry • Definition of social policy • “Social policy …refers to the actual policies and programs of governments that affect people’s welfare.” (Midley, 2000, p.4) • “Social policy may be defined as policy activities which influence welfare. Whilst non-state bodies may be described as having policies, a generic expression like ‘social policy’ is primarily used to define the role of the state in relation to the welfare of its citizens.” (Hill, 1997, p. 1)

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definition of issues of inquiry • Harold Lasswell characterizes that “As a working definition, we say that the policy science are concerned with knowledge of and in the decision processes of the public and civic order.” (1971, p.1, original emphasis)

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definition of issues of inquiry • Study for policy: • William Dunn indicates that “policy analysis is a problem solving discipline. …Policy analysis addresses five types of questions: • What is the nature of the problem for which solution is sought? • Which of two or more courses of action should be chosen to solve the problem? • What are the outcomes of choosing that course of action? • Does achieving the outcomes contribute to solving the problem? • What future outcomes can be expected if other courses of action are chosen?” (p. 3)

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definition of issues of inquiry • Study for policy • Policy Studies generates knowledge for problem-solving - Problem recognition - Agenda-setting - Proposal of solution - Policy formation - Choice of solution - Decision-making - Putting solution into - Policy implementation effect - Monitoring results - Policy evaluation

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definition of issues of inquiry • Study of policy • Thomas Dye defines the study of public policy as “the description and explanation of the causes and consequences of government activities, This focus involves • a description of the content of public policy; • an analysis of the impact of social, economic, and political forces on the content of the public policy; • an inquiry into the effect of various institutional arrangements and political processes on public policy; and • an evaluation of the consequences of public policies on society, both expected and unexpected.” (p.5)

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definition of issues of inquiry • Study of policy • Policy Studies generates knowledge of policy • Study of the policy contents or substances • Study of the policy process • Institutional or systemic study of policy • Study of the policy frame and policy discourse • Critical study of ideological implications of policy

Policy Studies: Definition of a Discipline • Definitions of methods of inquiry • The policy science movement • Analytic-technical method • Political system method • The interpretive-political method • Study of meanings and values invested in policy • Study of text, textuality and intertextuality of policy documents • Study of policy argument • Study of policy frame • The discursive critical method • Study of policy discourse • Study of dominant ideology at work in policy

Policy Studies in Education: Definition of a Field • Definition of education policy: Whatever a government choose to do or not to do in education.” • Definition of issues of inquiry • Study for education policy • Status-quo study and definition of the education problems • Causality study for policy solution of the education policy • Rational study for choice of solutions • Study of policy implementation • Policy evaluation study

Policy Studies in Education: Definition of a Field • Definition of issues of inquiry • Study for education policy • Study of education policy • Study of the substance of the education policy • Study of the process of the education policy • Institutional or systemic studies of the education policy • Study the formation of the policy frame and discourse in education • Critical study of ideological implications of the education policy

A.The State of the Art: The Overview of the Disciplineof Policy Studies

Journals on Policy Studies • Policy Studies Journal (1971-present), publisher: Policy Studies Organization (US based) • Review of Policy Research, (1981-present), publisher: Policy Studies Organization (US based) • Politics and Policy, (1973-present), publisher: Policy Studies Organization (US based)

Journals on Policy Studies • Journal of Public Policy (1981-present), publisher: Cambridge University Press (UK based)

Journals on Education Policy • Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, (1979-present) Publisher: AERA (US based) • Journal of Education Policy, (1986-present) Publisher: Taylor & Francis (UK based) • Educational Policy, (1987-present) Publisher: Sage (US based)

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(1999) (1999) (2009)

The State of the Art: The Overview of the Discipline of Policy Studies • Theoretical perspectives in policy studies • Analytic-technical perspective • Interpretive-political perspective • Discursive-critical perspective

The State of the Art: The Overview of the Discipline • Understanding of the nature of public policy • A public policy as analytic-technical design of means-end model and the course of action taken accordingly • A public policy as an aggregate of socially constructed realities of interpretive communities and the courses of actions each interpretive community wanted to input to the public arena • A public policy as a discursive construct under a particular knowledge/power configuration of a society and the dominance of the course of action legitimatized by this discursive configuration

The State of the Art: The Overview of the Discipline • Understanding the process of public policy • Policy formulation & making study • Policy making as rational choice of the best alternative to the problem as informed by the analytic-positivist and value-free study for the policy • Policy making as political outcome of compromise of conflicting interpretations of different interpretive communities made up of stake holders of the policy issue at hand • Policy making as formation of the discourse to a policy issue within a particular knowledge/power configuration of a society

The State of the Art: The Overview of the Discipline • Understanding the process of public policy • Policy implementation study • Policy implementation as well-controlled plan of execution of the pre-designed course of action in a particular policy environment • Policy implementation as multilateral and multi-level processes of interpretations and puzzlements of execution of policy measures • Policy implementation as discursive strategies of maintaining the dominance of a particular version of discourse to the policy problem at hand

The State of the Art: The Overview of the Discipline of Policy Studies • Understanding the process of public policy • Policy evaluation study • Policy evaluation as rational, empirical and positivist assessment of the extent to which the policy means have attained the pre-conceived ends • Policy evaluation as yet another round of multilateral and multi-level interpretations of the outcomes and consequences of the policy • Policy evaluation is formation of the discourse to the effectiveness and efficiency of the policy at hand

The State of the Art: The Overview of the Discipline • Understanding of the ontological interest of public policy • Public policy and policy studies as means to serve the interest of technical control of physical and social environment of human existence • Public policy and policy studies as ways to facilitate the interest of mutual understanding within the human community and possible to reconcile conflicts • Public policy and policy studies as practice to fulfill the interest of human freedom and liberation from power-hypostatized and systemic distorted human existence

Topic 1: Definitions and Development of the Discipline & field END

Dept. of Educational Administration & Policy The Chinese University of Hong Kong