MA Educational Leadership (Teach First)

1. MA Educational Leadership (Teach First) Module: Improving Schools in Areas of Socio-economic Disadvantage Session 2: The Education Policy Process Led by Justine Mercer, Janet Harvey and Kate Keefe

2. What is policy? “A set of guidelines that determine how one should proceed given a particular set of circumstances” (Bell and Stevenson 2006:14) “Aims or goals, or statements of what ought to happen” (Blakemore 2003: 10)

3. Policies can be both specific plans/programmes of work and more general statements of intent “… the implicit or explicit specification of courses of purposive action being followed, or to be followed in dealing with a recognized problem or matter of concern, and directed towards the accomplishment of some intended or desired set of goals. Policy can also be thought of as a position or stance developed in response to a problem or issue of conflict, and directed towards a particular objective. “ (Harman 1984: 13)

4. Activity 1: Contextual Factors “Educational leadership does not exist in a vacuum – it is exercised in a policy context, shaped decisively by its historical and cultural location.” (Bell and Stevenson 2006: 7) Activity 1: how educational philosophy is shaped by context.

5. Stevenson’s claims Stevenson (2011) presents a polemical account of the historical and cultural elements perceived to underpin current Coalition education policy. Stevenson also claims that Coalition policy is designed to achieve the following five objectives: • A hierarchy of schools; • A return to traditionalism (in terms of curriculum); • Structural privatization; • Educational Choice as a Consumer’s Transaction; • Reculturing the Teaching Profession.

6. Activity 2: Matching evidence to claims In your small group, choose one of the five objectives from the previous slide and consider: • how convincing Stevenson’s argument is (in terms of the evidence he cites) and • whether his description accords with your own experience.

7. Importance of education policy • Policy is often used as the basis for action. • Education policy is both shaped by and shapes our sense of citizenship. • Economic growth and development is underpinned by education policy. • Educational leaders have to decide how to interpret and implement external policy. • “Understanding and anticipating policy therefore becomes a key feature of leadership” (Bell and Stevenson 2006: 8).

8. Different levels of policy development • Macro = nation state, or supranation / global institutions eg. European Union, World Bank ‘Grand’ policy found in government publications, party manifestos and the speeches of politicians. Discussed in the pre-reading by Stevenson (2011) • Micro = individual institution • Meso = local or regional government; could apply to academy chains or school federations Levels overlap

9. Leaders always influence policy at the micro-level “Schools and colleges are constantly engaging in developing their own policies as they seek to both pursue their own internal objectives and respond to the external policy environment.” (Bell and Stevenson 2006: 9)

10. Leaders can also influence policy at the meso- and macro-levels “Key practitioners in schools and college, rather than being passive implementers of policies determined and decided elsewhere, are able to shape national policy at an early stage, perhaps through their involvement in interest groups, professional associations or their favoured position in government policy forums and think-tanks.” (Bell and Stevenson 2006: 8)

12. Four publications by TeachFirst Ambassadors intended for policy makers.

13. Models of policy development The traditional linear model Initiation Reformulation of opinion Emergence of alternatives Discussion and debate Legitimization Implementation (Bell and Stevenson 2006: 16)

14. A critique of the traditional approach Linear approaches to policy making “portray policy generation as remote and detached from implementation. Policy then ‘gets done’ to people by a chain of implementers”. (Bowe et al. 1992:7) Policy making is a continual process, in which policy is still being made, and re-made, as it is being implemented. (Bowe et al. 1992)

15. Policy: product and process(Ball 1994) Policy is interpreted and re-interpreted at every stage of the policy development process. The policy that arrives on the doormat did not emerge from nowhere. Policies shift and change their meaning in the political arena when ministers or committee chairs or other influential individuals change.

16. Policy as Text “The policies themselves, as texts, are not necessarily clear or closed or complete. The texts are the product of compromises at various stages (at points of initial influence, in the micropolitics of legislative formulation, in the parliamentary process and in the politics and micropolitics of interest group articulation). They are typically the cannabilized products of multiple (but circumscribed) influences and agendas. There is ad hocery, negotiation and serendipity within the state, within the policy formation process.” (Ball 1994: 16)

17. Policy as Discourse “Discourses provide a parameter within which notions of truth and knowledge are formed. However, the factors that shape such discourses are not value neutral, but reflect the structural balance of power in society.” (Bell and Stevenson 2006: 17) “Discourses are about what can be said, and thought, but also about who can speak, when, where and with what authority.” (Ball 1994: 21) There are struggles over the interpretation and enactment of policy but the scope and content of these struggles is constrained by the dominant discourses at that time.

18. Bowe et al. (1992)’s model Context of influence Context of policy Context of practice text production

19. A cyclical model of policy development “In a very real sense, generation and implementation are continuous features of the policy process, with generation of policy … still taking place after the legislation has been effected; both within the central state and within the LEAs and the schools.” (Bowe et al. 1992: 14) “Sharp distinctions between policy generation and implementation can be unhelpful as they fail to account for the way in which policy is formed and reformed as it is being ‘implemented’.” (Bell and Stevenson 2006: 9)

20. “Policy is political; it is about the power to determine what gets done.” (Bell and Stevenson, 2006, p.9) Authority = Power that comes from one’s position within a hierarchy. Always flows downwards. Influence = More fluid and multi-directional than authority; power that comes from personal characteristics, expertise (possession of specialized knowledge) and opportunity (being in the right place at the right time). Power, authority and influence

21. Silent voices • Those with power are often able to shape the way the ‘real world’ is perceived – to define the problem, to set the limits within which solutions might be acceptable and even to select and impose specific solutions. (Bell and Stevenson 2006: 22)

22. Extension Activity 1 Who has the most authority in your school? Where does their authority come from? How do you know they have the most authority? Who has the most influence? Where does their influence come from ? How do you know they have the most influence? Who is being silenced in your school and why? Who is being silenced on a national scale and why?

23. Extension activity 2 Think of a policy recently developed and implemented in your work context. • Where did the policy come from? • Was it developed in response to a perceived problem? If so, how was this problem defined and by whom? Was there a consensus about the nature of the problem? • How was the policy developed? • Who was involved/not involved in the process? • Did the policy change as it was being developed? If so, how, and in response to whose intervention?

24. Extension activity 3: Use Hodgson and Spours’ (2006) policy analysis framework to interrogate The Schools White Paper. Specific questions are provided at the end of the Education Policy worksheet.