Perspectives on enhancing educational policy processes

In this article we examine some of the challenges in the educational policy process today. While acknowledging the inherent tensions in, and complexities of, the policy process, we suggest some ways that might help to better understand it. An evidence-based approach to policy making is offered for consideration. While such an approach is not new, we frame the approach around three lenses drawn from the work of Head (2008): these lenses are titled political, research, and technical. It is argued that consideration of the complexities and challenges at play across these three lenses in a context of contested policy terrain can result in better understanding of the policy process and lead to better policy conceptualisation, planning, and implementation.

Educational policy for citizenship in the early years in Australia

This paper explores how young children are constructed in educational policy for citizenship in Australia, investigating tensions between early childhood educational discourses that construct young children as active citizens and the broader discourses of citizenship in Australian educational policy. There is a widespread discourse within early childhood education that regards young children as citizens and democratic participants in their own lives. This view is a reflection of the oft cited Article 12 in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC 1989). However, educational policy and curriculum for citizenship in Australia, by and large, adheres to age and stage understandings of children, implicitly deeming young children unable to conceptualise abstract ideas of what it means to ‘be a good citizen’. This paper is located in the borders and intersections between discourses of early childhood education, young children as active participants in their own lives and what it means to be an active citizen in Australia. We are concerned with the interweaving of these ideas and how they are played out in educational policy making. This is an important perspective to take for governing and policy making are exercises in harnessing existing ideas and discourses, thereby rendering strategies and tactics for managing populations thinkable and sayable (Rose 1999). The ‘views from the margins’ (Burman 2008, p. 7) can provide alternative perspectives on policymaking, illuminating discursive tactics and strategies.

Does improving school level attendance lead to improved school level achievement? An empirical study of indigenous educational policy in Australia

Current federal government policy initiatives in Aboriginal education and social welfare reform are based on assumptions about the relationship between increased attendance and increased student performance on standardized tests. There are empirical assumptions underlying these policy interventions and their accompanying public debates. Our aim here is to empirically explore the relationships between patterns of student attendance and patterns of student achievement in schools with significant cohorts of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students at the school level. Based on an analysis of the publicly available data reported on the ‘MySchool’ website, we find that reforms and policies around attendance have not and are unlikely to generate patterns of improved achievement. Questions about the rationale and rhetoric of government policy focused at the school level as opposed to the need to focus on pedagogy and curriculum are discussed.

Corporatizing the 'intellectual machinery' of government : the case of educational policy in Australia

This article analyses what it describes as the corporatization of the ‘intellectual machinery’ of government: the theories, knowledges, research and ‘know how’ utilized by political authorities to render the world thinkable, programmable and subject to intervention. Through an analysis of two key nodal points in national policy on teacher professional standards in Australia over the last decade, the article discloses a shift in the relation between expertise and politics. This is manifested, it is argued, in an increased reliance by policy authorities on corporatized forms of research produced by national and international private consulting firms, Think Tanks, and ‘policy entrepreneurs’ and a concomitant decrease in their reliance on free research produced largely by academics in institutions of higher education. The article seeks to account for this shift in terms of the ‘advanced liberal’ formula for rule which now characterizes government in contemporary Western polities.

Children's rights and educational policy in Europe: the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

This article aims to shed light on the impact of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on education policy in Europe. The findings are based on a documentary analysis of the published reports of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) on the implementation of the education rights in the CRC in every EU state. This included: a review of the state of children's rights to education in Europe as perceived by the Committee; a summary of the Committee's key recommendations for governments; and an assessment of whether the CRC can be considered to have influenced domestic education law and policies. The findings suggest that the CRC is having an impact on domestic education policy and that the child rights framework could be harnessed further by those seeking to influence government. The article concludes by reflecting on the factors which affect the processes of translating the CRC into policy and practice and explores the role that educationalists, both academic and practitioners, might play in its implementation.

Salience of Charter Schools in Educational Policy Debates in Three Canadian Provinces: 1993-2010

School choice-the movement towards increased parental and student control over public education-has been endorsed extensively as a means of revitalizing and improving public schools. Part of this movement is the concept of charter schools, which have expanded rapidly in the United States and around the globe. In stark contrast, Canadians have remained relatively content with current educational arrangements; only 13 charter schools currently exist in Canada, all in the province of Alberta. This study sought to identify why charter schools have failed to situate themselves in Canadian education. The study used an agenda setting framework to determine the salience of charter schools as a public issue in three provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. Results largely indicate that over the past 18 years, charter schools have gradually declined as a salient issue. Additional discussion concerning the unique characteristics of Canadian education highlights factors that appear to discourage the expansion of such schools. However, although charter schools do not appear to be a current issue for Canadians, they may still emerge in the future, as parents and teachers continue to seek new ways of improving educational outcomes. Thus, although the impact of charter schools on public education has been minimal to date, they provide an illuminating lens towards better understanding educational reform and policy, as well as the fundamental values that shape education in Canada.

Educational Documentation and its Contribution to Educational Policy. 'La documentación educativa y su contribución a la política educativa'.

Debido a que en la segunda mitad del siglo XX se produjo un incremento importante en el numero de instituciones y personas que se dedican de manera profesional a la investigación en todos los campos de conocimiento, fue necesario un desarrollo de mejores herramientas para sistematizar la información de las investigaciones y hacerla más accesible. Es por eso que surgen las bases de datos o bancos de datos. El texto se centra en la definición, tipos, características, planeación, diseño y desarrollo de estas bases de datos.

From the assimilation to the acceptance of the other? : educational policy for indigenous peoples in Latin America and the 'intercultural bilingual education' policy in Chile. '¿De la asimilación a la aceptación del otro? : política educativa para pueblos indígenas en América Latina y la política de 'educación intercultural bilingüe' en Chile'.

Monográfico con el título: 'Desde la diversidad hacia la desigualdad: ¿destino inexorable de la globalización?'. Resumen basado en el de la publicación