Educational Policy: Theory and PracticeModule Details

Module description

This module examines the origins, factors and influences impacting various aspects of Educational Policy and its practical implementation on the local, regional, national and global level.  It emphasises critical and comparative policy analysis and reviews topics such as: educational policy at international level; globalization, democracy and educational policy; evidence-based policy-making; and open education and educational policy. Students will have an opportunity to review and evaluate different types of policies in their country and appreciate the external and internal factors that led to those policies. They will explore the concept of evidence-based policies and open education and draft an evidence-based educational policy relevant to their institutional setting.

Aims of the module

The module aims to provide students with an understanding of the relationship between education, economy, culture and society and the ideological, cultural, economic and comparative sources of educational policy, including the institutional factors that shape educational policy. It also aims to provide students with an understanding of the impact of policy at various levels of the educational system. This will equip the student to evaluate and assess policies and, ultimately, apply this learning to policy development.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this module, programme students should be able to:
1.    Examine changes in education, economy, culture and society through the Post-war and Post-industrialism eras
2.    Assess the scope of education policies
3.    Investigate the origins and diversity of Educational Policies
4.    Evaluate the cultural, ideological and socio-economic factors that affect educational policies
5.    Critique different kinds of educational policies including at international level
6.    Formulate national overviews for developing policy
7.    Originate policy from collection and analysis of data.
8.    Critique educational systems at international level
9.    Examine “openness” in education, science, culture and technology
10.  Identify open education barriers at international level
11.  Formulate ideas to promote openness in education
12.  Apply module learning to the student’s institutional and national policy environment