GED2902

Educational policy, planning and finance

Associate Professor L B Angus and Associate Professor G Burke

12 points
* 3 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject, students should understand and be able to apply in practice different approaches to policy analysis and planning; be aware of the influence of various elements of the policy context on major policy and planning issues; develop skills in the collection of data from a range of sources; gain experience in the planning and the preparation of analyses of policy issues; be able to apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills required for each of the above in ways that enhance critical understanding of their own professional practice; be able to develop skills in the formulation and design of a research project that incorporates essential learning from the course and is of the level of sophistication appropriate for doctoral studies.

Synopsis The subject is concerned with an analysis of the nature of educational policy and planning and finance. Students will examine approaches to policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. The nature of detailed planning that accompanies policy directions will also be subjected to scrutiny. Policy and planning will be understood as occurring in relation to broad social, political and economic contexts so that developments within education may need to be connected with developments in other spheres of society. Such an approach implies that the focus will be less on how to develop policies and plans and more on developing a broad understanding of the contested nature of policy and planning as part of a dynamic social and political process.

Assessment Two written assignments (8000 words): 100%

Recommended texts

Angus L and Brown L Becoming a `School of the Future': The micropolitics of policy implementation Faculty of Education, Monash University, 1997
Connell, W F Reshaping Australian education 1960- 1985 ACER, 1994
Haynes B Australian education policy Social Science Press, 1997
Lingard B, Knights J and Porter P (eds) Schooling reform in hard times Falmer, 1993
Taylor S, Rizvi F, Lingard B and Henry M (eds) Educational policy and the politics of change Routledge, 1997