Developing policy instruments: the transformation of an educational policy intervention
Objectives
The classic book of Tyack and Cuban (1995) showed the journey from educational policy talk to what occurs in schools and classrooms is long, often unpredictable and complicated. That is why we find important to extend the discussion of educational policy interventions from discourse analysis and texts to the relationship between talk and functional instruments of implementation used in reforms. In this paper we approach this problem through policy instruments. We ask in which way the tools and procedures of an educational reform should be constructed to allow school and teacher initiative and to avoid problems caused by the centralized control.
Theoretical perspective
This paper discusses the nature of educational governance by utilizing and developing the theory of policy instruments (Lascoumes and Le Galès 2007). A policy instrumentality of a reform comprises different levels of instruments from verbally expressed objectives and visions to tools of financing, control, planning as well as procedures that allow and support local development and learning. The instruments of implementation are not neutral. They reflect the political and educational philosophies within which they emerged. It is therefore essential to analyze the ’logic’ embodied in the instruments. Specifically important are the relationships and the compatibility of the reform objects and the various policy instruments used in their implementation. To clarify the importance of these relationships we will analyze in this paper a transformation of a major educational reform in Taiwan, the School Actualizing program (SAP).
Data Sources
Our main data comprise the recordings of the discussion of two SAP meetings in June and July of 2009. Initially SAP was meant to be a three-year program for the years 2007-2010. To decide whether or not to continue SAP, the Ministry of Education consulted the SAP group. In the June and July meetings, the group discussed the experiences of the first two years and the continuation of the program. These two meetings, therefore, constitute critical data for studying how the program, its objects, goals and instrument were changed.
Results and conclusion
This paper studied a major educational reform program of secondary high schools in Taiwan (SAP) and specifically the transformation of the objectives and the instruments used in the implementation of the program at its turning point in 2009. The paper shows that we should not limit ourselves in studying the main ideas and objectives of a policy program. The whole set of instruments used in policy implementation needs to be analyzed.
Educational importance of this study for theory
The case showed how the instruments of implementation largely directed the developmental work.A future challenge for policy instrument studies is a more elaborate and systematic characterization of the epistemological and practical functions that different instruments provide in organizational change processes.
Connection to the conference theme
This paper studies the change of policy instrument for depending school development, it is relating to the fifth topic of the conference: Growing innovative culture for school change.