Educational Policy: Theory and PracticeModule Details

Background and Rationale

This course examines various aspects of Educational Policy and focuses mainly on its practical implementation on the local, regional, national and global level. It concentrates on Educational Policy key-themes, such as: What is Educational Policy, different types of Educational Policy, critical and comparative policy analysis, Educational Policy at international level, globalisation, democracy and Educational Policy, evidence-based policy-making and Open Education and Educational Policy. Through formative and summative assessments, students are expected to critically read, reflect and analyse Educational Policy options, global models and their implementation on various levels and aspects of Education, as well as describe and evaluate different types of policies in their country, the influences that their countries received on Educational Policy-making, discuss evidence-based policies, discuss the need for Open Education and Access and finally draft an evidence-based Educational Policy. The most challenging component of the course is the students’ critical analysis of their Educational Policy contexts at the level of their local educational institution or at the national and global level. 

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be expected to:

1)    Investigate the origins and diversity of Educational Policies.
2)    Assess the scope of education policies.
3)    Compare different kinds of educational policies and explain their diversity.
4)    Explain the socio-economic factors that affect educational policies.
5)    Compare educational policies and systems at international level and describe their main differences.
6)    Identify educational issues at international level. 
7)    Formulate national overviews for developing policy.
8)    Analyse how to select and use data for policy- making. 
9)    Report the outcomes of the data analysis.
10)  Examine “openness” in education, science, culture and technology.
11)  Define the principles of openness and formulate ideas to promote it in education.
12)  Identify open education barriers at international level.