Postgraduate Module Descriptor

EFPM910: Education Policy

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The principal aim of this module is to facilitate critical examination of education policy in global, national and local contexts. It will seek to develop the following:

  • Knowledge and understanding of education policy and its relationship to wider changes at  local, national and international levels 
  • Knowledge and understanding of key ideas underpinning education policy changes, policy processes and developments
  • A more developed knowledge and understanding of educational practices and institutional arrangements as they have developed in the context of policy change
  • Critical thinking in relation to theoretical perspectives on education policy as a field of contest
  • The capacity to effectively contribute to debates about education policy development and change
  • The capacity to examine the implications of policy frameworks and discourses for educational institutions and teaching and learning practices

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of education policy in different settings
2. Critically evaluate different theoretical perspectives on education policy
3. Demonstrate a critical understanding of key global, national and local issues in education policy
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Critically reflect upon and evaluate your own understanding of education policy and its application to contexts with which you are familiar
5. Critically examine theoretical perspectives on education policy as a field of contest
Personal and Key Skills6. Synthesise and organise ideas to present a convincing argument
7. Engage in critical, reflective debate
8. Undertake both directed and independent study to recognise, justify and analyse key ideas in education policy literature and relate these to research, theory, policy and practice

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

  • Ball, S.  (2007) Education PLC, London: Routledge.
  • Ball, S. (1998) Big Policies/Small World: An Introduction to International Perspectives in Education Policy, Comparative Education, 34: 2, Special Number (20): Comparative Perspective in Education Policy, pp. 119-130.
  • Burch, P. (2009) Hidden Markets, New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Clarke, J. and Newman, J. (1997) The Managerial State, Power, Politics and Ideology in the Remaking of Social Welfare, London: Sage.
  • Hall, D. Grimaldi, E., Gunter, H., Moller, J., Serpieri, R., and Skedsmo, G. (2016) Educational Reform and Modernisation in Europe: The Role of National Contexts in Mediating the New Public Management. European Educational Research Journal, 14 (16), pp. 487-507
  • Hall, D. and Gunter, H. (2016) England: the European Educational NPM Laboratory in Gunter, H., Grimaldi, E., Hall, D., and Serpieri, R. (Eds) New Public Management and the Reform of Education: European Lessons for Policy and Practice. London: Routledge
  • Hall, D. and McGinity, R. (2015) Conceptualising teacher professional identity in neo liberal times: Resistance, compliance and reform, Education Policy Analysis Archives
  • Lipman, P. (2004) High stakes education, London: Routledge Falmer.      
  • Ozga, J. (2000) Policy research in educational settings, Buckingham: Open University Press.
  • Pollitt, C. (2007) New Labour’s re-disorganization: hyper-modernism and the costs of reform, a cautionary tale. Public Management Review, 9, 529–543.
  • Sachs, J. (2001) 'Teacher professional identity: competing discourses, competing outcomes', Journal of Education Policy, 16: 2, pp 149 — 161.
  • Whitty, G. (2002) Making sense of education policy, London: Sage.