Year
2021Credit points
10Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unitPrerequisites
NilUnit rationale, description and aim
Education is operating within increasingly complex, globalised policy contexts. Educational leaders need to understand these policy contexts if they are to effectively contribute to policy processes and lead the translation and implementation of policy into practices within schools and educational communities.
The unit will explore how policy is developed, by whom, and the global and national influences on the policy process. Students will develop knowledge about the education policy process and skills in examining competing priorities, different perspectives and the values underpinning and driving these processes. Students will be equipped to analyse education policy responses to key educational and social issues, and the implications and effects of education policies on students, teachers and communities.
The aim of this unit is to provide students with the knowledge and expertise to contribute to current discourses and debates from an informed professional position, and provide a voice to the needs of marginalised and disadvantaged groups, as well as interpret and translate policy into practices in local contexts.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:
LO1 - Examine the contemporary approaches and debates in education policy (GA2, GA5; APST(Lead) 1.3)
LO2 - Assess and communicate the strengths and limitations of policy responses to current educational and social issues (GA2, GA5, GA9; APST(Lead) 1.3, 2.4, 7.2; APSP 1)
LO3 - Articulate and justify their position on education policy responses to a key social and educational issues, identifying possible consequences and effects on students, teachers and communities (GA2, GA4, GA5, GA8; APST(Lead) 1.3, 2.4, 7.2; APSP 2, 3)
Graduate attributes
GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society
GA4 - think critically and reflectively
GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession
GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information
GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media
AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS - LEAD
On successful completion of this unit, students should have gained evidence
towards the following standards:
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds (Lead) Evaluate and revise school learning and teaching programs, using expert and community knowledge and experience, to meet the needs of students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds |
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Lead) Lead initiatives to assist colleagues with opportunities for students to develop understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages. |
7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements (Lead) Initiate, develop and implement relevant policies and processes to support colleagues’ compliance with and understanding of existing and new legislative, administrative, organisational and professional responsibilities |
AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR PRINCIPALS
In addition to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers this unit addresses the following Professional Practices:
APSP1 Leading Teaching and Learning Principals create a positive culture of challenge and support, enabling effective teaching that promotes enthusiastic, independent learners, committed to lifelong learning. Principals have a key responsibility for developing a culture of effective teaching, for leading, designing and managing the quality of teaching and learning and for students’ achievement in all aspects of their development. They set high expectations for the whole school through careful collaborative planning, monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of learning. Principals set high standards of behaviour and attendance, encouraging active engagement and a strong student voice |
APSP2 Developing self and others Principals work with and through others to build a professional learning community that is focused on continuous improvement of teaching and learning. Through managing performance, effective continuing professional learning and feedback, they support all staff to achieve high standards and develop their leadership capacity. Principals support others to build capacity and treat people fairly and with respect. They model effective leadership and are committed to their own ongoing professional development and personal health and wellbeing in order to manage the complexity of the role and the range of learning capabilities and actions required of the role. |
APSP3 Leading Improvement, Innovation and Change Principals work with others to produce and implement clear, evidence-based improvement plans and policies for the development of the school and its facilities. They recognise that a crucial part of the role is to lead and manage innovation and change to ensure the vision and strategic plan is put into action across the school and that its goals and intentions are realised. |
Content
Topics will include:
- The contested nature of education policy: Historical and theoretical perspectives, approaches and debates
- Making education policy: purposes, processes and practices
- Federalism and education policy: National agendas and educational reform (including education linked to economic and labour market needs)
- Globalising education policy: International influences and different policy responses to educational and social issues (including data and policy, International assessment programs)
- Policy emphasis on evidence, accountability, managerialism, curriculum and pedagogy
- Social perspective of education policy: questions of access, equity and equality, and voice, including First Nations
- Schools and systems interpreting and responding to education policy including the impacts of local policy issues
- Leaders engaging and shaping education policy, translating education policy into action
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
The unit will be delivered online with provision for multi-mode delivery.
This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total. In order to support students’ learning experience in ways that are the most engaging, efficient and effective, the overall teaching strategy used in this unit is a progressive developmental one. All modes of delivery in which this unit is offered use the Learning Management System (LEO).
The approach to learning and teaching is via active learning where students are supported through the provision of learning resources and class/onine activities to take responsibility for their individual learning. Students are expected to participate in the activities provided either in class or online and to be able to extend their learning through undertaking individual research and by working alongside other students. Learning modules as well as guided activities utilising ‘active learning’ methods are used. Students are supported in their learning through the provision of: learning modules, guided readings and links to electronic readings, videos, face-to-face and/or online workshops, stimulus questions and an activities booklet, self-assessments and other self-directed learning activities.
Assessment strategy and rationale
A range of assessment procedures are used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes and professional standards and criteria consistent with University assessment requirements. (http://www.acu.edu.au/policy/student_policies/assessment_policy_and_assessment_procedures).
Assessments have been designed with principles of authentic assessment. Students are required to develop “policy skills” by writing a policy brief and policy-based commentary analysing an identified policy issue
The assessment tasks are designed in sequence so as to allow for feedback and progressive development across the unit. The first assessment task enables students to examine a policy issue with an emphasis on the ways evidence contributes to the policy issue. The second assessment enables students to build upon and apply their knowledge from assessment one to analyse in detail a contemporary policy issue with a focus on policy enactment. Students will be required to utilise suitable conceptual tools and research to analyse areas of education policy against a context of contemporary policy trends and debates.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes | Graduate Attributes |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment Task 1: Policy brief and annotated bibliography: Prepare a policy brief including an annotated bibliography which examines and analyses a current education policy issue | 50% | LO1, LO2 | GA2, GA4, GA5, GA8 |
Assessment Task 2: Education policy report: Prepare an education policy report and analysis on an educational or social issue or reform relevant to a selected context. | 50% | LO2, LO3 | GA2, GA4, GA5, GA8 |
Representative texts and references
Bacchi, C. (2009). Introducing a ‘what’s the problem represented to be?’ approach to policy analysis. Introduction and Chapter 1, In Analysing policy: What’s the problem represented to be? pp. 1-24. Sydney: Pearson Education.
Blackmore, J. (2010). Policy, practice and purpose in the field of education: A critical review. Critical Studies in Education, 51(1), 101-111.
Bourke, T., Mills, R., & Siostrom, E. (2019). Origins of primary specialisation in Australian education policy: what’s the problem represented to be? The Australian Educational Researcher, 47, 725–740
Braun, A., Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., & Hoskins, K. (2011). Taking context seriously: Towards explaining policy enactments in the secondary school. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(4), 585–596.
Doolan, J., & Blackmore, J. (2017). Principals talking back to mediatised education policies regarding student performance. Journal of Education Policy, 33(6), 818-839.
Heffernan, A. (2018). The principal and school improvement: Theorising discourse, policy, and practice. Singapore: Springer.
Jones, T. (2013). Understanding education policy: The ‘four education orientations’ framework. Dortrecht: Springer Netherlands.
Klenowski, V., & Wyatt-Smith, C. (2012). The impact of high stakes testing: The Australian story. Journal of Assessment, 19(1), 65-79.
Luke, A. (2019). Educational policy, narrative and discourse. New York, NY: Routledge.
Maxwell, J., Lowe, K. & Salter, P. (2018). The re-creation and resolution of the ‘problem’ of Indigenous education in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cross-curriculum priority. The Australian Educational Researcher, 45(2), 161–177.
Mockler, N. & Stacey, M. (2021). Evidence of teaching practice in an age of accountability: When what can be counted isn’t all that counts. Oxford Review of Education, 47(2), 170-188.
Mundy, K., Green, A., Lingard, B. & Verger, A. (2016). Introduction: The Globalization of Education Policy – Key Approaches and Debates. In K. Mundy, A. Green, B. Lingard & A. Verger (eds). The handbook of global education policy. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley Blackwell. pp. 1-20.
Reid, A. (2019). Changing Australian education: How policy is taking us backwards and what can be done about it. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2010). Globalising education policy. New York, NY: Routledge.
Savage, G., & Lewis, S. (2018). The phantom national? Assembling national teaching standards in Australia’s federal system. Journal of Education Policy, 33(1), 118-142
Savage, G. C., & O’Connor, K. (2015). National agendas in global times: Curriculum reforms in Australia and the USA since the 1980s. Journal of Education Policy, 30(5), 609-630.
Snepvangers, K., Thomson, P., & Harris, A. (2018). Creativity policy, Partnerships and practice in education. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.