Session Information
23 SES 11 D, Policy Reforms and Implementation Processes (Part 2)
Paper Session continued from 23 SES 10 D
Contribution
Educational policy, as a dynamic state activity, is practiced by the policymakers with the aim of solving social and educational problems of the nation (Heck, 2004). Trowler (2003) defines policy-making as a political process during which various groups with different ideologies compete with each other with the aim of directing education policies. Various models which explain policy-making process from different perspectives. Among these policy-cycle model explains the policy-making process by dividing policy-making process into stages from problem definition to policy evaluation (Cairney, 2012; Kraft & Furlong, 2010).
In educational policy, it is inevitable to feel the existence of government during the policy-making process. For this reason, the government has been the main actor and has the main power; yet, there is a demand for multi-level governance (Enders, 2010) due to the complexity of education and move towards participatory decision-making. In this relation, education is used as a tool by the governments to practice their ideologies (Deem & Brehony, 2000) and ideology is a guide for the government’s plan (Fowler, 2009).
Considering the Turkish context, there are four education policy-making tools; National Education Councils (NEC), government programs, State Planning Organization and Development Plan. Among these, NEC is the tool that provides participatory environment by including various stakeholders from the education field such as Ministry of National Education (MoNE), academicians, principals, teachers, students, parents, unions, media and policy analysts. NEC is the advisory board of the MoNE which aims to develop education system by formulating policies (NEC Regulation, 2014). Although policy-making process in Turkey is identified as elitist (Arslan, 2003; 2006), NEC presented a good example of governance (ERG, 2011) by including various stakeholders.
To be a member of European Union (EU), there are many requirements Turkey needs to accomplish. Among these requirements, it is the need for the government to actively include civil society in the policy-making process (Tocci, 2005). In relation to this, Hudson (2007) highlights the change in the governance in education in many European countries due to the demands of globalization and EU. Namely, what it requires is the distribution of power upwards rather than keeping the focus in the state. For example, Nordic countries and Britain make changes through implementing soft regulations and including various actors in education (Hudson, 2007).
Similarly, the current government in Turkey benefits from civil society in order to adress the requirements of the Europeanization. However, the main focus is to ensure legitimization rather than involving actors into the process which is called “political Europeanization” (Tocci, 2005). Similarly, the government used PISA results to change the curriculum by specifying the skills and the values initiated by EU (Gür, Çelik & Özoğlu, 2011). In this context, NEC stands as a structure of a new way of governance which includes civil society in the policy-making process. In this platform, 4+4+4 decision was made as a reform which was proposed by a teachers’ union. Although MoNE does not usually implement the decisions of these councils as a reform, 4+4+4 which divided 12-year compulsory education into three intermittent parts, was enacted by giving the NEC as a reference and its participatory structure. For this reason, 4+4+4 is evaluated as an ideological reform. Regarding this, the main purpose of this study is to explore the policy-making process of 4+4+4 reform by considering the role of the NEC as a policy-making tool in this process.
Research Questions
RQ1: How was 4+4+4 reform made in terms of policy-cycle approach?
RQ2: What role does NEC play in the policy-making process of 4+4+4 reform?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Arslan, A. (2003). Eşitsizliğin teorik temelleri: elit teorisi. Kocaeli Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 6(2), 115-135. Arslan, A. (2006). The Turkish power elite. International Journal of Human Sciences, 3(1), 1-19. Bekir S. Gür , Zafer Çelik & Murat Özoğlu (2012) Policy options for Turkey: a critique of the interpretation and utilization of PISA results in Turkey, Journal of Education Policy, 27:1, 1-21, DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2011.595509 Cairney, P. (2011). Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues. UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Deem, R. & Brehony, K. J. (2000). International policymaking and analysis: diverse viewpoints. In International compendium on education. (pp. 193- 203) London: Routledge. Enders, J. (2010). Political science and educational research: windows of opportunity for a neglected relationship. In A. P. Jakobi, K. Martens, & D. W. Klaus (Eds), Education in political sciences: discovering a neglected field. (pp. 205- 218). USA: Routledge. ERG. (2011). Education monitoring report 2011. İstanbul: Sabancı University- İstanbul Politikalar Merkezi. Fowler, F. C. (2009). Policy Studies for Educational Leaders: An Introduction. Boston: Pearson. Güven, İ. (2012). The 4+4+4 school reform bill and the Fatih project: is it a reform? Elementary Education Online, 11(3), 556-577. Heck, R. H. (2004). Studying Educational and Social Policy: Theoretical Concepts and Research Methods. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Hudson, C. (2007). Governing the governance of education: the state strikes back? European Educational Research Journal, 6(3), 266-282. Kraft, M. E. & Furlong, S. R. (2010). Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives. USA: Sage. Nathalie Tocci (2005) Europeanization in Turkey: Trigger or Anchor for Reform?, South European Society and Politics, 10:1, 73-83, DOI: 10.1080/13608740500037973. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousans Oaks: Sage. Trowler, P. (2003). Education policy. London: Routledge.
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