Session Information
23 SES 02 A, Politics and Policy Making in Education (Part 2)
Paper Session continued from 23 SES 01 A, to be continued in 23 SES 03 A
Contribution
This paper presents the findings of a five-year PhD study (Hinz 2016) examining how federalism directly and indirectly influences schooling reforms, for better and worse.
Although the study focused on Australia (where there is extensive and controversial overlap of national and state government roles in schooling), it examined the challenges, opportunities and influences of multi-level democratic governance on schooling reform, and the strengths and limitations of federalism models and theories vis-a-vis those of policy making. The study and its findings are thus relevant to all European Union member states and is especially significant for countries with federal or decentralised systems of governance (e.g. Germany, Belgium, Spain, United Kingdom and beyond). This study aligns closely with the conference theme as it examines the degree of intergovernmental policy comparison and transfer; intergovernmental cooperation, competition and coercion, and the extent to which the dynamic governance arrangements of multi-level governance can result in continuous change. The policy cases within this study include school devolution (sometimes referred to as school "self-management" or "independent public schools"), which is a growing international phenomenon, and the development and introduction of a new funding allocation model to better match government funding to school need, likewise a topic of international importance, and an intergovernmental agreement on national goals for schooling policy.
Internationally, there is no scholarly consensus on the effect of federalism on policy making or implementation generally, or on schooling policy in particular, although the subject is currently of great interest to governments and education researchers around the world (Forum of Federations 2016). Many academic studies and government reviews have sought to better understand and enhance the institutions, intergovernmental relations and policy outcomes of federalism, and determine the existence of beneficial aspects (such as innovation, customisation to local needs and preferences, “policy laboratory” and “insurance policy” effect, as well as detrimental aspects (blurring of responsibilities, weakened accountability, weakened state autonomy, too much diversity etc.) Yet, the manner and extent to which federalism shapes policy making remains highly contested and poorly understood. This is doubly so for policy domains characterised by extensive overlap in the roles and responsibilities of state and national governments, such as schooling policy in Australia, where this overlap is said to contribute to the falling academic performance and widening social inequalities of Australia’s school systems (DPMC 2014, CPELL 2004, Gonski 2011). Yet, despite this claimed link, the intergovernmental dimension is generally neglected in academic studies of schooling reform.
The study drew together literature and debates on schooling, federalism and policy making, with original data, to investigate the nature and effects of federalism on school funding reforms at national and state (subnational) level in Australia between 1992 and 2001. There were three primary, interrelated research questions.
1) What is the nature and degree of influence of Australia’s federal system on individual instances of school funding reform at state and national levels?
2) What conceptual model of federalism best reflects the school funding policy sphere in Australia?
3) What are the strengths and limitations of dominant models of federalism when applied to school funding reforms, and of dominant conceptual models of policy making (Bridgman and Davis 1998; Kingdon 1984) when applied to concurrent policy fields in Australia?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bartlett, L.. Knight, J.. Lingard, B. and Porter, P. 1994, ‘Redefining a 'National Agenda' in Education: The States fight back’, Australian Educational Researcher, 21 (2): 29-44. Bennett, A. and Elman, C. 2007, ‘Case study Methods in the International Relations Subfield’, Comparative Political Studies, 40 (2): pp. 170-195. Bridgman, P. and Davis, G. 1998, The Australian Policy Handbook (1st edition), Allen and Unwin, Sydney. Centre for Postcompulsory Education and Lifelong Learning 2004, A New National Agenda for Education and Training in Australia. Overview Report for the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria, CPELL, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Collier, D. 1999, ‘Letter from the President: Data, Field Work and Extracting New Ideas at Close Range’, Newsletter of the Organised Section in Comparative Politics of the American Political Science Association, 10 (Winter). pp.1-6. Davis, G., Wanna, J. Warhurst, J. and Weller, P. 1993, Public Policy in Australia, Allen and Unwin, Sydney. Davis, G. 1998, ‘Carving Out Policy Space for State Governments in a Federation’, Publius, 28(4), pp.353− 367. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 2014 Reform of the Federation White Paper Issue Paper #4, Part B: Roles and Responsibilities in Education, Reform of the Federation Taskforce, AGPS, Canberra. Forum of Federations 2016, Federalism and Education: Governance, Standards, and Innovation for the 21st Century, Conference in Zaragoza, Spain. Two publications are emanating from this conference, to be published in 2017. http://www.forumfed.org/2016/04/federalism-education-governance-standards-innovation-21st-century/ Gonski, D. (Chair) 2011, Final Report of the Review of Funding for Schools, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Canberra. Hinz, B. 2016, Federalism and Schooling Reforms in Australia, Unpublished PhD thesis, School of Social and Political Sciences and Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne. Hollander, R. and Patapan, H. 2007, ‘Pragmatic federalism: Australian Federalism from Hawke to Howard’, Australian Journal of Public Administration, 66(3): pp.280-297. Kingdon, J. 1984, Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policy, Little Brown, Boston. Landau, M. 1969, ‘Redundancy, rationality, and the problem of_duplication and overlap’, Public Administration Review,_29(4):_pp.346–358. Lingard, B. 2000, ‘Federalism in Schooling Since the Karmel Report (1973) Schools in Australia: From Modernist Hope to Postmodernist Performativity’, Australian Educational Researcher, 27(2): pp. 25-61. Mahoney,_J._2007,_‘Qualitative Methodology_and Comparative_Politics’,_Comparative Political Studies, 40(2): pp.122−144. Yin, R. K. 2009, Case Study Research Design and Methods, Sage Publications, London.
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