scholarly journals Critical policy scholarship in education: An overview

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Tebeje Molla
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Policy Science ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Alternative Policy ◽  
Research Perspective ◽  
Social Inquiry ◽  
Analytical Goals ◽  
Critical Policy

This paper presents an overview of critical policy scholarship (CPS) in education. Historically, policy research has been dominated by what is commonly referred to as the policy science tradition, which is positivist in its philosophical stance and instrumentalist in its purpose—it focuses on producing knowledge relevant for policy decisions. However, with the rise of interpretive social inquiry in the 1970s and against the backdrop of unique political developments in the 1980s, CPS emerged as an alternative policy research perspective. This review discusses the scope and foci of CPS in education under four themes: methodological assumptions, interdisciplinary roots, enduring analytical goals, and emerging empirical contexts. Implications of the prevalence of inequality, Big Data and digital panopticon for educational policymaking and policy research are also briefly discussed. The paper concludes that although its foci of analysis have shifted considerably in the last four decades, analytical interest and tools of CPS remain largely unchanged.  

Rejoinder: Contradictions and Irony in Policy Research

1995 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Morales ◽  
Steven Balkin ◽  
Joseph Persky
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Negative Effects

We have been stimulated by this exchange on both personal and intellectual levels. Intellectual pursuits have been subdivided by scholars with various interests. However, specialization is not in itself an evil, except when it constrains fruitful analysis of empirical issues that have real-world implications for social policy and people's lives. Problems of social life and social policy typically speak to and provoke scholars of all kinds. Hence opportunities to investigate empirical interests from a variety of perspectives are opportunities forus all to learn the strengths and limitations of our tools. We wish this kind of discussion about the importance of the informal sector and marketplaces had occurred before the destruction of the Maxwell Street Market. This exchange might have further informed policy decisions and perhaps avoided some of the negative effects of dismantling the market. Nonetheless, we thank those who commented for their thoughtful responses. We agree with many but not all of their views, as the responses below suggest. Our methodology involved integrating ethnography and analytical economics; throughout, we have tried to strike a reasonable balance between analysis and participation.

scholarly journals Health Inequity and Institutional Ethnography: Mapping the Problem of Policy Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-80
Author(s):  
Elizabeth McGibbon ◽  
Katherine Fierlbeck ◽  
Tari Ajadi
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Institutional Ethnography ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Health Inequity ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Key Points ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Narratives ◽  
Critical Policy ◽  
Relations Of Power

Health equity (HE) is a central concern across multiple disciplines and sectors, including nursing. However, the proliferation of the term has not resulted in corresponding policymaking that leads to a clear reduction of health inequities. The goal of this paper is to use institutional ethnographic methods to map the social organization of HE policy discourses in Canada, a process that serves to reproduce existing relations of power that stymie substantive change in policy aimed at reducing health inequity. In nursing, institutional ethnography (IE) is described as a method of inquiry for taking sides in order to expose socially organized practices of power. Starting from the standpoints of HE policy advocates we explain the methods of IE, focusing on a stepwise description of theoretical and practical applications in the area of policymaking. Results are discussed in the context of three thematic areas: 1) bounding HE talk within biomedical imperialism, 2) situating racialization and marginalization as a subaltern space in HE discourses, and 3) activating HE texts as ruling relations. We conclude with key points about our insights into the methodological and theoretical potential of critical policy research using IE to analyze the social organization of power in HE policy narratives. This paper contributes to critical nursing discourse in the area of HE, demonstrating how IE can be applied to disrupt socially organized neoliberal and colonialist narratives that recycle and redeploy oppressive policymaking practices within and beyond nursing.

Considering critical turns in research on educational leadership and policy

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 838-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Diem ◽  
Michelle D. Young
Keyword(s):  
Educational Leadership ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Education Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Critical Policy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of critical policy analysis (CPA) in the fields of educational leadership and policy. In addition to exploring how CPA compares to traditional research approaches in educational leadership and policy, the authors consider the influence of long-established ways of knowing, why scholars choose to engage in CPA and how and why scholars who utilize this approach decide on specific methods. Design/methodology/approach – The exploration draws primarily on the use of CPA in the USA, though the authors also examine how scholars working within the UK utilize CPA. Findings – In the review of critical policy literature, the authors identified a number of assumptions common to traditional and critical policy research theories and approaches. For example, systems theory and analysis, structural analysis, cost-benefit analysis, technicist models, and political models were commonly used within traditional literature. In comparison, critical policy researchers relied on theoretical perspectives informed by critical theory, feminist theories, and critical race perspectives, among others. Critical policy researchers used these perspectives to engage in critique, interrogate policy processes, and epistemological roots of policy work, reveal policy constructions, and examine players involved in the policy development, interpretation, and implementation processes. Notably, the work of critical educational leadership and policy scholars also emphasizes the importance of context, the theory-method relationship and methodology. Originality/value – While there is a growing movement occurring in the education leadership and policy fields toward critical analyses of educational research, little is known about how scholars decide what methods to employ when conducting such analyses. The authors discuss the possibilities for scholars utilizing these methods in order to explore the complexities of education leadership and policy problems.

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