Why Educational Researchers Should Care About Public Policy

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors" (Plato).
Or, why educational researchers should care (and do something) about educational policy.
Tristram Hooley (Reader in Career Development)
www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
Policy
A plan or course of action, as of a government, political party, or business, intended to influence and determine decisions, actions, and other matters. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/policy
Policy is a set of ideas and proposals for action, which culminates in government decision. Typically policy will become a rule or regulation, enforceable by law. http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/what-policy
The recent history of career education and guidance

Youth Employment Service Careers Service Careers Services (privatised) 1990s Connexions 2000s Collapse of Connexions following cuts and Education Act 2011 Will a school-based model emerge?
Targets Literacy
School buildings
Numeracy Employability
EMA
Higher education fees Polytechnic Teachers pay
GCSE
Class sizes
Ofsted
National Curriculum
Academisation
Analysing policy
What do the documents say? What do policy makers say in speeches etc.? Who is proposing the policy? Who is disagreeing with it? How does it relate to what went before (better, worse, makes no sense)? Will the policy actually be implemented? Where is the money? Who are the beneficaries?
Our engagement with policy

As learners As workers/professionals in the education system As citizens As votes As activists As lobbyists As politicians As researchers But what is this role?
Is there a role for researchers?
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it. (Marx, 1845)
Reponses to public policy

Ignore it
Critique it (from the vantage point of the Ivory Tower) Try and do something about it
What is an appropriate role?
Linking to the big picture Connecting to evidence Describing

Publicising and agitating
Scrutinising Offering solutions
Providing vision
Dangers
Time Believing that things only change through policymakers actions The lure of the technocracy Collusion and flattery
What would Antonio Gramsci say?

All men are intellectuals, but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals. One must speak for a struggle for a new culture, that is, for a new moral life that cannot but be intimately connected to a new intuition of life, until it becomes a new way of feeling and seeing reality.
How is policy changed?
Lindquists (1990) model
Knowledge Academics brokers
Policy makers
Change actors in education policy

Education practice
Public opinion Media
Education policy
Government Knowledge brokers
Civil society
Employers Schools organisations Professional associations Trade unions Etc.
Individuals in the system

Intellectuals
Example: Connexions research

Timely Relevant Involved key stakeholders (Unision, the professional bodies) Passed it to MPs/politicians Continued to make use of it after it was published.
Example 2: Education Select Committee
In conclusion
Policy provides a key context for your research regardless of what subject you are doing. Researchers are not in the business of making manifestos. But neither can they, or should they stand outside of policy and politics. Politicians and policy makers may well be interested in what you have to say. However, you are more likely to achieve influence slowly through stakeholders than you are to get helecoptered in as a policy guru.
References
Lindquist, E.A. 1990. The Third Community, Policy Inquiry, and Social Scientists. In Brooks, S. & Gagnon, A.-G (Eds). Social Scientists, Policy and the State. New York: Praeger. Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International Publishers. Hooley, T. and Watts, A.G. (2011). Careers Work with Young People: Collapse or Transition? Derby: International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby. Marx, K (1845) Theses on Feuerbach. Available from http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/original.htm
Some examples of our policy work

Finegold, P. with Stagg, P. and Hutchinson, J. (2011). Good Timing: Implementing STEM Careers Strategy in Secondary Schools. Coventry: Centre for Education and Industry (CEI),University of Warwick. Hooley, T., Watts, A. G., Sultana, R. G. and Neary, S. (2013). The 'blueprint' framework for career management skills: a critical exploration. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 41(2): 117-131. Hooley, T., Devins, D., Watts, A. G., Hutchinson, J., Marriott, J. and Walton, F. (2012). Tackling Unemployment, Supporting Business and Developing Careers. London: UKCES. Hooley, T., Marriott, J., Watts, A.G. and Coiffait, L. (2012). Careers 2020: Options for Future Careers Work in English Schools. London: Pearson. Hutchinson, J. (2012). Career-related learning and science education: The changing landscape. School Science Review, 346: 91-98. Neary, S. and Moore, N. (2011).Statement of Client Entitlement Good Practice Guidance for Organisations and Practitioners Providing Career Guidance Services. London: Lifelong Learning UK.
Tristram Hooley
Reader in Career Development International Centre for Guidance Studies University of Derby http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs t.hooley@derby.ac.uk @pigironjoe Blog at http://adventuresincareerdevelopment.wordpress.com

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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors" (Plato).

The recent history of career education and guidance

Higher education fees Polytechnic Teachers pay

Our engagement with policy

Is there a role for researchers?

Reponses to public policy

What is an appropriate role?

Linking to the big picture Connecting to evidence Describing

Scrutinising Offering solutions

What would Antonio Gramsci say?

How is policy changed?

Lindquists (1990) model

Knowledge Academics brokers

Change actors in education policy

Public opinion Media

Individuals in the system

Example: Connexions research

Example 2: Education Select Committee

Some examples of our policy work

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