Towards a culture of quality policymaking in transition countries.
The
case of education
- Research proposal -
The title of this research proposal is Towards a culture of quality policymaking in
transition countries. The case of education and falls under the 8th
subject area in the call for proposals: Policy
Making in Transition Contexts: The Leslie Carol Eliason
Memorial Fellowship.
The main reason which motivates this research and
the main challenge that determined the application is a previous team research
under LGI policy fellowship started in 2002 focused on decentralization in
education in transition countries, performed together with colleagues from
The whole exchange of ideas among us and the main
findings of our investigations, focused on identifying the systemic conditions
for strategic steering and quality policy making in education in transition
countries, finally brought into attention an extremely interesting transition
process in public policymaking, visible inside the specific countries, but also
the approximate repetition of the same steps by each country, according to the
actual level of their political, social, economic and not least educational
reforms.
A whole culture of quality policymaking in
education started to develop, and a transition can be observed from a contemplative culture, deeply rooted in
the communist years, but also in the broader and more subtle social and
everyday life culture of Balkans and Slavic countries, towards an evaluative policy culture, more close to
the western values and, generally, to the values of globalization. This unique
policy environment offered by transition contexts and the possibility to
capture and describe such a process as development
of a quality policymaking culture could contribute to avoid a double danger
that is obvious for those who studied the realities in post-communist
countries:
·
A
schizophrenic evolution in the field of public policy, generated by the
two-sided reality build in the last years and the gap between the policy discourse, on the one side
and the effective implementation
practices on the other side. The public policy development is only partly
self-generated, as a need of the different sectors in their improvement
efforts. There was and there still is a huge pressure, coming from political
and financial “dependencies” of these countries: negotiation chapters with the
European Union, structural adjustments imposed by World Bank and International
Monetary Fund etc.
·
Repetition
of the same pathway and, implicitly, of the same mistakes by different
countries situated at different development levels in their political, social
and economic growth. The labyrinth of transition, even it looks so different
from one country to the other, in the field of public policy development we had
the possibility to note many similar evolutions that would make possible and
fruitful the investigation of main characteristics and trends of public policy
development.
We make reference to a culture of quality policymaking because we strongly believe that
in transition context the quality of policymaking process is not primarily a technical problem of those involved,
but a cultural problem, deeply rooted in the capacity to link discourse and
practice, to ‘merge’ what we say and what we actually do.
The actualized and “European” or “global” discourse
of policymakers in transition contexts, very knowledgeable about language and theory
of public policy, is not necessarily a
guarantee for the successful implementation of development programs in these
countries.
The basic assumption that we have is that
policymaking in education is more likely to produce high quality results if
there is a mature policy system in
place. By mature policy system we understand that some conditions are met in
the process of development and implementation of educational policies:
Having in mind these three directions, we will
investigate the maturity level of educational policymaking systems in
Since education is one of the most dynamic and
present public spheres in development efforts and programs, with a huge impact
not only on a large number of people, but also with a long term impact, we
thought that this would be a good case
study that will allow for analogies and transfers towards what public
policy generally means.
3.1. The general research
problem
The general research problem of this proposal is
linked to the process of policymaking in transition contexts, namely to the
investigation of the level of development of the policymaking system in
education.
We choose as a case study the field of education,
with the intention to make analogies and transfers towards other public spheres
and to try to underline the general framework and the coordinates of building a
quality policymaking culture, as a joint result of internal development and
external pressures.
3.2. Definition of the research problem
This research aims to investigate the process of development
of a mature policymaking system in transition contexts and, based on that, the articulation
of a policymaking culture. We plan to analyze the technical-functional,
conceptual and professional development of this process, directly in two
countries:
o
o
This direct and in-depth study will be complemented
by study of basic educational policy documents from other transition countries
in the region (
The different stages of different countries could
be visible in terms of:
o
Stage
of transition (general one, but especially educational), i.e. functioning of
new institutions and management systems.
o
Level
of maturity of policymaking process, i.e. competency of policy developers,
separation between politics and policy.
o
Degree
of transition from a contemplative policy culture
(discursive / ideological, control-based, eruptive / pressure-oriented,
routine-oriented) towards a quality, evaluative policy culture (reflexive
/ action oriented, trust-based, evolutive /
strategically oriented, creative / innovation oriented).
3.3. The research questions
The main research question is What is the level of development / maturity of the educational policymaking
systems in
Subsequent to this question, we will also try to
answer questions such as:
·
What
are the steps of the policy cycle followed and what are the steps ignored? How
functional is the articulation between different steps?
·
To
what extent is a policy language created and used on a regular basis? Do the
structure and language of basic policy documents prove a mature and sound
process of policymaking?
·
What
are the institutions involved in educational policymaking? How are they
structured and what functions do they have?
·
What
are the main tools used by policymakers to ensure the strategic steering and quality
policy making? (regulation and deregulation
mechanisms, financial incentives and disincentives, professional self-regulation,
standards and benchmarks, targeted development programs, planning and
cooperation networks etc.)
3.4. The working hypothesis
1. There is a process of development,
in transition contexts / countries, of a mature policymaking system which makes
the ground for articulation of a policymaking culture.
a. If there is such a process in
policymaking, it will be visible in educational field and describing this
transition in education will allow, using analogical reasoning, to draw
conclusions about policymaking in the public sector in general (with necessary
methodological precautions).
2. The technical-functional
maturity of the policymaking in education varies according to different steps
in the policy process and from one country to another.
3. There is a relation between
the quality of the policymaking in education and the level of institutional,
conceptual and technical-functional maturity of the policy process.
4. There is a large amount of
transferable experience in the field of public policymaking among transition
countries situated at different levels of development of at different stages of
transition.
The objective of the research is to formulate
evidence-based conclusions and inferences about these research questions and
working hypothesis.
5. Research methodology & procedures
Having regard that the research has (at least) a
regional dimension, we have in mind three modalities to gather and then
interpret data for answering the research questions and test the hypotheses:
When necessary, as result of the questionnaires and
interviews, translation of key policy documents will be arranged.
Another important factor is also the personal
experience that I gather as consultant working in these two countries and having
a clear idea about the educational policy context there.
5.
Outcomes of the research. Relevance and utility of results
The main outcome of this research will consist in an
educational policy analysis, grounded
in the realities of three transition countries (especially
The results will have
·
A regional relevance, having regard the three
representative countries selected for the study;
·
A trans-regional relevance,
given the
possibility to use thee results in other transition contexts;
·
A field-specific relevance,
taking
into account that policy making in education
is being studied.
·
A cross-field relevance, beyond education and with a clear opening towards
the policy making in the public sphere in general.
The results of the investigation would be of use
both for specialists and policy makers from
transition contexts, but also for the very large number of consultants and
experts from the other countries working in
or for transition countries,
especially as technical assistance in different donor projects.
6.
Potential risks