1. Chapter 3 – Policy and Politics Understanding Canadian Schools Young, Levin, Wallin

2. Policy Policy – A general approach to things, intended to guide behaviour Policy decisions usually have broad implications within a particular setting

3. Policy Affects.... 1.What is taught 2.Who can teach 3.How students are treated 4.How teaching occurs 5.How schools operate 6.Where teaching occurs

4. Politics “Who gets what.” The process used by society (or an organization within society) to determine how to distribute power, wealth, opportunity, status, and other social goods

5. Politics often concern questions of choice Not everyone can have what they want so the questions becomes “Who gets what they want and who does not?” Glenn Tinder describes a political system as a set of arrangements by which some people dominate others.

6. Education Policy Some of the most basic policies are cast in provincial legislation, which gives them legal force. School boards will set motions such as programs offered and parental involvement

7. Politics/Policy Every time a policy is enacted/changed it will surely involve some degree of politics before and after. Admin and teachers may make decisions that will only directly affect a few individuals, but will indirectly affect every person within the system.

8. Unfortunately, personal decisions are often political matters as well. To summarize, in a practical sense, politics is defined as the way that individually,or working with others, we try to create the kind of school we want.

9. Political Dilemmas Centralization vs. Decentralization Professional Authority vs. Lay Authority Uniformity vs. Diversity – Language and Religion

10. Elements of Political Analysis 1.What is the issue and how it is being defined? 2.Who is involved in making the decision? 3.Through what decision-making process will a decision be made? 4.What factors might influence the decision? 5.What are the outcomes of a political process?

11. The Stone Angel Get into your numbered groups (Re)read the short story at the beginning of Chapter 3 (if necessary) Identify the elements of the story that correspond with your part of the process. 5 MINUTES!!

12. 1.What is the issue and how it is being defined? 2.Who is involved in making the decision? 3.Through what decision-making process will a decision be made? 4.What factors might influence the decision? 5.What are the outcomes of a political process? 6.Identify some of the short/long term consequences associated with banning/not banning the book.

13. 1. What is the Issue? The important thing to remember is that any given political/policy issue is viewed differently by different people Over time, people/organizations views can shift and that we do not have the benefit of hindsight

14. The heterogeneity of Canada ensures that there is usually a conflict of interest The danger is that the democratic process will be circumvented In many cases people have neither the time nor interest to develop an in depth understanding of the issue

15. Evidence and Argument Evidence is, of course, an important part of any decision making process Unfortunately, evidence will not always be produced “neutrally” Arguments on the other hand are usually experience based

16. 2. Who Will be Involved? Internal Stakeholders – Key participants in the educational system. – Teachers, school trustees, school administrators – Support staff, bus drivers, maintenance/caretaking Used to be a highly consultative process Has changed with politicalization of education

17. External Stakeholders – Groups whose main focus is not the education system – Business organizations – Labour unions – Other community groups

18. Who should participate? Everybody! – People will more likely abide by a decision they had a hand in making – People have the right to be involved in a decision that will affect them. How do people participate? Voting. – Tends to favour established groups – Excludes through process and language

19. 3. How is the Decision Made? Legislation Regulation Policy Statement Direct Service Incentives Politics are a two way street. School boards can put pressure on the province as well.

20. The most “action packed” politics usually occur at a local level, and often involve fairness of resource allocation. School boards can become caught in the middle of arguments between particular schools. Similar debates occur within a school My advice – Don’t get involved in local politics!

21. 4. Influential Factors Political Economic Ideological Pragmatic Media

22. 5. Outcomes If it were as simple as implementing a policy, then education would be relatively easy. But. It’s not! Making a statement and implementation are two entirely different things. Remember, hindsight is 20/20