Course description

Comparative Education Policy courseAcross OECD countries, education has become a priority, with over 12% of public expenditures invested annually. Our fast changing economies and societies rely on the capacity of education systems to prepare students for their future.
How are OECD education systems facing this challenge? What types of reforms can be implemented?  How to analyse the types of policy solutions required?  
This course for students of international relations aims to develop students' skills to undertake education policy analysis and communicate effectively in international environments. The 1-semester course is divided into three parts: 
​
  •  Education policy in a comparative perspective. Students review theories of education policy and policy making, change and actors. They analyse policy challenges as well as  global trends in education policy.​
  • Knowledge of comparative analytical tools for policy making. Students learn about and research education policy issues building on quantitative date such as OECD’s PISA, TALIS or Education at a Glance or other quantitative and qualitative sources.
  • Responding to concrete education policy challenges: Students work together to examine challenges countries face as they seek to reform their education systems and respond to changing skills needs. They explore the types of possible policy responses through analysis and presentation of case studies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Proposed Education Reform Program for France

Image
Abraham Collier (contributors: Elisa Soyer, Lukas Meeth, Trish Suresh) The education system in France is one of the oldest and most admired in the world, with strong performance on PISA and other international standardized tests. However, those same PISA scores indicate a central weakness in France’s primary and secondary systems: inequality based on social background. Smart students from less wealthy families simply don’t have the same opportunities that they do in an average OECD country, and students from rural families are less likely to graduate from upper secondary than their urban counterparts. Potential Drivers of Inequality To understand possible drivers of this inequality, a team of master level students from the Paris School of International Affairs recently undertook an examination of the French system relative to other OECD peers. Their research yielded the following areas of divergence: 1.      Resource allocation between schools an...
Read more

Equity and Quality in education: a spotlight on Korea

Image
Chiara Maria Achermann and Jacques Rosenberg   Korea’s focus on — and success in — education Korea’s education policy has proven to be a benchmark for many countries. Taking a closer look at what Korea does in practice can be useful for understanding what works and what doesn’t in education. According to the OECD, “almost one in five 15 year-old-students across OECD countries does not reach a minimum level of skills to function in today’s society, and there are large performance differences between students of different socio-economic backgrounds” (OECD, 2015, 44). We can agree that a child’s success depends on equity in and quality of education. But what does this mean? Basically, equity and quality means fairness and inclusion. Fairness means that no personal or social circumstances should stand in the way of a child’s potential, curiosity, and path to future success. Inclusion implies that every child should attain at least a minimum skills level (OECD, 2015, 43). ...
Read more

Educational Improvement: What Role for the EU?

Image
Christa Rawkins International and transnational organisations have a growing influence on national education policies.  The EU needs to strengthen its position to avoid being left behind. Across the world, national education systems face the same key challenge: how to prepare students for an unpredictable, globalised future. The global governance of education therefore plays an increasingly significant role in international discourse. As such, international organisations have more and more influence; indeed, Jakobi (2009) refers to them as “the main drivers of educational change”.  In this increasingly populated and active educational landscape, what is the role of regional organisations? This post considers the European Union’s direct activity and influence upon the national education policies of community members and offers approaches to consolidating this position. While education has always been a national responsibility, some European-wide initi...
Read more