Analysis of Social and Educational Policies

Code:

E500

Acronym:

APSE

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Sociology of Education

Instance: 2013/2014 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Education Sciences
Course/CS Responsible:	First degree in Educational Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LCED	67	Official Curricular Structure	3	-	6	57	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The Curricular Unit Social and Education Policies Analysis aims at providing an approach to policies focused on their analysis and de-construction and at a deeper understanding of the “policy cycle”, from agenda setting to implementation levels. These stages (ideology, agenda, decision-making, policy formation and implementation) are simultaneously references for the development of the curricular unit.


Objectives:
- To introduce and discuss the theoretical perspectives on the elaboration and implementation of social and education policies;
- To identify methodologies used for the analysis of social and education policies;
- To identify and start to develop a sociological approach to social and education policies.
– To conceptualize social and education policies while projects of social change;
- To introduce and develop procedures of sociological analysis of social and education policies allowing a critical reflexion about the concepts and management of social change that they purport.

Learning outcomes and competences

Competences: 

- Understanding the processes and contexts where education and social policies are formed. 
- Critically identify the moments and the actors in the of policy formation, implementation and assessment. 
- To analyse political discourses and documents using models of analysis. 

Learning outcomes: 

- To relate policy formation and implementaion of education and of social and education policies to particular processes of socio-economic development and social change. 
- To identify (on the basis od models/methods of analysis) the diverse actors and agents in the policy making process and the potencial influence they might have in the elaboration, developemt and evaluation of projects in educational contexts. 

Working method

Presencial

Program

1. The framework of education and social policy analysis

1.1. State, welfare State and social policy: conceptions, finalities, objectives, instruments and critical visions

1.2. Key dimensions of education policy

1.3. The international context and education and social policy

 

2. Dimensions of sociological analysis of socioal and education policy

2.1. Processes of policy decision, elaboration and implementation

2.2. Processes of production of ideology, agenda setting and decision making

 

3. The analysis of education and social policy and policies

3.1. "The policy cycle approach", of Bowe, Ball and Gold

3.2. “The construction and deconstruction of educational policy documents”, of John Codd

3.3. The policies of education, training, social protection and social development in Portugal

Mandatory literature

Magalhães António M. MAgalhães 570; Reconfigurações. ISBN: 972-8562-20-9
Magalhães António M.; A^diferença somos nós. ISBN: 972-36-0761-1
ULL; Journal of education policy. ISBN: 0268-0939
CODD, John A.; "The Construction and Deconstruction of Educational Policy Documents", Journal of Education Policy, 3, 3, 235-247, Taylor & Francis, 1988. ISBN: 0268-0939
DALE, Roger ; “Specifying globalization effects on national policy: a focus on the mechanisms”, in Journal of Education Policy, 1999, Vol. 14, nº 1, pp. 1-17, Taylor & Francis, 1999. ISBN: 0268-0939
DALE, Roger ; “Globalização e Educação: Demonstrando uma ‘Cultura Educational Mundial Comum’ ou ‘Localizando Uma Agenda para a Educação Globalmente Estruturada’?", Educação, Sociedade & Culturas, 16., Afrontamento, 2000. ISBN: 0872-7643

Teaching methods and learning activities

- Face to face activities: presentations; debate, team work, tutorial meetings, and assessment.
- Autonomous work: text analysis, bibliographic research, writing texts.

keywords

Social sciences > Educational sciences
Social sciences > Political sciences > Public policy > Social policy

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	40,00
Teste	60,00
Total:	100,00

Eligibility for exams

The students must attend at least 75% of the sessions.

Calculation formula of final grade

- Analysis of a social or education policy, selected within a set of documents proposed by the teacher and relevant for the professionalizing areas of educational sciences. This task will done in a small group and presented and debated in the class. The analysis and presentation will have a ponderation of 40% of the final mark;

- written review and analysis of an education and/or social policy. This essay will be done in the evaluatin period. This task will have a ponderation of 60% of the final mark.

 

These two procedures will be assessed in a 0-20 scale. 8 will be the minimum mark to succeed in each task, and the final grade must be 10 to be well succeed in the Curricular Unit.

 

In case of not be succeed, the students must do a written final exam.

 

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

The students legally authorised to not attending the sessions will deliver, besides the paper referred to above, two reports on the bibliography about theme 1 and another on about theme 2.

Classification improvement

Students wishing to improve their final mark and those who did not succeed in the process of continuous evaluation can do a written exam on the contents of the curricular unit referred above in the period fixed by the institution.