Education policy and curriculum policy

Educational policy can be defined as the principles, priorities and methods relating to the exercise of social influence on education. A distinction should be made between educational policy as a practical activity and educational policy as a scientific discipline (see Veselý, 2006 for more details):

- Educational policy as a practical activity - ministerial decision-making, negotiation of funding arrangements, curriculum development.

- Educational policy as a discipline - the scientific investigation, analysis and justification of how practical educational policy works and how it could be improved.

Levels of education policy

Education policy is not made and implemented only at the level of the nation state. There are global and supranational legislative frameworks and regulations that are binding on nation states. It should be borne in mind that education policy operates on the principle of subsidiarity, according to which decision-making and accountability in public affairs should take place at the lowest level of government closest to the citizens.

In order to understand the broader framework of the environment in which teachers operate on a daily basis, it is necessary to distinguish between the following levels of education policy:

- global - OECD, World Bank, UNESCO education documents;

- transnational - EU education documents (e.g. Lisbon Strategy);

- national - educational concepts, institutional arrangements of the education system;

- regional (regional);

- local (municipal);

- school and university.ng educational policy in real practice and how its (non) functionality affects the performance of the teaching profession.

How does education policy work? 

For an education policy to be successful, three conditions must be met:

- it focuses on achieving goals and solving problems that are relevant to the needs of society and pupils/students,

- it chooses appropriate instruments to achieve the objectives/problems,

- it sets up effective institutional arrangements and appropriately sets out the competences and responsibilities of those who are to implement the policy.

The first condition relates to the content of the education policy (what and why the policy is pursued). The second condition relates to how (by what instruments and means) the objectives are achieved. The third condition concerns who implements them and under what conditions. These three conditions are analogous to the main phases of policy making.

Effective influence on educational processes is only possible with a good knowledge of reality. In order to design effective measures, an education policy maker needs to know not only what the facts are (descriptions), but also why they are the way they are and what could lead to their change (explanations).

Who influences education policy?

There is no clear answer to the question of which actors actually decide the fate of education. It turns out that in education policy, the interests of individuals are very closely tied to the role they occupy in relation to the education system. People in these roles have a common set of interests that distinguish them from people who occupy different positions (see Kalous, 2006 for a more detailed discussion).

The most important actors in education policy include:

- elected politicians,

- school administrators,

- teachers and their organisations,

- parents and their associations,

- students,

- churches,

- employers,

- experts.

Curriculum policy

Curriculum is usually conceptualised as a complex of issues related to addressing the questions of why, who, what, how, when, under what conditions and with what expected effects to educate.

From the definition of curriculum, it is also possible to derive the areas of interest that curriculum policy sets out:

- strategies for the development, implementation and evaluation of curriculum documents

- the division of responsibilities of the actors involved in curriculum development, implementation and evaluation

- the binding nature of curriculum documents, etc.

One of the main products of curriculum policy is the approved curriculum documents. The aim of any curriculum change (i.e. curriculum reform) is that these changes do not remain on paper, but that they are put into practice (implementation) and not only bring about the desired changes in the implementation of teaching, but also lead to improved learning outcomes (see Greger, 2006 for more details).

Curricular documents

In accordance with the principles of curriculum policy, formulated in the Strategy for Education Policy of the Czech Republic until 2030+ and enshrined in Act No.561/2004 Coll., on pre-school, primary, secondary, higher vocational and other education (Education Act), curriculum documents are created at two levels - state and school.

The state level of the curriculum document system is represented by the Framework Educational Programmes (hereinafter referred to as FEPs). The FEPs define the binding frameworks of education for its individual stages - pre-school, primary and secondary education. Here you can find links to the curriculum frameworks for all levels of education: https://www.edu.cz/rvp-ramcove-vzdelavaci-programy/

The school level is represented by the school curricula (hereafter referred to as the curricula), according to which education is carried out in individual schools (for more details, see the Framework Curriculum Framework, 2021).

The broadly understood system of curriculum documents also includes:

(a) International curriculum documents (EU, OECD, UNESCO, etc.). An example is the Bologna Declaration (1999), which aims to increase the accessibility, attractiveness and quality of higher education through the promotion of international mobility of students and teachers and the introduction of comparable university degrees. Another example is the Memorandum on Lifelong Learning (2000).

(b) General documents on education legislation (Charter of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Law on Teaching Personnel (563/2004 of the Collection of Laws), etc.). The current school legislation can be consulted in the publication of the Institute of Education No. 1447 - Regional Education and Teaching Staff (2021 and other updated editions).

Textbooks are also considered curriculum documents.

Summary

A distinction should be made between education policy as a practical activity and education policy as a discipline.

Educational policy is not created and implemented only at the level of the nation state; there are global and supranational legislative frameworks and regulations that are binding on nation states.

In education policy, the interests of individuals are very closely tied to the role they occupy in relation to the education system.

One of the main products of curriculum policy is approved curriculum documents.

In the Czech Republic, curriculum documents are produced at two levels - state and school.