PGDEPA – Advance Course in Educational Policy 2025-26 (Phase 4))

PGDEPA – Advance Course in Educational Policy

COURSE CODE: 909

Course Title- Advanced Course in Educational Policy

Course Credit 4

Sessions 10

Course Convener: Dr. Kashyapi Awasthi

Associated Faculty: Dr. Sangeeta Angom and Dr. Dharamrakshit Gautam

Introduction

This course is designed to provide practical guidance on the policy-making process in the education sector. This course would provide a starting point to help those working on developing or reviewing policies and equip them with the skills to design and implement effective education policies, focusing on last-mile delivery. Learners explore policy’s historical evolution, the institutions shaping its development and their role in it as system level administrators and street bureaucrats. Key takeaways include understanding factors influencing policy design, and recognizing political, legal, and social processes in shaping policies, policy monitoring and implementational issues and evaluating policies critically. The course highlights the importance of creating policies that address the needs of marginalized groups and offers comparative insights into how different countries approach policy within their constitutional frameworks. It would help identify what issues they need to take into account to ensure that policy is designed as per its procedural methods and is evidence-based, focused on outcomes and forward looking.

Objectives: The course would help in developing the following understandings and skills:

 Establish a strong foundation in public policy design, encompassing historical perspectives and contemporary best practices.

 Develop the ability to critically assess policy implementation processes, with a particular emphasis on challenges and strategies for effective last-mile delivery.

 Analyze the influence of constitutional principles and frameworks on policy development and implementation across diverse national contexts.

 Policy development as a democratic process rather than preserve of a few specialists.

 Learn about how interest groups and local associations play a role in the policymaking process.

  Gain insights into the power dynamics between interest groups and government bodies

 Explore about how social welfare programs are designed and administered and understand the complexities of managing social welfare programs

 Develop an understanding to critically evaluate social policies in terms of their effectiveness, inclusivity, and ability to address the needs of marginalized communities.

Unit 1: Public Policy: Foundation, Approaches and Structure

Unit 2: Designing Policy formulation and implementation - Evidence-based policy making –

Unit 3: Social Inclusion and Exclusion: Public Policy Perspectives

Methodology

The programme would be delivered through lecture and group work. The participants would be asked to work individually and in groups on given exercises. Suggestive exercises are: Engaging stake holders online for consultation (OECD guideline), and Choosing policy options, policy templates, policy stages etc.

Assessment

The course would be assessed with the help of written examination and project work on policy making. Relative Weight age Written exam of one hour 50 % Project work 50 %

Suggested Readings

  Public Policy Making in India, Ayyar, R.V. Vaidyanathan, 2009

 OECD; 1995 Recommendation of the Council on Improving the Quality of Government Regulation

 NCERT, 2009 Evaluation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Restricting and Reorganizing of Teacher Education

 CAG, 2008, Report No. PA 13 on Midday Meal

 The UK Government Modernizing Government White Paper, published in March 1999 

 UK Cabinet Office paper, Professional Policy-Making for the 21st Century,1999

 UK, the Centre for Management and Policy Studies in the Cabinet Office (CMPS). Better Policy Making, 2001  Scottish Executive report, Delivering Better Policy February 2002,

 Northern Ireland Civil Service, A Practical Guide to Policy Making in Northern Ireland OECD, Citizens as Partners, information, consultation and Public Participation in Policy making.

 What happens on the ground: Persistent issues in implementation Research, Public Policy and Administration April 201429: 164-182, first published on February 25, 2014 UNESCO, 2013, UNESCO Handbook on Education Policy Analysis and Programming, Vol. I and Vol. II

 Srikanth and Samik, 2009, Techniques in Innovative Policy Making- Examples from India, ILO

 UNICEF, 2008, Bridging the gap: The role of monitoring and evaluation in Evidence based Policy making.

 Indian Journal of Public Administration 1992-apr vol. 38 iss. 2 pp.109—121 Public Policy-Making in India: Lessons from Rural Development Programmes

 The Indian Journal of Political Science 1987-jul-sep vol. 48 iss. 3 pp.336—353 Public policy making in India DOI: 10.2307/41855314 a a 28457339

 The Indian Journal of Political Science 2003-jul-dec vol. 64 iss. 3-4 pp.309—322 Public policy making in India: A Study of Sikkim DOI: 10.2307/41855787 a a 28459988  Lascoumes, P., & Le Galès, P. (2007). Introduction: Understanding public policy through its instruments—From the nature of instruments to the sociology of public policy instrumentation. Governance, 20(1), 1-21. Read pp. 1-5

 Peters, B. G. (2021). Advanced introduction to public policy. Edward Elgar Publishing. Read pp. 1 – 7

 Thomas R. Dye – Understanding Public Policy.

 Anderson, J. E. (2011). Public policy making: An introduction.

 Dür, A. (2019). How interest groups influence public opinion: Arguments matter more than the sources. European journal of political research, 58(2), 514-535.

 Baumgartner, F. R., Berry, J. M., Hojnacki, M., Leech, B. L., & Kimball, D. C. (2009). Lobbying and policy change: Who wins, who loses, and why. University of Chicago Press.