Global Advanced Research Journal of Educational Research and Reviews (GARJERR) ISSN: 2315-5132

July 2015, 4(7): pp. 114-122

Copyright © 2015 Global Advanced Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Education Policy-Making – Wither the State as Policy Actor

Nicholas Waterman

United Kingdom

Email: waterman.nick@gmail.com

Accepted 07 July, 2015

Abstract

The development of education policy internationally, reflected in Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals, provides examples of policy convergence at national levels. Yet the process of such convergence largely remains unexplored. Using the case study of a developing African county, this article seeks to explore ways in which policy convergence may occur. This article suggests that the paucity of national policy-making capacity in developing countries and the weakness of local policy actors results in policy space being penetrated by external policy actors as agents of policy transfer. The transfer of policy may be subject to varying degrees of voluntarism and coercion. This article concludes that ministries of education in developing countries are often marginalised in actual policy development. This may result in lack of policy commitment at national level. It may also result in policy failure due to lack of policy fit.

Keywords: Public policy-making; education; international development; Lesotho