On the notion of education policy: Mapping its landscape and scope

Education policy is a complex policy field that falls on the borderlines between education, economic policy and social policy. According to Callewaert (2006, 767), policy is “a set of guidelines within a ‘governing text’’’. At the same time, policy is a product and a process that ‘is still being made, and re-made as it is being implemented’ (Bowe et al. 1992, 14). Policy is closely linked with the notion of power, which in turn can be defined as ‘a relation between people, and is expressed in simple symbolic notation’ (Dahl 1957, 201). In the diverse constructions of policy, Jones (2013, 3ff.; see also Ball 1994; Bell & Stevenson 2006, 17f.) identifies four types of key themes in the field of education policy: policy as text, policy as values-laden actions, policy as process and policy as discourse.