Glossary Term

Education policy

A set of ideas or values about what education as a social institution and set of practices should look like. This includes who is taught what, how, and how these practices are to be governed. The substance of education policy is the stated objectives and the actions taken to achieve those objectives. Education policy is also about the process of formulating policy and who participates, which influences the process of implementing policy.

Adapted from:

  • Robertson, S. L. (2018). Researching global education policy: Angles In/On/Out. In A.Verger, M. Novelli, & H.K. Altinyelken (Eds). Global education policy and international development: New agendas, issues and policies (2nd ed., pp. 35-54). Bloomsbury.
  • Reimers, Fernando. (2019) Education Policy Analysis and Research in the Comparative Perspective [Syllabus]. Harvard Graduate School of Education.