This document discusses and defines key concepts related to educational policy including: - Policy, public policy, education policy, policy formulation, and policy implementation. It also defines programs, procedures, rules, regulations, laws, legislation, and proclamations. - It provides details on the meanings and definitions of these concepts, comparing and contrasting them. For example, it states that a policy is a general plan that guides management, while a procedure describes the specific steps to implement policies or programs. - The document also discusses the nature of public policy and education policy, stating that education policy establishes the main goals and priorities in education that a government pursues.

1. Educational Policy Analysis and Design
Conceptualizing the similarities and differences among Policy,
program, procedure, rule, regulation, law, legislation and
proclamation.
By:
Chala Ayele

2. Introduction
1. Conceptual meanings of:
 Policy
 Public Policy
 Education Policy
 Policy formulation
 Policy implementation
 program,
 procedure,
 rule,
 regulation,
 law
 legislation and proclamation

3. 1. The Concept of Policy
 The concept of policy denotes deliberate choice of action or inaction, rather than the effects
of interrelating forces
 That means 'inaction’ as well as action and reminds us that ‘attention should not focus
exclusively on decisions which produce change, but must also be sensitive to those which
resist change and are difficult to observe because they are not represented in the policy-
making process by legislative enactment. Smith (1976).
• A programme policy is concerned with the design of a programme in a particular area, while a
multi-programme policy decision deals with competing programme areas.

4. Cont.---
• All large organizations seek to clarify their overall objectives and operational procedures with
broad statements which are usually referred to as policy statements.
• Policy statements are typically originated by the executive office having overall
responsibilities for the government offices responsible for the respective government sectors.
• A policy is a general standing plan guiding the management in the process of organizations
management operations.
• It guides thinking, decision making and action in the organization. It acts as a standing plan
offering readymade or standing answer to a recurring question.
• Policies define the boundaries within which management can decide and act in order to
accomplish objectives.( E.E.P.S.P.and Packages (ScLM-112)

5. The Meaning of Policy
Different scholars have given different meanings and definitions for policy.
• aims or goals, or statements of what ought to happen
• a position or stance developed in response to a problem or issue of conflict, and
directed towards a particular objective.
• purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors in dealing with
a problem or matter of concern.
• a broad statement that sets out the government’s main goals and priorities.
• defines a particular stance, aiming to explore solutions to an issue
Policy-making should be preceded by research, evidence-collection and debates
on the identified issue or need, as well as on the proposed vision, options and
means to address such issues or needs.

6. -
• The implicit/not directly expressed/ or explicit specification of courses of
purposive action to be followed in dealing with a recognized problem or matter
of concern, and
• It directed towards the accomplishment of some intended or desired set of
goals.
• Policy is an official declaration on the way a system should operate, often
accompanied by a time table for implementation and a statement on financial
backing.
• Policy is a pattern of direction for the guidance of those who carry
responsibility for the management of activities of the organization.

7. -
• Policies are standing decisions made to ensure uniform actions in the
handling of repetitive problems and questions that are significant to the
organization at large. UNESCO (2013)
• From the above definitions we can understand that policies are;
• Guidelines which are used to execute actions ;
• Describe the major features of how the accomplishment of objectives will
be pursued.
• Policies point out how the organization is going to get to the goal

8. Policies, Goals and Decisions
Goals: what policies aim at or hope to achieve.
• A desired state of affairs that a society or an organization attempts to
realize.
Decisions: core of DM is to make a choice from alternatives available
in order to take an action.
• It is an act of making a choice.
• Policy is the broad direction or perspective that the government lays
down in order to take decisions.
• Decisions can be a one-time action while policy consists of several
decisions that are taken to fulfill its aims.
• A policy consists of a series of decisions and has a comparatively
longer time perspective.

9. Similarities
• Both Policy & Decision Making are concerned with choice among
alternatives and for both similar processes can be followed in generating
alternatives.
• But we should always remember that policy is a more comprehensive term,
as it encompasses a series of decisions and has a comparatively longer time
perspective.
Public Policy
• The expressed intentions of government actors relative to a public problem
and activities related to those intentions
• The outputs of a political system, usually in the form of rules, regulations,
laws, ordinances, court decisions, administrative decisions, and other forms.
• Public Policy may be perceived as a pattern of activity applied consistently
and repetitively.
• is the dynamic process through which a political system handles a public
problem.

10. • Public policy: is a system of laws, regulatory measures, courses of action, and funding
priorities concerning a given topic publicized by a governmental entity or its
representatives.
• Public policies are one of the main means through which order is set in societies and
systems are governed.
• Public policies also play a key role in introducing changes to societies and in guiding
individual and collective behavior.
• Public policy focuses on ‘the public and its problems’
Public policies are concerned with:
• How are problems and issues defined and constructed?
• How are they placed on political and policy agenda?
• How policy options emerge?
• How and why governments act or do not act?
• What are the effects of government policy?

11. Nature of public policies
• Public policies are goal oriented.
• Formulated and implemented in order to attain the objectives which the
government has in view for the ultimate benefit of the masses in general.
• Public policy is the outcome of the Government’s collective actions.
• It means that it is a pattern or course of activity of the governmental
officials and actors in a collective sense.
• Public Policy is what the government actually decides or chooses to do.
• It is the relationship of the government units to the specific field of political
environment in a given administrative system
• Public Policy is positive in the sense that it depicts the concern of the
government and involves its action to a particular problem on which the
policy is made.

12. Education Policy
• An education policy establishes the main goals and priorities pursued
by the government in matters of education –
• at the sector and sub-sector levels –
• with regard to specific aspects such as access, quality and teachers, or
to a given issue or need.
• This sort of broad statement assumes a multitude of other, more
specific, policy objectives covering the education sector or sub-sectors
(e.g. basic, secondary and tertiary education).
• Policy objectives can pertain to a wide range of areas, including
curriculum, teacher/professional development, learning materials,
management and assessment.

13. • It seeks to answer questions about;
• the purpose of education,
• the objectives that it is designed to attain,
• the methods for attaining them and
• the tools for measuring their success or failure.
• In the process of education policy development, various documents for
instance policies, strategies and plans are produced.

14. .
• A national education policy establishes the main goals and priorities
pursued by the government in matters of education at the sector and
sub-sector levels with regard to specific aspects such as access, quality
and teachers, or to a given issue or need.
• A strategy specifies how the policy goals are to be achieved.
• A plan defines the targets, activities to be implemented and the
timeline, responsibilities and resources needed to realize the policy and
strategy. UNESCO, (2013)

15. 1.4. Policy formulation
• Policy formulation refers to the process of identifying courses of action,
often called alternatives or options, to resolve problems faced by a
particular organization (Anderson, 2003).
• The idea of formulating a policy comes as a result of policy demands or
claims for action on a particular issue that is made by other actors.
• The actors could be citizens, customers or the civil society, among others.
• For example, a demand could be made to prohibit certain activities within
the community or organization.

16. -
• The importance of formulating a policy is that it acts as the formal expression of the
organization’s intentions and goals and what should be done to achieve the same goals.
• This creates order in the organization, which in turn, helps the organization to move
from the past to the future.
• In this case, the future state would be to develop the economy or to sustain
improvements in the social system or to increase the capacity of the organization (Sapru,
1998:11)
• In policy process legislatures are those officials who have the legal authority to
formulate policies.
• They are the supreme policy making bodies of organizations especially in government.
• For example, the legislature in a government system would be the National
Assembly/Parliament

17. 1.5. Policy Implementation
• Policy implementation is the process of changing a formulated policy into
reality.
• This is the stage where the complete process of policy circle is translated
into a legal mandate whether it is an executive order of an enacted statue.
• In the execution of public policy, the combination of human, material,
machine, and money is highly necessary (Ajulor, 2016).
• Policy implementation is critical to the success of any policy since it
constitutes the epicenter of the policy process.
• Efficient and effective policy implementation would require inputs of
sound managerial and administrative capabilities
• The Executive organ is an organization that is responsible for
implementing policies. :

18. 2. Program
• A program is a document explaining a goal;
• who is responsible for achieving the goal, any legal or binding requirements, and
what the result will be.
• Programs might be tied to legal regulations.
• They explain the overall system to both the employees and the outside governing
agency about what is done to address a topic.
• A program will outline how outside agencies or other departments/people interface
with your company.
• Programs state the goal and then point to policy and procedure documents used to
address the goal.

19.  The program simply outlines who does what and why. While a Policies
present the company principles.
 The policy tells the employees about the company requirements regarding
a specific
 A policy can also be a stand-alone document that is not necessarily tied to
a program or procedure.
 Programs are short-term interventions that create temporary
improvements
 Policies, on the other hand, are covenants we collectively choose to live

20. • 3. Procedure
• A procedure describes the process of getting the work done or
achieving a goal.
• Procedures are described in training materials, such as guides,
handbooks, checklists, on-the-job training memos, etc.
• Procedures are normally instructions to employees describing
exactly how to implement policies or programs by stating precise
steps that need to be followed.
• Policies are the rules and regulations that serve as a guiding
principle for the organization while making decisions.
• On the other hand, procedures are the precise steps that are
followed while carrying out an organization activity.

21. • 4. Rule
• Rules are binding, and describe what is generally considered to
be the proper course of conduct.
• Rules are used by agencies to “fill in the gaps” of legislation.
• It implement, interpret, apply or enforce a region or federal law
or court decision.
• A rule is adopted by an agency; a statute is a law that is passed
by the state Legislature.
• A rule identifies general expectations or standards; a single rule
can encompass a wide range of expected behaviors.
• A procedure communicates expectations for specific behaviors.

22. • 5. Legislation
• Legislation is a directive proposed by a legislative body while a regulation is a
specific requirement within legislation.
• Legislation is broader and more general while regulation is specific and details
how legislation is enforced.
• Legislation is a directive placed by a government or governing body on either an
industry, a section of community .
• Legislation is passed as laws by a parliament of a country or some other legislative
arm of a government.
• After legislation is passed, there will be regulators, usually government bodies,
who will examine the laws passed and work out the details that need to be enforced
so that they are followed.

23. • For instance a parliament may pass a legislation that enforces a uniform interconnection fee for
telecommunication service providers in a country, and then a government department (regulator) of
communications will detail the nitty-gritty of the legislation and enforce it.
• At times before a part of legislation becomes a law, it may be referred to as a bill.
• Some countries require legislation to be validated by the executive (usually President) before it
could be enforced as law.
• Commonly a member of the governing body or legislature will propose legislation or by the
executive, which then becomes open for debate by legislators.
• Amendments are usually made before it is finally passed.
• Government legislative priorities often determine whether a given bill is proposed and enforced as
law.

24. • Regulation.
• A regulation refers to a specific requirement that can take on various
forms, such as industry specific in scope.
• They are basically the way the legislation is enforced by regulators
and they support the requirements of the legislation.
• The regulations is could either be internally or externally developed so
as a means of compliance, they may be developed through technical
specifications

25. • 7, Law
• Laws are set standards, principles, and procedures that must be followed in
society.
• Law is mainly made for implementing justice in the society.
• There are various types of laws framed like criminal laws, civil laws, and
international laws.
• While a law is framed for bringing justice to the society, a policy is framed for
achieving certain goals.
• Laws are also rules that govern everyone equally, while regulations only effect
those who deal directly with the agency who is enforcing them.

26. -
• Understanding the difference between law and policy and the intersections
between the two, Policy is the outlines of what a government is going to do
and what it can achieve for the society as a whole.
• It evolves the principles that are needed for achieving the goal.
• Policies are only documents and not law, but these policies can lead to new
laws.e.g education law (Free and Compulsory Education)
• Policies are statements of overall purpose that set out goals and provide
principles that should be followed to achieve those goals.
• Policy goals and principles are made into laws by proclamations and
regulations

27. 8. Proclamation
• A proclamation is an official declaration issued by a person of
authority to make certain announcements known.
• Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of
some nations and are usually issued in the name of the head of state.
• A proclamation is also a formal announcement, made under the great
seal, of some matter which the government in Council desires to make
known to his or her subjects: e.g., the declaration of war, or state of
emergency,

28. ---
• A proclamation may be issued to declare the intention of the head of a
government to exercise some prerogative or enforce some law which has for a
long time been dormant or suspended.
• Proclamations are only binding when they do not contradict existing laws, or
tend to establish new ones, but only enforce the execution of those which are
already in being, in such manner as the head of the government judges
necessary.

29. .
• The protocol made to improve or noteworthy. The Commission for Higher
Education was established in 1977 by Proclamation No. 109/77 to ensure that
higher education produces the required managers and planners and medium level
personnel to meet the immediate needs of the socialist economy.

30. -