You will need 20 minutes to complete this activity

1. In the discussion forum write what you understand by policy.
2. Read what your peers have posted in the forum and compare with your own definition of the term.

Policy is generally understood as a purposive set of actions (or inactions) that are taken to address an identified social problem or issue. According to Thomas Dye “… public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do,” (Dye, 1992:2) ^[1]. This seemingly old definition shows how vaguely policy is often defined and in fact, understood. You may have noticed how differently your peers defined policy in the discussion forum. You may also have identified some common elements in the definitions given by your peers.
Policy provides general parameters for the decision maker rather than specifics on what exactly should or should not be done. In education, policy provides general directions on who should provide education, under what conditions they should provide it, how that education should be funded, who should participate in education, what outcomes should be achieved and how those outcomes should be measured. You can see that within these parameters, there is a lot of flexibility involved in terms of how people may implement educational policy. The clearer the policy is stated the easier it is for people to interpret it for implementation purposes. For this to happen, policy should be defined and shared explicitly for everyone to understand the desired outcomes of educational endeavours.

You will need 20 minutes to complete this activity

1. Look for one education policy in your context
2. Do a quick review of that policy to identify:

i) Who were the key policy makers?

ii) What is the main objective of the policy?

iii) What are the aspects of the policy that are not clear to you?

Generally, policy making is an activity of government at national level and of school authorities at school level. Its main objective is to guide, regulate and control education.

However, there are instances where policy is not necessarily articulated on paper but only exists as actions. In this latter instance, it is believed that there is shared understanding of how actors in a context should behave to meet organisational goals. This is much like in a home, where individuals act in accordance with their expected roles. No rules or policy guidelines are written down but members understand what every other member of the family expects of them and family values and norms to observe. The only difference between the home and the school or national education environment is that there is greater heterogeneity in an education environment than in a home. This heterogeneity can be defined by race, tribe, language, socio-economic status, and geographical location. It can also be defined by culture and sheer personal preference. This makes it more difficult for the different actors to understand educational and schooling matters in the same way.

There are also new members who join education institutions, who need to learn how the system operates and what is expected of them. Having documented policies will help such new people to acquaint themselves with the system better and faster. As the main funders of education, governments feel the need to regulate (or steer) education systems towards particular goals that are for the common good of every citizen in a country. Policy is the best instrument to use for this purpose. Thus, in the education context, you are encouraged to have policy as text so as to provide sufficient guide to practice.

In ODFL in particular, policy is important to ensure that key government decision-makers are informed about the intrinsic differences between this mode of delivery and conventional schooling and how these can affect key performance indicators and measured outputs, (Du Vivier & Ellis, 2009) ^[2].
Nhundu and Kamau (2002) ^[3] note:

The existence of a policy framework underscores a government’s commitment to distance education and allows for the marshalling of resources needed to support and accelerate the provision of distance education programmes. In order that distance education is not marginalized and relegated to the periphery of the education system, national policies should present distance education as a national initiative that is integral to, and contributes to, national planning developments.

Policy helps institutionalise ODFL as an integral part of educational provision in a country. It also legitimises who should offer ODFL and at what level in a country. Policy clarifies who funds ODLF. In some countries, it also caps how much learners should contribute towards the sustenance of distance education and how much public subsidy is availed. Issues of quality assurance, alignment with traditional face-to-face, assessment and recognition are also articulated in ODFL policy. These issues will be dealt with later in this course.

This activity should take you 15-20 minutes to complete.

1. In the discussion forum give examples of educational issues that need to be regulated by policy.
2. Compare your examples with other participants, and comment on their posts.

In your answer, I hope you have included issues like official school –going age, funding of public education, monitoring of the quality of school education, and curriculum and assessment. In so far as open schooling is concerned, you may include such issues as integration of open schooling with the main stream education system, leaner support, and the business model used.
For a more detailed analysis of policy issues in ODFL, you can read Chapter 9 of the resource by Mays & Singh, (2020) Addressing the learning needs of children and out-of-school youths through the expansion of open schooling.