Translating Policy into Practice

Abstract

The opportunities to learn experienced by students in classrooms around the world are the result of both cultural forces that permeate the society of which the educational system is a part, and of specific educational policies. Though mindful of the many forces affecting the results of their efforts, decision makers in educational systems are continuously confronted with the question of which educational opportunities are to be provided to which students, within constraints that are social, cultural, economic and political. Definition of these opportunities and the provisions for delivering them to students result from social and political processes of decision- making that vary from nation to nation. Resulting instruments — statements of content standards — detailing goals are necessarily also varied. However, all nations confront two fundamental challenges.