Dr Alice Bradbury & Patrick Bailey | One five-hour session (with one hour for lunch in-between) | Summer: 11:00 to 16:00 Tuesday 17 June (Room 417-Committee Room 1 in the IOE)
 

NB: this course accrues 1 training point.

This workshop is an introduction to sociological thinking and practice when researching education and public policy.  We will be exploring theoretical approaches to studying policy informed by ‘policy sociology’, including discussions of the ‘policy cycle’, policy discourse analysis and policy enactment research.  The workshop will draw on examples from recent and current education policy research to facilitate debate around what a sociological perspective can bring to policy analysis. Research students attending the workshop are welcome to bring examples of their own policy-related research for discussion. 

The course is designed for students at all stages of the PhD journey, both pre and post-upgrade, who include some aspect of policy analysis within their research. This includes studies entirely focused on policy analysis, or those where understanding the policy provides the context for the empirical work. We focus on the analysis of policy at all stages from policy production to the enactment of policy. 

For reading, see the course description page.