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  2. EDU A801

Education Policy Analysis and Research in Comparative Perspective
EDU A801

Course Information

Description

What should students learn to face the challenges of the future — and how can policy actually get education systems there? This course equips you to answer that question with rigor. Through a flipped format that pairs pre-recorded lectures with intensive Friday sessions — case discussion, simulations, and conversations with guest practitioners — you'll build the analytical toolkit of a professional policy analyst: problem definition, comparative evidence, systems thinking, and the five perspectives on educational change (cultural, psychological, professional, institutional, political).

You'll apply these tools to a real project of your choosing — a policy analysis for an actual client, or a comparative case study of a reform — with topics on climate change and AI in education especially encouraged. Working in small, intentionally diverse international teams, you'll sharpen a genuinely comparative mindset: learning to question what's taken for granted in your own context and to see the world's education systems as a laboratory for insight. Past student papers have been published in edited volumes reaching a global practitioner audience.

Ideal for students headed toward careers in international development, government, or school system leadership who want to leave with both a portfolio-ready analysis and a durable way of thinking about educational change.

School Graduate School of Education
Credits 4
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Department Education
Course Component Regular Course
Instruction Mode In Person
Subject Education
Grading Basis HGSE Student Option (Letter Graded, Sat/Unsat)
Learning Goals <p>By the end of the course, students should be able to:</p><p>Define a policy problem rigorously — articulate a clear, evidence-backed problem statement in a specific jurisdiction and identify plausible root causes.</p><p>Navigate global education governance — map key institutions (SDG 4, OECD Learning Compass, UNESCO frameworks) and trace their influence on national policy.</p><p>Compare without borrowing blindly — apply a three-dimensional comparative framework and critique naive policy transfer using concepts like reception, translation, and decontextualization.</p><p>Think in scenarios — use demographic, technological, and political trend analysis (including AI and climate change) to anticipate how education systems might need to adapt.</p><p>Analyze core policy domains — curriculum and assessment, teacher development, school leadership, and system-level change — using comparative evidence, the sciences of learning, and five perspectives on educational change (cultural, psychological, professional, institutional, political).</p><p>Build and defend policy alternatives — construct a policy matrix that makes trade-offs explicit and justify a recommendation.<br>Design real diagnostic and evaluation tools — outline an education sector assessment and build a theory of change/evaluation framework for a policy or program.</p><p>Plan for implementation — anticipate how a reform will be interpreted (and altered) as it moves from ministry to district to classroom.<br>Deliver professional-grade work — produce a complete policy analysis or comparative case study that a real decision-maker could act on, and defend it in discussion.</p><p>Reflect on their own growth — articulate how their thinking about education policy evolved and what they'll carry into their professional practice.</p>
Career Focus <p>This course is built for students heading toward roles where they'll need to turn evidence into decisions that affect real education systems — not just study policy, but practice it. It's explicitly aligned with the competencies of the International Education Policy and Management program, and it prepares students for careers such as:</p><p>International development — working with institutions like the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, or the Global Partnership for Education<br>Government and ministry roles — advising or serving as policymakers at municipal, state, or national levels<br>School system and network leadership — leading reform in networks of schools or district/system-level roles<br>Research and consulting — producing policy analysis or comparative case studies for real clients, several of which are selected for publication in edited volumes</p><p>The course deliberately builds skills employers in these fields value most: cross-cultural collaboration (via structured international teamwork), the ability to translate research into actionable recommendations, and comfort operating amid political complexity rather than just technical analysis.</p>