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  2. EDU BA801

Education Policy Analysis and Research in Comparative Perspective
EDU BA801

Course Information

Description

***ONLY OFFERED FOR OEL STUDENTS***
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 Thursday 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

Not Available for Cross Registration

Department Education
Course Component Regular Course
Instruction Mode Online
Subject Education
Grading Basis HGSE Student Option (Letter Graded, Sat/Unsat)
Course Requirements Limited to OEL students in the IEPM Track
Learning Goals By the end of the course, students should be able to: Define a policy problem rigorously — articulate a clear, evidence-backed problem statement in a specific jurisdiction and identify plausible root causes. Navigate global education governance — map key institutions (SDG 4, OECD Learning Compass, UNESCO frameworks) and trace their influence on national policy. Compare without borrowing blindly — apply a three-dimensional comparative framework and critique naive policy transfer using concepts like reception, translation, and decontextualization. Think in scenarios — use demographic, technological, and political trend analysis (including AI and climate change) to anticipate how education systems might need to adapt. 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). Build and defend policy alternatives — construct a policy matrix that makes trade-offs explicit and justify a recommendation. Design real diagnostic and evaluation tools — outline an education sector assessment and build a theory of change/evaluation framework for a policy or program. Plan for implementation — anticipate how a reform will be interpreted (and altered) as it moves from ministry to district to classroom. 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. Reflect on their own growth — articulate how their thinking about education policy evolved and what they'll carry into their professional practice.
Career Focus

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:

International development — working with institutions like the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, or the Global Partnership for Education

Government and ministry roles — advising or serving as policymakers at municipal, state, or national levels

School system and network leadership — leading reform in networks of schools or district/system-level roles

Research and consulting — producing policy analysis or comparative case studies for real clients, several of which are selected for publication in edited volumes

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.
Competency N/A
Content N/A
Pedagogy N/A