Holding policy-makers to account: exploring 'soft' and 'hard' policy and the implications for curriculum reform | Zendy

Kerry J. Kennedy | Zendy; Jacqueline Kin-sang Chan | Zendy; Ping Kwan Fok | Zendy

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Holding policy-makers to account: exploring 'soft' and 'hard' policy and the implications for curriculum reform

Author(s) -

Kerry J. Kennedy,

Jacqueline Kin-sang Chan,

Ping Kwan Fok

Publication year - 2011

Publication title -

london review of education

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.326

H-Index - 21

eISSN - 1474-8479

pISSN - 1474-8460

DOI - 10.1080/14748460.2011.550433

Subject(s) - curriculum , perspective (graphical) , government (linguistics) , policy analysis , education policy , sociology , public administration , political science , pedagogy , higher education , economics , economic growth , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , artificial intelligence

Curriculum implementation as both an educational practice and a policy conundrum has been the focus of academic research since the 1970s. A new perspective is taken in this article by borrowing from the literature on policy implementation in multilevel systems of government. The concepts of 'hard' and 'soft' policy are used to show that policy-makers choose from a range of strategies and it is these choices rather than teacher attitudes that may account for the level of implementation of a policy. A case study of curriculum implementation in Hong Kong is used to show how 'hard' and 'soft' policy can be identified in practice.

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