Page 121 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 121
esl in the eu: learning from differences and common trends
Methods
To address the article’s aims, we employ the following methods: (a) an anal-
ysis of relevant literature and secondary sources. In this framework, we con-
ducted a literature search of the scientific EBSCOhost and Web of Science
online research databases. The main key words used in the search for rel-
evant scientific literature were: early school leaving, education, EU, policy
learning, policy borrowing, policy lending, peer learning, lesson drawing;5
(b) an analysis of formal documents and legal sources at the EU and nation-
al levels (EU official documents in the field of educational policy, non-of-
ficial documents, press releases etc. Policy documents taken into account
had to meet the following criterion: to have been published between 2000
and 2017.
Who learns?
Authors (e.g. Larionova, 2007; Radaelli, 2004) explain that in its ideal-typ-
ical and most abstract form, policy learning in the area of education in the
EU takes place between institutions found at multiple levels, and runs in at
least four directions:
- EU-level learning within communities of policymakers engaged
in EU policy processes (or “learning at the top”);
- hierarchical learning from the EU level down to the domestic and
local level (or “learning from the top”);
- “learning from below” (i.e. social actors, regions, local govern-
ments) to the top (or “bottom-up learning”); and
- horizontal learning (learning between the member states, or
regions).
Policy learning is a social process, meaning that individual policy ac-
tors have to had acquired knowledge somewhere (from either other indi-
vidual actors or within organisations, networks and communities labelled
as collective actors) (Holzinger & Knill, 2005). As seen in its ideal form,
5 Steiner-Khamsi (2012) explains that although policy learning, policy borrowing
and policy lending indicate the same processes, the term policy learning is more
frequently used in policy studies while the terms policy borrowing and lending are
more significant for comparative education. Since the paper chiefly originates from
policy studies, the term policy learning is used in the paper.
121
Methods
To address the article’s aims, we employ the following methods: (a) an anal-
ysis of relevant literature and secondary sources. In this framework, we con-
ducted a literature search of the scientific EBSCOhost and Web of Science
online research databases. The main key words used in the search for rel-
evant scientific literature were: early school leaving, education, EU, policy
learning, policy borrowing, policy lending, peer learning, lesson drawing;5
(b) an analysis of formal documents and legal sources at the EU and nation-
al levels (EU official documents in the field of educational policy, non-of-
ficial documents, press releases etc. Policy documents taken into account
had to meet the following criterion: to have been published between 2000
and 2017.
Who learns?
Authors (e.g. Larionova, 2007; Radaelli, 2004) explain that in its ideal-typ-
ical and most abstract form, policy learning in the area of education in the
EU takes place between institutions found at multiple levels, and runs in at
least four directions:
- EU-level learning within communities of policymakers engaged
in EU policy processes (or “learning at the top”);
- hierarchical learning from the EU level down to the domestic and
local level (or “learning from the top”);
- “learning from below” (i.e. social actors, regions, local govern-
ments) to the top (or “bottom-up learning”); and
- horizontal learning (learning between the member states, or
regions).
Policy learning is a social process, meaning that individual policy ac-
tors have to had acquired knowledge somewhere (from either other indi-
vidual actors or within organisations, networks and communities labelled
as collective actors) (Holzinger & Knill, 2005). As seen in its ideal form,
5 Steiner-Khamsi (2012) explains that although policy learning, policy borrowing
and policy lending indicate the same processes, the term policy learning is more
frequently used in policy studies while the terms policy borrowing and lending are
more significant for comparative education. Since the paper chiefly originates from
policy studies, the term policy learning is used in the paper.
121
