You are required to produce a 3,000-word essay answering the following question:

How does educational policy influence practice?

Your policy may be a policy from an individual school, university or other educational setting, or it
may be a national or regional policy. It may be from the UK or another context.

Your submission must include the following:

 Cover sheet
 Contents page
 Introduction
 Main body essay
 Conclusion
 References
 Appendices

Please use page numbering in your assignment.

Cover sheet:

A blank sheet with only your student number and essay title on it (do not write your name).

Contents page:

Check page 17 of the Handbook for Written Coursework (available online and from CELT) for
details on how to organize your contents page.

ESSAY
Introduction:

This is the general background and context to your essay. This should include references
(this section is about 10% of your word count).

1. A section on education policy in general (how policy is formed and enacted in

educational contexts (please keep in mind that is the Introduction and that this part is
an overview);
2. Clear statement of the purpose of the essay;
3. what specific educational policy you are going to focus on.

Make sure that you use appropriate and relevant literature throughout this section.

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Main Body:

This is where you are going to build your argument and showcase your reading of the
literature.

This is the largest section of your work.

You should use subheadings in the main body to help structure it and enhance readability.

1. A detailed exploration of the link between education policy and educational practice;
2. Your selection (and why you choose it (an academic rather than personal reason)) and then
analysis of a specific education policy (background / context – this is precise and concise as it
is just to give the reader brief background information);
3. Your analysis (going to use CDA, what it is (definition) and your choice of how to do this
(what theory etc. – not a comparison of each one in turn but instead, what you are going
to follow and why ) of your education policy (you can adapt a CDA method as long as you
say this is what you are going to do – you don’t need to in detail explain each step you are
going to follow);
I. Ensure that within the analysis there is exploration of for example,
authority, ideological considerations, the role of stakeholders,
etc.;
II. Your analysis should be robust and there should be clear
explanation as to how this analysis has been undertaken (use the
literature to help with this).

*
Notes: (i) make sure you include your results in an easy-to-read format (a table is ideal for this);
(ii) make sure your use of terminology is accurate – look back at your summary feedback
for your presentation (this is in Turnitin) to check if you used terms accurately and if not,
make sure you do so in this essay;
(iii) you are analysing ONE policy only – this is important.

* Check page 16 of the Handbook for Written Coursework (available online and from CELT)
for details on how to include tables.

Make sure that you use appropriate and relevant literature throughout this section.

Conclusion:

No new information should be included in your conclusion. This section should include
references (this section is about 10% of your word count).

Ensure that the background to your conclusions can be found the main body of your work.

1. Have robust conclusions based on your main body content with regards to:

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 (i) the link / relationship between education policy and education practice;
(ii) your analysis of your education policy.

Make sure that you use appropriate and relevant literature throughout this section.

References:

1. Check the Handbook for Written Coursework (available online and from CELT) to ensure your
referencing is accurate.
2. Refer to page 15 of Handbook for Written Coursework for information on how to present
your reference list.

Appendix:

1. The policy document you have analyzed must be attached as an appendix. The analysis must
be clearly noted on this document;
2. You can have other appendices but ensure that they are relevant and add value to your
submission;
3. You must refer to any appendices in the essay e.g. Appendix 1 shows the full analysis of ……

Check page 17 of Handbook for Written Coursework for information on how to present your
appendix / appendices.

Finally, check your work against the Module Outcomes to ensure you have covered everything
required in this assignment.

MODULE OUTCOMES
By the end of the module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate the means by which policy texts are constructed to assert authority.
2. Critically examine the ways in which ideological assumptions are embedded within
structural features of the texts.
3. Analyse and critique the nature and role of education policy research in developing
theory, pedagogical understanding and organisational development in order to
problematize the issues arising for professional practice.
4. Critically review the relationship between educational policy, theory and professional
practice.
5. Make explicit and consider reflexively their understandings of their role as a professional
practitioner.