A Study On Macro Policy Decision-making In Education

Macro policy decision-making in education is one of the developments ofprocedures in the country's basic national policy. Whether the process is of healthdepends on the state of relationships between the stakeholders in educational policy;on the rationality of analysis in questions in educational policy; on pertinence ofprogram in educational policy; and on authenticity of effects in educational policy.Although these steps are attached importance, some areas in them are still ignored.Based on this, this disertation aims to build safety shield by scanning blind and hiddenzones in macro policy decision-making in education.The stakeholders act as core of macro policy decision-making in education. Thisgroup is composed of decision makers, decision executers, decision target audience,non-decision audiences, decision information respondents and decision evaluators.The psycological factors and spirit consciousness of the stakeholders and interationbetween them are vital to sound policy descision-making practice. For example, wayof thinking of decision makers', mind-set of decision executors, recognition level ofdecision target audience, tolerance limits of non-decision target audience, valueorientation of decision information respondents and decision evaluators are uncertainfactors in decision-making process. Individuals' spirit consciousness has great effectson the state of their judegment and adjustment. Organic combination or inorganniccombination in the same group and between different groups have different functionson the policies.The policy issues are initial point of macro policy decision-making in education.They turn up, develop and finally cause concern of the decision makers. Hencedecision process starts. The policy issues happen not only inside eduational circles,butalso outside educational circles. Whereas inside the circles students are the focus to becared, then teachers, school managers and other corresponding counterparts to be studied. Outside the circles are the problems that hinder the development of society.Educational policy issues never isolated. So many other issues support one kind ofpolicy issue, and it also causes other issues to appear. Of course the policy issues areeither completely new or activiation of old ones. For the expression of the policyissues, the policy audiences' voices show the raw state, the policy makers'interpretation maintain social stability, and experts' reseaches into the roots, thecurrent state, and the trend of policy issues lay solid foundation for further study.The policy program is carrier of macro policy decision-making in education. Itfalls into some categories. It demonstrates as general program, vital program, andemergent program according to severity of issues; and it shows as temporary program,short-term program and long-term program according to voices and pressure of policyaudiences. There is threshhold for each policy program, beyong which, good policyprogram may not produce sound. effect. Change of structure of policy audiences,degreee of social identity of policy program, matching between each program, extentof problem resolution and program adaptablity to executors are all worthy to beconsidered. Last but not least, there exist traps in policy program such as deviance ofpolicy objectives, scarece of free policy discretion, and absence of policy audiences.The policy effects are ether the result of last policy process or the trigger of nextpolicy process.They demonstrate as anticipated effects and actual effects on the partof decision makers, as short-term effects and long-term effects on the part of apparenteffects and hidden effects on the part of policy audiences, as authentic effects andficthional effects on the part of policy evaluators. Attention to these effects is helpfulto assess educational policy for the scientifice decision-making.