Policy Process Of Curriculum Reform: Conceptualization, Deliberation, Implementation And Evaluation International Experience And Local Exemplar

The third world wide systematic curriculum reform has attracted extensive involvement and investment of national government in distinctive countries. A series of research reports, reform plans, laws and policy documents which are related to curriculum reform are issued by government in different countries. Though great attention has been focused in the administrative level on curriculum policy, the academic research in the field still remains as one of the weakest area in curriculum research. Many of the core questions in curriculum policy practice are not fully discussed, such as what is curriculum reform policy, how is the process organized, what are the basic procedures and working mechanisms of curriculum reform policy process, what factors might influence the construction of policy process, etc. The lack of fundamental theoretical research in curriculum policy process not only indicates the empiricism in policy operation, but also intensifies the vagueness and ineditus of its practice, leaving the process unrevealed as a "black box".Based on the theory analysis, document analysis, comparison research and case study, the research explores into the internal procedures and mechanisms of curriculum reform policy process. The research tries to reconstruct the basic notion toward curriculum reform policy and its process by considering curriculum reform policy and its process in a holistic (combining the stages of conceptualization, deliberation, implementation and evaluation of policy process in an integrated way), multi-dimensional (understanding curriculum reform policy as combination of its phenomenal form, ontological characteristic and practice feature), and developmental(policy process of curriculum reform are emergent and ever-changing according to its situated condition) way, subverting the traditional understanding toward curriculum reform policy and its process.The research builds a general theoretical framework for the analysis of policy process based on the theory analysis and comparison of international experience on national curriculum reform after 20C80S, and introduces the framework to China's new curriculum reform policy operation, analyzing its logical procedures and operational characteristics under China's local cultural background, political tradition and institutional condition. In order to deepen the interpretation of the policy process, the research focuses on different stages of policy process(namely conceptualization,deliberation,implementation,and evaluation), exploring the process in three different dimensions as factual analysis(behavioral analysis), value analysis and normative analysis, discussing the institutional procedures, organizational structure, power relationship, political, societal and cultural features and potential problems. The last chapter of the research returns to the wholesome exploration of the process in a holistic way rather than focuses on differentiated phases, constructing the internal meaning of policy process as a re-situational process, empowering and capacity building process and courses conflicting process.All in all, the research explores into China's local curriculum reform policy experience by applying the theoretical analysis framework to add new knowledge and meaning, as well as to extend the original framework. Based on the descriptive and interpretive analysis, the research also identifies the characteristics and potential problems of policy process in China's particular policy situation, and presents future possibilities for the optimization of China's policy process on curriculum reform, signifying the theoretical and practical meaning of the research.