Radical Discontinuity: a study of the role of education in the Peruvian state and of the institutions and cultures of policy making in education.

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with educational policy discontinuity in Peru. Since the early nineties, investment in education has increased leading to wave after wave of (truncated) policies and reforms. Results, however, have not matched expectations. Partly due to political instabilities, but, more generally, as the result of discontinuities in educational policy– changes in teams, processes and discourses. The problem seems to be one of an endemic incapacity on the part of the state, to bring about desired social changes: a radical form of discontinuity that raises critical questions about the role of public education in national development. The present study aims to investigate these problems. It focuses on the issue of education policy discontinuity, and attempts to cast some light as to the origins of the problem and its radical nature. This opens the way towards considerations about the Peruvian state, the role of public education and prevailing conceptions about policy making. The study has been carried out mainly through interviews with policy makers and other policy actors who have participated in the reform processes that have taken place since the early nineties. Theoretical explorations follow these actors’ explanations about policy discontinuity, as well as their discourses about the policy process. The interview data has been complemented with documentary data as to achieve a more complete view of policy events in the period under study.

Date of Award	1 Jan 2005
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Sponsors	Universities UK
Supervisor	Hugh Lauder (Supervisor)