ABSTRACT
Education policy is often thought of as a thing: a statement of some sort, usually written down in a policy document. Viewed in this way, education policy could be defined as follows:
a specification of principles and actions, related to educational issues, which are followed or which should be followed and which are designed to bring about desired goals
In this sense policy is a piece of paper, a statement of intentions or of practice as it is perceived by policy-makers or as they would like it to be.
