ABSTRACT
A central feature of politics is that it is a process of decision making involving human beings. There are a few aspects to the deceptively simple statement. This chapter argues that education is a political activity and educational change is a political process. It describes approaches to educational change in education systems. The chapter proposes an alternative democratic model of educational change based on practitioner inquiry. If education policy is contested, then the contest often turns upon the different values and beliefs that are held by the participants. Many writers focus a study of the politics of education on the state and its institutions such as Parliament or education departments, since these are the places where education policies and associated strategies are formulated, debated and decided upon. The chapter suggests that an understanding of the politics of education demands a capacity to ask and respond to a number of critical questions about the various dimensions of the political process.
