ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a proposal to conduct a research project conceptualised as an 'analysis of policy' project, illustrating that one useful approach to such a policy analysis is where it is viewed as being closely aligned to the interpretivist paradigm. The concept of policy is not a straightforward one. Indeed, its contested nature has led to a myriad of definitions. The proposal is informed by a conceptualisation of policy analysis as a 'trajectory study', which involves a definition of policy as a cyclical, freewheeling, dialectical process. Within the overarching framework of globalisation, the study is an analysis of policy along the lines explicated by M. Simons et al.; that is, it includes an analysis of 'policy determination and effects' as well as 'policy content'. Reliance on documents will be heaviest at global and national levels, although selected interviews with key policy-players will also be used to probe curriculum policy transformations more deeply.
