Educational policy reform

Educational Policy Reform This paper will analyze the article, Women and education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and achievements by Amani Hamdan. The article deals with the segregation of women who are discriminated against in Saudi Arabia. This articles explores the traditional education of women in Saudi Arabia and how they have struggled to change the education which sought to conserve their culture and move to education which will empower them by studying English language and politics. The education of women has been under the Department of Religious Guidance prior to 2002 while the education of males was under the Ministry of Education. This education policies undermined women contrary to their belief of upholding respect for women. Reforms made on the education sector has seen women education being overseen by the ministry of education and the educational policies support educational equality in opportunities for both women and men. The ministry is also sending women to further their education abroad which has resulted in increased number of Saudi women in leadership. This article explores the transition of women education form traditional to current reforms which promote education for women and the significant achievements this has had on the society in general (Amani, 2005).
This issue contrast and compares to the educational situation in New Jersey which is my immediate environment. New Jersey has not experienced the extreme cases of discrimination against the education of women. The educational reform policies maintain that all the students should have equal access to educational facilities and resources and also provide suitable services and instruction to English Language Learners. This is provided for by the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 (EEOA). To be EEOA compliance, educational institutions are required to provide adequate and timely evaluation of the learning outcomes of all English Language Learners, provide quality instruction and services and observing and recording of their academic improvement. However, a review was done on a section of the Bound Brook New Jersey School District which indicated that there were several concerns regarding integration of the English Language Learners into the schools mainstream as thus they were discriminated on the compliance issue above. While there are cases of racial segregation, there has not been any reported cases of gender segregation.
In the US, the education policy had been distributive at their inception where the teachers and educational institutions were required to do what they wanted to do. The educational perspective was mainly ‘ market’ but reformist preferred ‘ bureaucracy’ which was then characterized by ‘ politics’, ‘ legalization’ and ‘ professionalism’ as important aspects of the reform policies. Many regulatory policies have since been put in place to ensure standardization of education provision. The educational reforms in the United States advocate for systematic uniformity in the compliance with regulation imposed at both the states and county levels for all leaners irrespective of their linguistic or cultural background. This includes standardized learning recourse and facilities, curriculum, teaching methods, management, application of disciplinary measures and access to the same teachers. The United States achieved this uniformity by use of regulation (Fowler, 2012).
Factors present in the national/international policy environment that may affect globalization of equality issue in the providence of equal opportunities for all learners irrespective of their race or color include “ eligibility, engagement and wealth creation” (Brown & Lauder, 1996, p. 2). Eligibility concerns itself with the issue of amount of control a country has over others in order to control their activities and supervise compliance. This issue poses problems since deregulation and privatization has taken place in many states in both practical and ideological perspective reducing the rate of state intervention . In this case, regulation may not work which leads to differences in the policies and reforms in the education sector despite the many past uniformity reforms. Engagements and wealth creation concern with the concept of individuals ability to market their won skills, knowledge and acumen in the global market. This motivates learning institutions to focus on the brighter sides more than the lower side due to marketability. This reduces the chances of achieving globalization of the equality issue (Ball, 2010).
This comparative analysis leaves us with one hypothesis: The decreasing rates of segregation against women education by conservative states through the reforms policies to ensure equality, tends to escalate the number of international students in the United States.
References
Amani, H. (2005). Women and education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and achievements, International Education Journal, 6(1), 42-64. ISSN 1443-1475 © 2005 Shannon Research Press.
Ball, S. J., (2010). Big Policies/ Small World: An Introduction to International perspectives in Educational Policy. Comparative Education, Vol. 34, No. 2.
Brown, P,. & Lauder, H,. (1996). Education, globalization and economic development: Journal of Education Policy, 11.
Fowler, F. C., (2012). Policy Studies for Educational Leaders: An Introduction, Fourth Edition, Peach pit Press.