Search results

This contribution argues that there is a fundamental problem for the multi-level governance (MLG) approach in that what the approach is trying to explain has never been fully agreed by the vast group of scholarship that references it. The chapter then examines and proposes that ideas and concepts from network governance, principal–agent (PA) and learning can provide the necessary micro foundations for the MLG approach.

The chapter examines and critiques the original MLG formulations and the later efforts at elaboration. It then reviews the literature and concepts for three public policy approaches that have been associated with European governance to see how core explanations can be elaborated upon in a multi-level context: network governance, principal–agent (PA) and learning.

This contribution suggests that co-ordination, and the resources that help maintain this co-ordination, is the key dependent variable that underpins the MLG approach. With multiple principals and multiple agents, operating at a number of levels of analysis, direct authority and control is harder to evoke. The key explanatory variable underpinning this MLG co-ordination is learning by the participants.

Researchers need to concentrate both their theoretical and empirical efforts in understanding the conditions that support multi-level governance and that sustain its effort.

The contribution outlines some of the key practical questions that policy-makers must face. Can they manage resources and induce learning from all the relevant public and private stakeholders to engage in the MLG effort?

Not only does an effective MLG process involve engaging a wide range of societal stakeholders, these stakeholders have to be persuaded to invest effort in learning about the nature of the governance system, the challenges of the policy problem and the implications of the efforts to resolve these problems.

This chapter isolates the fundamental lacuna at the heart of the MLG project and offers academics and practitioners a conceptual lens for building a clearer analytical structure for studying MLG.

This study aims to provide an overview of the past two decades of lifelong learning (LLL) policies for enhancing employability and reduce social exclusion in young people of European countries through the development of the so-called LLL key-competences.

Built on a quasi-systematic review, this contribution explores traditional and new methods for promoting the LLL transition, and then employability, in young adults (e.g. apprenticeship, vocational training, e-learning, etc.).

It argues the need to identify all the possible approaches able to support policymakers, as they can differently impact key-competence development.

Finally, based on the consolidated EU policy experience, we propose a strategy of implementation of the LLL programmes that facilitates the institutions’ decision processes for policy-making through the use of decisional support system.

This chapter reviews the theoretical literature about Europeanisation and argues the need for further analysis of post-Soviet Europeanisation. This chapter also connects post-Soviet Europeanisation to the notion of policy learning, which is introduced as a theoretical perspective. The chapter discusses the challenges around the definition of policy learning in relation to other policy processes such as transfer, translation and diffusion. Policy layering does not presuppose mutual exclusion between path-dependence and change, but rather the fruitful mutual development of both. It implies a gradual change of certain policy aspects and the retaining of others. The development of the links between path-dependence and change in layering is a highly messy process. Multiple actors participate in learning, and they create policy as they learn. There are no distinct stages of learning, and the line between policy-makers and practitioners is often blurred.

The difference between policy-making on the European level and the post-Soviet domestic context is significant. The literature about post-Soviet countries recognises the presence of a struggle between Europeanisation and post-Soviet legacies there. Europeanisation in this literature is presented as change; while the influence of the post-Soviet legacies is seen as an obstacle that hinders it. The policy learning concept is key here to frame Europeanisation in the post-Soviet context as an area of enquiry which may develop according to the logic of layering.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of coherent alignment of current theory from cognitive psychology with practice and policy in training and education institutions developing e-learning materials and present recommendations emphasising the human factor within processes.

In this paper a recent empirical study which applies current theory from cognitive psychological and multimodal learning research provides the backdrop to discussion about alignment of strategic vision, through policy, to effective practice.

Despite advances in cognitive psychology which can be applied to targeting effective and measurable training and education, many institutions fail to maintain updated e-learning strategy and policy resulting in a negative impact on practice and the learner experience.

The model presented in this paper is intended to promote thoughtful discussion about the processes and framework necessary for improved collaboration and communication supported by ongoing evaluation of institutional e-learning policy such that policy becomes a dynamic process congruent with developments in the learning sciences.

The paper includes recommendations for a refined view of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and alignment of policy with practice and theory and will be of interest to training and education institutions seeking to review their policies for training needs analysis and e-learning.

This paper offers an up-to-date view of training needs analysis and multimedia design for training discrete psychomotor skills. It will be of value to organisations and institutions providing training and education mediated by technology as well as those involved in the design of training interventions.

After a thorough literature review on multinational learning, it is apparent organizations “learn” when they capitalize on expatriate management, a “learning strategy” (international work teams, employee involvement and other human resource policies), technology transfer and political environment and cross‐cultural adaptation. This suggests learning is possible when control mechanisms are relaxed or reduced, resulting in an ambiguous relationship between multinational learning and control. There has been no research on the relationship between learning and control largely due to this assumption of ambiguity and this paper attempts to overcome this gap by presenting a holistic approach to multinational learning and control. This paper posits that focusing on optimizing learning and control through flexible IHRM policies is a globally sustainable approach to MNE management. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework designed to address two major issues in international management: organizational learning and managerial control.

Multinational organizations are often faced with a perceived ambiguous choice of promoting learning throughout the organization in a way that facilitates local adaptation of corporate knowledge, while maintaining control over subsidiary corporate culture (control). This paper presents a new model designed to facilitate a balanced approach to learning and control in the multinational enterprise.

The proposed model is one of sustainable management focusing on dynamic IHRM learning and control. The pillars of the proposed model thus include: National Culture, HRM policies and practices and IHRM strategies of the parent MNE; National Culture, locally developed HRM policies and practices, and transferred IHRM policies and practices in the affiliate unit; sharing of learning oriented IHRM policies and/or among MNE affiliates only; and global IHRM control and learning IHRM policies and practices (uniform across MNE units).

While the literature in this realm addresses these issues separately, managers are faced with a delicate balancing act of promoting learning among multinational units while maintaining corporate control over key aspects of the company's core competencies.

Widespread support exists for the view that teaching is a complex task (Schulman, 2004), that learning is a complex, dynamic phenomenon and that classrooms are ‘complex systems’ (Hardman, 2010). Systems behaving in complex, emergent ways cannot be successfully ‘managed’ by rigid, scripted practices but demand flexibility, responsiveness and in situ judgement. However, these dispositions appear only fleetingly, if at all, on professional standards rubrics and statutory descriptors of effective teaching. Discretionary judgement is implied but rarely emphasised. Drawing on the first author's doctoral study of ‘emergent learning’ in a primary school classroom, we demonstrate the importance of pre- and in-service teachers developing expert in-the-moment professional judgement to navigate the emergent and complex nature of classroom learning and argue that professional judgement should enjoy a more prominent, less tacit, position in pre-service initial teacher education (ITE) and in-service Continuing Professional Development (CPD). This chapter briefly describes and presents findings from the doctoral research which focused on how learning emerges bottom-up through classroom interactions, discusses the implications of this for teachers and concludes by setting an agenda for future research into teachers' experiences of agency and autonomy.

All countries use public procurement to some degree to further policy objectives such as sustainability, innovation, fighting fraud and corruption, value for taxpayers' money etc. Countries may learn from past successes and failures in other countries while implementing these policies: cross-country learning. In this exploratory study, we investigate cross-country learning across two frequently used policy areas: sustainability and innovation. A threefold methodology was used that consisted of (1) an extensive review of scientific literature complemented by (2) a thorough examination of policy documents and (3) interviews with leading public procurement experts from 10 countries including both developing and developed countries. The main findings indicate that there is no hard evidence for cross-country learning. Even if cross-country learning would exist, the lessons learned seem to remain largely implicit.

Spontaneous inter-organizational learning differs from organizational learning in that the latter relies on conflict occurring within the organization prior to action being taken. Inter-organizational learning suggests that organizations have the opportunity to learn from the experiences of others and proactively establish policies and regulations either preventing or lessening the chances that a similar situation will occur in their organization. The description "spontaneous" is proposed to differentiate serendipitous and intentional opportunities for learning. A public federal level case study is presented in support of spontaneous interorganizational learning.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt a learning-based approach to portray the impact of Covid-19 on state school services in Italy, with a specific focus on the role of street-level bureaucrats and the triggering of co-creative processes.

The study proposes a qualitative system dynamics (or SD) approach describing the implementation of Covid-related educational policies in Italy. An insight model, made of causal loop diagrams, integrates the selected multi-disciplinary literature and institutional sources, secondary data from national and local reports (about Palermo, the fifth largest metropolitan city in Italy) and insights from a panel of school street–level bureaucrats.

The study provides an insight into the impacts of governmental decisions (school closures and the subsequent need to activate distance learning during the first wave of Covid-19) at a local level. Specifically, it portrays the influences of managerial and professional discretion, infrastructural equipment and socio-economic factors favouring/deterring co-creative educational processes.

The SD model highlights vicious/virtuous circles in policy implementation and suggests new managerial paths for education, more routed towards public value creation and less attached to bureaucratic procedures and the unquestioning application of performance culture.

The paper proposes an original and holistic approach to dealing with policy making in education and its managerial features. The research findings are considered important, not only to face the current emergency, but also to pro-actively think about the post-Covid era.

The purpose of this study is to explore how conflicting factors create tensions that hinder the development of effective policies. It specifically focuses on the broken connections between government policies and social-economic sectors. The study intends to explain how differing and often opposing interests in creating government policy influence the learning process.

This study uses a research methodology that combines developmental work research as a framework with historical case studies for collecting data. The process starts by identifying a problem and challenges related to the Brazilian “Diesel Crisis”. Following this, an analysis of the activity system was undertaken to uncover contradictions and tensions related to policy development.

The key results of the study focus on the learning process of public policy by (1) spotting gaps between government policies and socio-economic areas, (2) finding potential sources for a learning path and shared growth, (3) identifying various conflicting interests in the development of government policy, (4) creating learning possibilities in a complex and diverse environment and (5) offering solutions for resolving conflicting relationships in government policy development.

This study highlights the importance of recognizing the complicated social setting where public policy learning takes place, emphasizing the duality of collaboration and conflicting interests among different government bodies, policymakers and community members as they use tools and rules to reach their objectives.