Ideology and Public Policy in the UK - Essay Example

UK PUBLIC POLICY Introduction Public policy is defined as the guide, which is based upon certain principles that help the government of to takeaction and run the administration. These policies are followed by the administrative officers of the executive branches and these policies are in accordance with the law and other institutional customs. Making of public policy is generally characterized by the complex, dynamic and interactive systems. The base of public policies are the problems encountered by the general public in daily life and these policies are made to address those issues and resolve them in order to provide a good life to the citizens of the state by reforming the existing policies (John, 1988). The policies are meant for the betterment of the society and people living in the society. There are endless ways through which public problems raise. There are different policies being coined in order to fight with those public problems. The policy responses that are made to fight these public issues can be of local, national and international level (Sharkansky & Hofferbert, 1969). Education Policy Education is the fundamental right of the citizens of any country, whether it is under developed country or developed or developing country. Though the country has lot of schools, colleges and other educational institutions, there are various issues come up the education sector. Hence the government makes changes in the education policies in order to better fight the issue the issue. While creating the policies sometimes independence is given to the policy making authority or government does intervene in the policy making. The education system is a very dynamic field and it changes according to the time and trend of the modern world. As there have been changes in the education system it is necessary to make changes in the policies as well to match with the change. Different governments coin different policies as per the views of their political parties. Thus it is evident that every time there is change in the government in the central position the change in the education policy is evident (Katsinas, 2005). Because of these changes the policies get revamped, which shows that the policies are highly influenced by the politics thus showing the government intervention in policy making. One of the major issues that the education sector faces is the issue of further and higher education for example the colleges and other training providers providing various vocational skills and trainings. The students demand that these institutions should offer high quality education and training so that it helps the students in getting better jobs and help in creating the high skilled workforce that the modern day employers are looking for. However, in order to combat these issues and improve the quality of further education the government has taken various actions. One of the important steps in the actions taken is the reformation of the funding policies. The additional step in this reformation is made by introducing 16 to 19 different beneficial study programs in September 2013, which would be supported by the changes made to the post-16 funding. According to this policy all the students between the age 16 and 19 are expected to follow the new curriculum of the study course. In this reform Professor Alison Wolf played an important role who suggested the introduction of these courses in her review of vocational education. Along with the introduction of the new study programs there was a revival in the funding system as well. The new funding system is based upon the student loans. The new funding states that the loan is available to the people who are 24 years or more and studying and levels 3 or 4. This loan is available to the students for advanced and higher apprenticeships, which they are starting from August 1, 2013. The Student Loan Company would disburse the loan amount to the student, which should be used by the student for the cost of education. The highlight of the policy is that the repayment would not start unless the student starts earning £21,000 a year and the repayment would be 9% of the earned yearly income. The interest rate of this loan is as per the market and it is linked to the inflation. According to this policy the student can take a to-up loan above the existing loan, which would roll over to the existing loan and is considered as one loan. Argument by Parties It is quite common that when there is a new policy or a bill is put on the table of parliament there would be resistance from various political parties. For example, the government had to face lot of argument while passing the draft of modern slavery bill in the parliament. The argument was what if the new labour argues about equality of opportunity, which is quite common in terms of coining the policies of a particular sector. It is not only about the coining the policies but the government or the administrative bodies need to keep in mind that the policies are to be in accordance with the current situation of the society and the issues that people of the society are facing (Kennamer, Katsinas, Hardy & Roessler, 2010). Different political parties have different views with the new policies that are being introduced. Though creation of policies is independent or has government intervention there are chances that the right or center parties argue about the issues that revolve around individualism. While walking on the roads of creating new policies the left parties argues more towards the equality and fairness. With the term equality and fairness they try to mean if every individual is covered while coining the policy. It is not necessary that issue faced by every person is similar (Mykerezi, Kostandini & Mills, 2009). Hence the left parties argue how the new policy helps the individual to overcome the issue but make sure that equality and fairness is maintained. Though the policies are made keeping the current public issues in mind, the political influence has a greater role to write the success of the policy and bring positivity in the life of the people of the society. The new right front parties argue about the market forces. The argument is in line of the modern market trends. Their main concern is when there is any new policy being launched will that be able to cope up with the modern day trends in the market. In this essay the policy in discussion is education policy. When the new policies of further education are launched the right front parties argued that how it would maintain the trend of modern education system (Partridge & Rickman, 2005). Though there have been introduction of 16 to 19 new courses in the vocational education how would the policy make sure if these added new courses would be able to prepare the students for the requirements of the employers. The 24+ loan for further education makes the students to study further but will that study be in line of the current trend and get a good job to the student as soon as the study is completed. The conservative parties argue about the ethical aspects of the policies. The policy of freeing the colleges from the control of central government is one of the actions takes in order to address the issue of the education sector (Schrum, 2007). When the policy is being coined the conservative parties argued about the ethical aspect of it. They argued whether it is ethical to remove the control of the central government from the colleges as this may lead to the consequences where the colleges may put the fees of the courses as per their wish, which a common student might not afford. Most of the parties nodded positively for the traineeship program for the students after the completion of the course as this program would help cultivating the mentality of a professional and help them gaining industrial experience (Sullivan, 2010). The introduction of this program supports the young aspirants to develop the necessary skills and up skill their existing strength, which would help them in getting employment quicker. Along with the other parties there are few parties that argue about the environmental issues. These green parties argue that it is the responsibility of the government to maintain the environment healthy. Though the policies pertaining to the education reformation do not have direct effect of the environment, it is responsibility of the government to make the students aware about the importance of the environment in our life. The green party argues if there are any policies being included that make the environmental studies important for the course then it would help in cultivating the thought of environment preservation in the mind of the students. Hence it is quite visible in the above discussions that the social and public policies are greatly influenced by the political parties. The modern political influence has made many changes in the current social policies and also it is seen that as the power changes in the central government they try to revamp policies in almost all the sectors as per their governance policy and style (Marcote, Bailey, Borkoski & Klenzl, 2005). Collectivists/Reluctant Collectivists/Anti-Collectivists The collectivist mindset mainly reflects the opinion or views towards many social factors. Collectivism is the outlook of social, economic, religious, politics and philosophy that mainly emphasizes on the human independence. Collectivism is the basic element of culture, which is opposite to individualism. The collectivist mindset or opinion has a positive vibe towards the policy making pertaining to address any social issue as a matter of fact. The main aim of the collectivist orientation is that they stress upon the importance of interrelation between various groups of the society. On the contrary there is another thought process, which is called as anti-collectivists. The anti-collectivism is the mindset, which is in opposition to the public provision that comes free. In the past the anti-collectivism mindset had firmly opposed the free public provision of healthcare services. The reason for opposing the service is that they think healthcare as the commodity, which is not different than that of the other goods or services where the supplies are immense through the market system. The attitudes of the anti-collectivists can be determined by their values, their attitude towards the society along with their views that they hold for the role of the government in coining the policies. The anti-collectivist mindset is depressed misconceived notions that are focused to the beneficiary and superiority of the welfare of the state. When the big picture of the state welfare pattern is seen there are evidences of political influences in coining the welfare policies. In the past there were fourfold typology of perspectives are developed, which showed the points based upon the political continuum. One of the political continuums is reluctant collectivism, apart from the anti-collectivism, Fabian socialism and Marxism. Though the framework was proposed, it was continuously expanded and revised in order to match the changing ideas and continuous political innovations. For example, variation in the theme of reluctant collectivism was incorporated when there is emergence of ideas of ‘Middle Way’ in social welfare. In the same way the Fabian socialism was replaced by democratic socialism (George and Wilding, 1994). As mentioned in the research paper of George and Wilding (1994) the excitement of the beating off the attack from the New Rights fades out. The academic social policy faced more offensive subtle. The authors in their essay define the ideologies that they discussed pertaining to the welfare or political doctrines. Both the authors have classified their ideologies as per few factors. Those factors are: the purpose of political activity and view of the human nature, the assessment they had on existing economic and social order, the vision of future and the guidance offered in order to achieve the same. Social Models of Titmus: In the year 1974, Richard M Titmus had proposed three social models based upon social policy. What is meant by the term social policy? When this question is asked a connected question always comes to mind, which is whose social policy are we talking about? The term policy is referred to as the principles that are governed actions directed towards the given ends (Marshall, 1965). Hence it implies change as the need and action of the society changes every single time, which influences the change in the policy making as well the modern political system (Peacock, 1960). The changing implies on certain factors like systems, situations, behaviour and practices. Based on these findings Richard Titmus had proposed three models of social behaviour, which are as follows: Model A: The Residual Welfare Model of Social Policy This is the first model of Titmus pertaining to social policy. The formulation of this model is based upon two premises – one is the natural or social channels through which the requirements of individuals are properly met and the second one is the family and the private market. In these breakdowns the social institutions play an important role; however, the role is temporary. Model B: The Industrial Achievement-Performance Model of Social Policy In this second model, Titmus explained that the social welfare institutions have a significant role as the aides of the economy. This model also states that the merit, performance and productivity should govern the meeting of the social requirements. This model is derived from various psychological and economic theories, which mostly revolves around the factors like efforts and rewards, incentives along with formation of group loyalties and class. Model C: The Institutional Redistributive Model of Social Policy According to this model the social welfare is the major integrated institution in the society. This model says that the social welfare provides equal service outside the market and the service is based upon the principles of requirement. This model is partially based upon the effect of the change in the social welfare as well as the economic system along with the principle of the social equality. Policy Changes and Political Influence As mentioned earlier that there are numerous public problems to be addressed while administering a state. In order to govern that smoothly various public policies have been coined. All the public policies are important to run the administration of the state; however one of the major public issues is education for which the policies are designed in order to address the issues. The discussion in this essay revolved around role of the government in developing the policies and the way it has been developed in the due course of time in response to the changes in the modern political system. The findings of George and Wilding (1994) based upon the ideologies of the political systems and the influence that it has upon the modern social welfare policy making. Since there have been changes in the social welfare policies when there is change in the ruling party of the state, it is obvious that there would be effect on the environmental, economic, social and technological aspects of the state. It is the responsibility of the policy makers to maintain the ideology of the social welfare while coining the policies, which increases the efficiency of the well-being as a whole and it reflects on the social and economic advancement of the state. References George V. & P. Wilding (1994), Welfare and Ideology, Harvester Wheatsheaf: Hemel Hempstead John P (1998). Analysing Public Policy. Continuum. Katsinas S. G. (2005) Increased Competition for Scarce State Dollars.’ New Directions for Community Colleges, 132, 19-32. Kennamer M., S.G. Katsinas, D. Hardy & B. Roessler (2010) ‘Closing Doors of Opportunity? Trends in Enrollment, College Costs, and Direct Grant Aid at Community Colleges in the United States, 2000-2001 to 2005-2006. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 34, 7-24. Mykerezi E., G. Kostandini & B. Mills (2009) Do Rural Community Colleges Supply Unique Educational Benefits. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 41, 411-417. Marshall T. H. (1965), Social Policy, Hutchinson: London. Marcote D. E., T. Bailey, C. Borkoski & G. S. Klenzl (2005) The Returns of a Community College from the National Education Longitudinal Study. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 27, 157-175. Peacock A. (1960). The Welfare Society, Liberal Publication Department: London. Partridge M. & D. Rickman (2005) High-Poverty Nonmetropolitan Counties in America: Can Economic Development Help? International Regional Science Review, 28, 415-440. Schrum E. (2007) Establishing a Democratic Religion: Metaphysics and Democracy in the Debates over the President’s Commission on Higher Education. History of Education Quarterly 47, 277-301. Sharkansky I. & R. Hofferbert (1969) Dimensions of State Politics, Economics, and Public Policy. The American Political Science Review, 63, 858-866. Sullivan P. (2010) What Is Affordable Community College Tuition? Part I. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 34, 645-661. Read More