Rethinking education policy success/failure: Analysing Ghana’s ’FCUBE’ using the three dimensions of policy as a conceptual heuristic

Abstract

In education, the relativism with which claims of success or otherwise of policies are accentuated unmasks a lack of a systematic framework with which one could question what constitutes policy success and/or failure. This article aims at inducing a rethink of education policy analysis. In the process, the article after highlighting and describing the process, programmatic and political dimensions of policy, uses the illustration as a conceptual heuristic to analyse Ghana's Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) policy and thereby provide an exemplar of the efficacy of the heuristic for policy evaluation. Subsequently, the relevance of this heuristic to theory, policy and practice is highlighted. The article portends that the conceptual heuristic it illuminates important as it enables analysts (including educational administrators and managers) to see beyond the traditional problem-solving intent and view policy equally as a language for framing political discourse and for getting people involved in democratic processes.