Publisher's Synopsis
The 1990 yearbook can be viewed as an anthology of papers that addresses aspects of a broad, complex and evolving field of study that seeks to understand such concerns as the development, implementation and assessment of policies that affect what should be taught in schools and to whom, and how instruction should be carried out, and who should decide these matters; the forms and effects of governmental action, ie, the nature of the instruments and symbols governments select or combine to influence individuals and institutions, the manner in which various governmental interventions penetrate practice and operate to promote or impede particular policy objectives; the ways in which policy processes, designs, and effects interact; and the impact of these interactions on broad dimensions of interest, such as the content of schooling, the quality and equity of educational opportunities, and the distribution of power and authority in social systems.