Top-Down Governance of Bottom-Up Change Processes: An Israeli Policy Network Case Study

• In Event: 18.035 - Changing Education Through Rethinking Governance

Abstract

This study uses a policy-making ethnography of the Israeli leading teachers initiative to examine the role of a policy network in shifting educational governance. The initiative seeks to advance teacher professional learning through participation in school-based professional community. It is administered by the central government, implemented relatively autonomously at the district level and heavily supported by a network of actors and organizations. As such, the initiative employs top-down policy processes to create bottom-up educational transformations. We focus on the role of disciplinary coaches in the initiative as a case study for understanding the tensions that emerge in these new forms of governance. These tensions are primarily addressed through soft power tactics and temporary solutions, which threaten the initiative's long-term sustainability.

Authors

• Hemy Ramiel, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

• Adam Lefstein, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev