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Learning about Learning: Discovering the Work of Policy

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 08:02 authored by David AdamsDavid Adams, Colebatch, HK, Walker, CK
The development of policy rests on skilled practice by knowledgeable practitioners – ‘policy work’ – and it is important to know what skills and knowledge this work calls upon, and where these are learned. Although there is substantial academic knowledge and courses in this field, many practitioners will argue that policy work is ‘as much an art as a science’ and is something that ‘you learn as you go’. This article reports on an exploratory study of policy practitioners’ accounts of their practice, what counts as knowledge, and in what contexts it is ‘useful’. We examine the discourses through which policy work is accomplished, the way in which people learn to do it, and the place of academic work in the constitution of these discourses. Drawing on our respondents understanding of policy practice, we discuss what more might be done to facilitate learning about the work of policy.

History

Publication title

Australian Journal of Public Administration

Volume

74

Pagination

101-111

ISSN

0313-6647

Department/School

TSBE

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia

Place of publication

Australia

Rights statement

Copyright 2015 Institute of Public Administration Australia

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Public services policy advice and analysis

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