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An Ecology Metaphor for Educational Policy Analysis: A Call to Complexity

MARCUS B. WEAVER-HIGHTOWER is an assistant professor of educational foundations and research at the University of North Dakota, 231 Centennial Drive, Stop 7189, Grand Forks, ND 58202; mwh{at}und.nodak.edu. His research focuses on the politics of boys’ education, the sociology of education and educational policy, cultural studies of masculinity and male learning across the life course, and qualitative methods

Educational policy might productively be conceptualized with an ecology metaphor. Each policy, thus considered, exists within a complex system that reflects varied international, national, regional, and local dynamics. Using this metaphor provides policy analysts with a view of the regularities and irregularities of any policy, its process, its texts, its reception, and its degree of implementation. The characteristics of policy ecologies alert analysts to the possibilities of great transformation, for good or ill, and give them a way to conceptualize how such transformations occur. Perhaps most important, using an ecology metaphor suggests specific ways that progressive researchers might positively intervene in the policy process.

Key Words: critical policy analysis • ecological metaphors • educational policy • policy process

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