The implications of

education theory, policy

and practice on
stakeholders.
RUKSHANA HASSEN
@rukshanahassen
 Who is a stakeholder?

Definition One: ‘A stakeholder is a person who has

something to gain or lose through the outcomes of a
planning process or project. In many circles these are
called interest groups and they can have a powerful
bearing on the outcomes of political processes.’

Source: Overseas Development Institute (ODI) 2009, Planning tools: Stakeholder analysis.
@rukshanahassen
 Who?

Definition Two: ‘A stakeholder is anyone with an interest

in a business. Stakeholders are individuals, groups or
organisations that are affected by the activity of the
business.’

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 2018, Stakeholders.

@rukshanahassen
 Who?
Definition Three: ‘Stakeholders can be individuals working on a
project, groups of people or organisations, or even segments of a
population. A stakeholder may be actively involved in a project’s
work, affected by the project’s outcome, or in a position to affect
the project’s success. Stakeholders can be an internal part of a
project’s organisation, or external, such as customers, creditors,
unions, or members of a community.’

Source: Project Management Docs 2017, What is a stakeholder? How to identify, analyze and manage project
stakeholders. @rukshanahassen
 Can you identify two or three common themes in the
definitions that would apply
especially to stakeholders in education?
Stakeholders can Stakeholders can be
A stakeholder has directly involved in the
something to gain be individuals,
institutions, activity (for example,
or lose from the teachers, officials,
activity in organisations or
groups. students) or can simply
question. be affected by it (for
example, parents,
employers, textbook
publishers).
@rukshanahassen
 Who are key stakeholders and how
are they identified?
Key stakeholders are those whose interests are directly affected by an activity, or
who have the power or influence to advance or stop an activity. Thus, education
stakeholders in a national strategic planning exercise may be different from those in a
community level discussion about how to improve attendance at the local school. In
other words, ‘key’ stakeholders vary, according to the issue under consideration, and
the context.

@rukshanahassen
 Consider this...
For your country program or a developing country known to you,
suggest which types of individuals or organisations would be
the key stakeholders in an activity such as developing a
national education strategy. If we were to list them under the
categories given below, who would be the persons falling into
these categories?

‘Private sector ‘Public sector ‘Civil society

stakeholders’, stakeholders’, stakeholders’

@rukshanahassen
 Private Sector Stakeholders Public Sector Stakeholders Civil Society Stakeholders

Cooperates and Businesses Ministers and advisors (executive) Media

Public servants and government

Individual Business Leaders Religious Organizations
departments (bureaucracy)

Social movements and advocacy

Professional Bodies Elected representatives (legislature)
groups

Courts (judiciary) Schools and Universities

Political parties Trade Unions

Financial Institutions
Local government/councils National NGOs

International bodies (World Bank, United

Parents and communities
Nations)

Source: Overseas Development Institute (ODI) 2009, planning tools: Stakeholder analysis
@rukshanahassen
 Why is stakeholder participation
Key Stakeholder
important? Possible Benefits Possible risks from exclusion

Ministry of Finance Can bring information on resources Lack of support for budget implications of
available Can learn about the challenges the plan, no understanding of the plan’s
facing the sector logic or viability

Teacher Unions Can represent the concerns of teachers Teacher unions resist change, organise
and bring teachers’ perspective strikes or boycotts

International bodies (e.g. Can bring resources and technical Agencies’ plans do not reflect the
World Bank, UN) and expertise, including international priorities identified in national planning
bilateral agencies experience

Business associations, Can help ensure that needs of the job Reforms do not help make learners more
employers market are considered employable
@rukshanahassen
 What factors influence whether development
partners in the education
sector collaborate effectively?
Multilateral organisations, bilateral agencies, NGOs and CSOs are driven by different agendas and
different interests. If these are not coordinated and managed at the country level, it can result in
duplication of initiatives, even contradictory objectives and sometimes unhelpful competition for
resources or the attention of government.

Two critical factors are necessary to make effective development cooperation possible:

Strong leadership from the national government International agreements that hold international
in coordinating international assistance around a organisations and governments accountable for the
clear national agenda effectiveness of their assistance.

@rukshanahassen
 Internal and external stakeholders
Internal stakeholders are groups within a External stakeholders are groups outside
business which are: a business which are:

The teachers, students, parents, support The government, SENDCO’s, local

staff, and midday assistants. authority, social workers neighbours,
trainers, suppliers, community, agencies.

@rukshanahassen
 School stakeholders are interested in the curriculum and can
shape the school curriculum operation which has been designed
for the students and will be the ones influenced by it.

The teacher primary role is to write the curriculum by a

daily lesson plan, weekly lesson plan, term plan and yearly
plans, to ensure that the children learn all the information
Parents are stakeholders as they pay for their they need to learn to be able to progress to the next year
child/children education through there tax’s so their and understand the information within the next class this
voices are heard very loud, Parent is also a stakeholder is all done by adapted to meet the needs of the individual
as the teacher relies on parents to help teach their within the class.
children by sitting with them to read, practice their
writing and helping with homework, etc.
(Foskett and Lumby, 2003: 87) @rukshanahassen
 Being accountable to stakeholders and external bodies
and its’ impacts on organisations in education and training

Accountability A common impact Way these impacts can

stakeholders that can be found is the become overcome
stakeholder not being
are those who have is by having a group email for all the
able to meet at the same
an interaction in a stakeholders so they can receive all
time due to other
range of ways in the the relevant information when needed
commitments,
school including the and stakeholders informing within
information not provided
educational enough time to try and allow everyone
in enough time to have
achievements and to be able to join in with the meeting,
the meeting and not
wellbeing of its discussion, a change to an idea event,
communicating correctly
pupils. or even the curriculum.
with each other.
@rukshanahassen
 01
“I currently work in a special need school with children with all stages of
ability and also have worked in a mainstream school. The children with
special need were removed from the testing as the school was worried
that the children’s grade would have a huge impact on the school overall
score, which I feel has a major impact on the individuals. In some cases
the children are made to sit the test when they don’t have the ability or CASE
STUDY
ready for the test which puts a lot of stress on the child causing children
to become stressed, depressed, have anxiety and even panic attacks to
pass the test. The teachers also have a lot of pressure to ensure the
children pass the test and get the grade they need for the school to pass.”

@rukshanahassen
 02 “The national curriculum test undertaken by thousands of primary school children
across the country each year, is producing unreliable data causing some pupils to
be incorrectly labelled as low ability, and others to go on to secondary school

CASE
with unrealistically high grades”. (Getty)
“We recently had a child join my class with very unrealistic data saying
he couldn’t do half the things that he can do due to the testing which
STUDY was carried out on him before coming to our school. So he was put
with the low ability children which was the wrong area for him which
led to lots of behaviour issue as he wasn’t being challenged with the
work he was being set.
I feel that the test are unnecessary and could be tested in
another way to prevent the stress for the young children. Some
countries don’t test their children or give coursework but has the
best pass rate within the country. I feel this is because the children
are less likely to develop mental illnesses at young ages and able
to cope with the work they are given. “
@rukshanahassen
 03
CASE STUDY
Last year, parents across the country
took their children out of school for a
day’s protest over the exams to
demonstrate the benefits of creative
learning away from rigorous testing.
The government has since agreed to
get rid of the SAT for six and
seven-year-olds from next year but
these raise the expectations for the
year six assessment.

@rukshanahassen
UKEssays. (November 2018). Stakeholders and External Bodies in Education. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/stakeholders-in-education.php?vref=1