Frans-Bauke van der Meer

Evaluation in Multi-Actor Policy Processes Accountability, Learning and Co-operation

Two main functions of evaluation are enabling accountability and collective learning. Both of these – and their combination – run into diverse complications when applied in complex multi-actor policy processes. The article explores these complications and illustrates them with examples from the field of spatial policy. In doing so, a third function of evaluation in such contexts is identified, viz. evaluation as an instrument of co-operation. Next, a number of theoretical ideas, supported by empirical research, are proposed in order to understand better when, why and how evaluation contributes to complex multi-actor policy processes. Based on these insights, some principles are elaborated for the development of constructive evaluation arrangements. The authors suggest that co-operation is a precondition for the preservation of accountability and learning functions of evaluation in multi-actor settings.

Small, Slow, and Gradual Reform: What can Historical Institutionalism Teach us?

In this article, the issue of “small, slow and gradual reform” is explored, particularly from the perspective of “historical institutionalism.” Historically grown and solidified institutions explain why change usually is only small, slow, and gradual. We have a closer look at the political science theory of historical institutionalism. After considering key-concepts of historical institutionalism such as “path dependency” and “punctuated equilibrium,” we look at recent developments of typologies of incremental, gradual transformations. Elaborating upon this typology we develop a conceptual framework of various and varying types of change. The descriptive validity of this framework is “tested” by offering empirical illustrations in three case studies of changes that have occurred in and around the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture.

An Education Strategy for Practitioners in Public Administration Master’s Programs

Abstract Master’s programs in Public Administration (MPA) may contribute to a better platform for exchange between the academy and the field of practice. But how should such programs be designed and run to meet the ambition of bringing together study and work experience? This contribution analyzes that question and develops an educational philosophy of de-linking and re-linking. It reports on the educational practice of the MPA program for practitioners at Erasmus University Rotterdam, which is based on this analysis and philosophy. The thesis of the paper is that programs like this one need a specific pedagogical approach. An outline of such an approach is presented.

New Public Management and Evaluation

In the last four decades governments and governmental bodies in Western countries have come under increasing pressure, both societal and financial in nature. The quest for efficiency, efficacy, responsiveness, flexibility and accountability of government is a dominant one. As outlined in the introductory chapter, this has given rise to numerous innovations both in public organization and in policy-making and implementation. These innovations aimed at improving government in some respects in order to accommodate ‘external’ and ‘internal’ pressures.

Special issue on the teaching–research nexus in public administration curricula

Research and teaching are the main substantive activities of university staff members. How are both areas connected to each other? What is the role of research in teaching? How can research be used to improve the quality and impact of teaching? This is exactly what this special issue of Teaching Public Administration is about. Everybody will agree that one of the core tasks of teaching staff at the public administration departments of universities consists of conducting and publishing research, as well as teaching students about the discipline. However, research and teaching do not always seem to match. Life inside the classroom seems to be becoming increasingly detached from the research that is being undertaken by the teachers themselves. However, students could greatly benefit from a stronger connection between research and teaching. First of all, a connection between or the integration of research and teaching may help students to become research-minded and to perform actual research more adequately. Methods courses and dedicated research assignments are, of course, essential, but more inclusive integration of research into teaching may help students to gain a better feeling for which methods could or should be used when, and for how data may be interpreted. Secondly, a research orientation in teaching may help students to become more critical and reflexive. On an academic level, ‘knowledge’ should not be taken for granted, but its base, presuppositions and meaning, should be subject to debate. Students should socialize in a culture in which such debate, and their creative participation in it, is self-evident. The purpose of this special issue is to bring together contributions that deal with issues on incorporating research into teaching programs. [...]

Research and teaching PA Towards research as teaching

Research and teaching are core business of academic institutions. The research context is thought to be fruitful for teaching and learning, and students may contribute to research. But how exactly does the interplay between research and teaching take place and how, in what respects and under which conditions, does this contribute to the quality of research and teaching? The article makes an inventory of functions of research in teaching in public administration curricula. It elaborates on conditions and mechanisms for effective realization of these functions, based on the contributions to this special issue, literature and our own insights and experiences. We evaluate and reflect on different functions and modes of linking research and teaching and to explore relevant conditions for their use.

An agenda for rethinking mid-career master programs in public administration:

The pace of societal change and the development of societal challenges have speeded up considerably during the last couple of decades, with substantial impact on different levels, i.e. ranging from global to local, or from business to government. When focusing on the public domain, these changes and challenges have had a major impact on public professionals, who face different and frequently changing questions. Mid-career programs in Public Administration (MPA) have the mission to support enrolled professionals in dealing with these changes and challenges. This article is about the development of such MPAs. Both substantive and didactic development is needed. To counter institutional inertia it seems vital to institutionalize a regular rethinking and adaptation of curricula and didactic strategies. This article identified some important points of attention and some options to deal with these in order to continuously improve the contribution of MPA programs to relevant and effective professional development and ongoing professional learning.

Academic pa education and professional practice: Innovative methods for linking theory and praxis

Abstract Purpose One ambition of most mid-career MPA programmes is to combine the attainment of an academic master degree with a qualitative leap in professional skills and functioning. This ambition requires that academic insights and methods be sensibly linked to real-life professional contexts and challenges. This chapter develops a rationale to enhance conditions and mechanisms that help to produce such linking, based on insights in professional learning. Design/methodology/approach Two methods used in the mid-career MPA programme at Erasmus University Rotterdam to help students to establish such links will be discussed. The first method involves an evolving personal learning agenda and the second method involves peer-to-peer coaching. Both methods will also be used to evaluate the added value of the programme for the professional functioning of the students. Findings The MPA programme makes students link theory to their own real-life practice and changes their perspective on analysis and professional intervention. Often, however, these new perspectives are quite general in nature, not taking much account of the specific context. Thorough lecturer feedback and training in peer consultation may help students to become more reflexive and to develop better situation-specific strategies. Practical implications The findings point to the need for further development of didactical strategies. Originality/value The chapter analyses professional added value of an academic programme.

Learning from Evaluation - Institutional Change as Social (Re)Construction

Policy processes evolve in highly institutionalized environments, and policy effects are generally shaped by these environments. Policy outcomes could therefore be expected to be patterned and even predictable. In practice, however, prediction of policy outcomes is difficult. In part this lack of predictability relates to policy itself as many policies aim at institutional change: new norms, new rules, new patterns of behavior. However, policy is not the only force that is influencing such institutions. Moreover, institutional change can take place in the absence of a policy directed to it. This can happen as the outcome of interaction between many different societal actors reacting on external change or internal tensions. These societal actors find themselves in different institutional environments, which means that in explaining the outcomes of a policy process no single institutional framework can be presupposed, but rather a multiplicity of more or less connected and overlapping institutionalized patterns. Institutions ‘work’ if and when they appear as meaningful to actors. Here the term institution actually refers to two parallel phenomena: formal institutions and stabilized practice or action routines. In our view, these two phenomena come together in actors’ repertoires, defined as stabilized ways of thinking and acting. But repertoires do not fully determine thinking and acting, as there are always circumstances to which existing repertoires do not fully fit. Therefore, new sense making, and generation of new patterns of action are neede, which implies change of repertoires elicited by experience and/or reflection. We call this learning. The central question of our research, then, is how and when such learning takes place, especially by government and governmental agencies.In this paper we elaborate these preliminary notions with respect to the impact of policy evaluations by the Dutch Court of Audit. This focus combines a highly and explicitly institutionalized setting with a relatively explicit learning function. After a short introduction on the CoA we will elaborate our theoretical argument and illustrate it with examples from three case studies of the impact of CoA evaluations – State Museums, Lynx Helicopter, and Government Information Campaigns.