Covid-related educational policies in action: a system dynamics view
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 12 May 2022
Issue publication date: 15 June 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to adopt a learning-based approach to portray the impact of Covid-19 on state school services in Italy, with a specific focus on the role of street-level bureaucrats and the triggering of co-creative processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The study proposes a qualitative system dynamics (or SD) approach describing the implementation of Covid-related educational policies in Italy. An insight model, made of causal loop diagrams, integrates the selected multi-disciplinary literature and institutional sources, secondary data from national and local reports (about Palermo, the fifth largest metropolitan city in Italy) and insights from a panel of school street–level bureaucrats.
Findings
The study provides an insight into the impacts of governmental decisions (school closures and the subsequent need to activate distance learning during the first wave of Covid-19) at a local level. Specifically, it portrays the influences of managerial and professional discretion, infrastructural equipment and socio-economic factors favouring/deterring co-creative educational processes.
Practical implications
The SD model highlights vicious/virtuous circles in policy implementation and suggests new managerial paths for education, more routed towards public value creation and less attached to bureaucratic procedures and the unquestioning application of performance culture.
Originality/value
The paper proposes an original and holistic approach to dealing with policy making in education and its managerial features. The research findings are considered important, not only to face the current emergency, but also to pro-actively think about the post-Covid era.
Keywords
Citation
Costanza, F. (2022), "Covid-related educational policies in action: a system dynamics view", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 480-512. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-07-2021-0187
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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