'Half-pregnant with Bartlett's baby': contested policies in Tasmanian post-secondary education - 2007-2010 - through the lens of Kingdon's 'agendas'

Abstract

Tasmania Tomorrow was highly politicised, and Tasmanian post-secondary education policy became a central issue in the 2010 state elections. The purpose of this paper was to analyse the dynamics of Tasmanian post-secondary education policy, and determine what education policy analysts can learn from this episode in Tasmanian education history. Tasmania Tomorrow was positioned in relation to United Kingdom research into a similar event of contested education policy. The veracity of a number of elements of John Kingdon‟s theory of public policy evolution was then examined as a lens through which to analyse contested Tasmanian post-secondary education policy.