Public Administration Curriculum Research Articles

Minding the gap between public administration curriculum and practice: The studio of public reasoning

It has always been a crucial question as to what kind of education should be provided to practitioners working at different levels of public administration, starting from the street level onwards, and what kind of interactions should be used to develop their competencies once in office. However, especially in the last 30 years, as we have entered a period of accelerating technological and institutional transformations, this issue has gained a dimension beyond the discussions on higher education and training for service. In addition to how public administration education will relate to practice as seen in traditional debates, new questions have emerged, such as how this engagement with practice can provide a perspective on institutional transformation, how those working in institutions can perceive their transformation processes more accurately, and ultimately, what kind of interaction can be achieved between those receiving public administration education and those working in public institutions. To answer these questions, an innovative model called “studio of public reasoning” was developed in 2009 for a university in public administration education in Turkey to create a platform for interaction with the external stakeholders of the university through an applied course. This Program has been implemented continuously for 15 years at the same university and more than 1000 students, about 100 public institutions of different scales and about 300 public administrators have benefited from the Program. In this paper, based on this experience, the gains of innovative teaching practices in public administration discipline in interacting with external stakeholders are critically evaluated through interviews with students, academics and administrators to assess whether alternatives are possible in establishing non-hierarchical external stakeholder interaction together with formal higher education for public administration.

Unveiling the Lecturers’ and Students' Needs in English for Public Administration Program: Essential Vocabulary Topics, Instructional Methods, and Learning Challenges

The lack of attention given in scholarly research to the particular requirements of Public Administration has resulted in a knowledge deficit to suit students' interests in this discipline. Prior research has predominantly examined the quantitative dimensions of vocabulary acquisition while neglecting to adequately consider the qualitative aspects, including comprehension and language use, in a contextually appropriate manner. This study aims to fill in these knowledge deficits by investigating vocabulary themes or topics related to Public Administration, evaluating existing instructional approaches and challenges, and suggesting enhancements to bolster students' English language proficiency in Public Administration. The study employs a qualitative methodology, including an open-ended questionnaire and in-depth interviews with four lecturers and 100 first-year students from three universities in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The findings revealed that the English for Public Administration curriculum requires a diverse vocabulary of topics from administration, management, and governance to more nuanced areas such as economics, finance, taxation, social and ethics, technology and digitalization, leadership, and regulation and law. Various teaching and assessment strategies regarding instructional methods, including interactive and collaborative methods, technology integration, and contextual learning, suggest the importance of engaging students with diverse and practically relevant content to prepare them for the multifarious nature of public sector roles. Students, however, found some challenges in the complexity of the Public Administration vocabulary, highlighting the need for tailoring educational strategies, such as project-based learning and vocabulary reinforcement techniques, to overcome these obstacles. The study's findings have substantial implications for policymakers, curriculum developers, and lecturers specializing in public administration education.

Nonprofits into the core? An early assessment of potential curricular changes after the 2019 NASPAA standards amendments

ABSTRACT This article explores the integration of nonprofit content into the MPA core curriculum following NASPAA’s standards amendments in 2019. These amendments underscore the increasing recognition of nonprofit management as a fundamental element of public service education. The analysis examines the evolving landscape of nonprofit education programs and the challenges encountered in integrating nonprofit management into public administration curricula, providing insights into the current state of nonprofit education in MPA programs. It also suggests how programs are proceeding with core integration. Results from a survey of MPA program directors across the United States are presented, revealing a call for ongoing discussions and research to navigate the complexities associated with integrating nonprofit management education into core curricula.

Emotional labor: Advancing our public administration classroom

ABSTRACT Public administration courses often use the pillars of public administration (e.g., efficiency, effectiveness, equity, economy, accountability, responsiveness) as foundational concepts across our core curriculum. However, our public administration curriculum is alarmingly absent of conversations about emotional labor. Put simply, emotional labor is emotion management and life management combined, which is unpaid, invisible work we do to keep those around us happy (Rinfret et al., 2022). In this paper we detail a semester-long research project focused on emotional labor, and why it is necessary for how we work in a diverse and changing workforce. Our pilot study examines original data collected during the spring and summer 2022 to document the experiences of 36 students enrolled in a core public administration course. The findings illustrate that using the emotional labor project (ELP) provides opportunities for us to engage in conversation with our students to change the narrative in our discipline and practice.

Decolonising Public Administration Content Curriculum in a Post-colonial South African University: Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Perspective

One of the major areas of focus in public administration discipline is policy monitoring and evaluation. This paper focuses on how this is understood in selected indigenous communities in South Africa. The current public administration curriculum content taught in Universities hardly recognises and reflects bits of practices and realities of indigenous communities, especially in conducting policy monitoring and evaluation. The paper unearths the origins and current state of public administration content curriculum updates taught in selected higher institutions of learning, with specific reference to policy monitoring and evaluation. The article further sought to understand public administration discipline content curriculum alignment with South Africa’s contextual realities in selected indigenous communities of the Eastern Cape. Using explorative research, the study discovered that the teachings of public administration hardly reflect the realities among the indigenous communities. This presents public administration discipline to be epistemic universal instead of being epistemic diverse. The conclusion is that as much as African scholars learn from their European counterparts, all forms of knowledge ought to be documented and amalgamated into curriculum content. It is critical, therefore, that a hybrid will be suitable for policy monitoring and evaluation. In addition, indigenous policy monitoring and evaluation knowledge should be accredited and included in the curriculum content of public administration discipline.

Decision-making skills in the fourth industrial revolution

Courses and training in public decision-making have often disappeared from Public Administration curricula. This paper argues that this is unfortunate as skills therein are severely needed to steer developments towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Whereas some see this as a macro development that befalls countries, this paper argues otherwise. Decision-making by individual and corporate actors is judged to be central in the 4IR. This makes the steering thereof possible and desirable. Without being trained in the needed skills in decision-making our graduates will not be prepared to do so and will not become the responsible public officials able to direct 4IR developments.

Is Blended Learning Here to Stay? Public Administration Education in Romania

So far Covid-19 has brought serious turbulences to the higher education system be it in the form of substantial drops in research founding and international student enrolments or increases in expenses associated with digital solutions for teaching and learning, as well as funding for bridging social gaps between different categories of learners. However, while building on existent scholarship, the authors look at the Covid-19 crisis as an important contextual factor for integrating more practical skills in the public administration curriculum in Romania. This article compares the Romanian expectations of public administration academics with those of the practitioners and question whether a blended approach to teaching public administration might prove beneficial to preparing more adaptable and autonomous (future) civil servants. Data collected from interviews with practitioners in public administration and a survey among public administration students is expected to indicate a potential positive correlation between blendedlearning and development of transversal competencies associated to and necessary for “the craft of public administration”.

Building MPA Student Competence in the New 4Es through Teaching Cases

Public service education aims to prepare students to serve in the “public interest,” historically encompassing the “3Es” of efficiency, economy, and effectiveness. However, modern public servants must apply practical and moral wisdom to answer calls for administrators to address inequities and advance social justice. The field is thus implored to elevate social equity as a normative foundation and connect it to complementary values—including engagement, empathy, and ethics—comprising a set of “new 4Es” often overlooked in public administration curricula. But how might instructors teach the new 4Es in Master of Public Administration (MPA) coursework? Review of diverse literatures suggests the case teaching method, which assigns narrative case readings putting learners in the role of participant in a realistic dilemma and asks them to make a critical decision, holds promise for cultivating the new 4Es. Through an example of a foundational MPA management course, this article equips instructors with strategies for implementing the case teaching method and connecting cases to each of the new 4Es. The design, delivery, assessment strategies, and preliminary outcomes of the course are discussed. The article concludes with challenges and opportunities for public service educators to adopt the pedagogical approach within their own contexts.

基于“二十大”精神的公共管理学科课程思政构建逻辑

基于“二十大”精神的公共管理学科课程思政构建逻辑

Will cultural teaching methods influence student understanding of politics and bureaucracy in the public administration curriculum of African countries within the COVID-19?

Will cultural teaching methods influence student understanding of politics and bureaucracy in the public administration curriculum of African countries within the COVID-19?

A big picture perspective of the decolonization of Public Administration debate in Africa: Looking back and looking forward

Trailblazing discussions on “decolonisation” have continuously been building up since Kwame Nkrumah’s Pan-Africanist ideological constructs, but not much has been undertaken regarding the rebuilding of the fibre of the Public Administration curriculum. As a result, literature has been embedded in a lot of nuances in decoding the concept of decolonization. Amongst these narratives is the tendency to distinguish the decolonization of the curriculum as a mere African exhilaration which is disguised as a counter-construct to colonization. In light of the adverse effects of colonization on the African curriculum, critical reflections that shoot from a broad review of decolonization approaches in Public Administration are unveiled in this article. The aim is to encourage institutions of higher learning to apply a decolonizing approach that appreciates the pedagogical value of indigenous knowledge relating to Public Administration as a locus and as a focus. The article also covers an exposition revealing how decolonization of the Public Administration curriculum is neither an “anti-West” fad nor a dissuasion to learn from the West and the globalized village. It does this by taking full cognizance of the past without disintegrating the already polarized social fabric. It is against this background that it becomes imperative that South Africa begins to rediscover, and regenerate its local values by enabling the practicalities of decolonizing the curriculum through extending examples in practice. If university repositories and research hubs are going to be reliably contributing to the transformation of the African continent and the global village at length, then it is obvious that the teaching material and how it is delivered will have to certainly change somehow. The article then explores alternatives and sustainable solutions that can be proffered in accelerating the relevance of the alternative indigenous knowledge systems on the Public Administration curriculum.

Integrating professional sustainability literacy into the master of public administration curriculum

PurposePublic administration, or the implementation of public policies by civil servants, will be central to implementing the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. And yet, few American master of public administration (MPA) programs explicitly focus on sustainable development or sustainability literacy. This study asks whether it is possible to build professional sustainability literacy within a general MPA course, specifically in a course on quantitative methods.Design/methodology/approachThrough a natural experiment conducted in three sections of the graduate course Quantitative Methods in Public Administration at UNC Wilmington, the study explores the relationship between student growth in professional sustainability literacy and a student’s level of foundational sustainability literacy, pro-environmental behavior, background knowledge in statistics and their interest in sustainable development within public administration.FindingsThe study finds that there is a statistically significant relationship between growth in a student’s professional sustainability literacy and two variables: above average foundational sustainability literacy and a high level of interest in sustainability policies and programs.Originality/valueThis study is the first to consider an embedded approach to sustainability education in the field of public administration.

Influence of gender and career interest on African university students’ perceived difficult concepts in the study of public administration

There have been few studies on topic difficulty in the public administration curriculum of African universities. This is further problematized by non-existent literature on the relationships between gender, future career interest and country of study on student difficulty in the study of public administration. This is a gap in the public administration literature which this study attempts to fill. The work is significant to the extent that our understanding of ‘where the shirt tights’ regarding topics that students find difficult will guide teachers and other stakeholders in applying appropriate remedies. The purpose of the study is to find out (a) what topics in public administration students find difficult to learn; (b) if there are statistically significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities; (c) if there are statistically significant relationship between student’s career interest and concept difficulty in the study of public administration; and (d) if there are statistically significant relationship between country of study and concept difficulty in the study of public administration. Quantitative method was employed with sample (N = 650). The study reports bureaucracy, decentralization, public policy and politics as moderately difficult; significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty; and significant relationship between student future career interest and concept difficulty. We suggest curriculum development that would improve students’ knowledge by laying more emphasis on the perceived difficult areas in the study of public administration, gender, and encourage early students’ interest in public sector career choices.

Searching for social equity among public administration mission statements

The main research question considered in this article is the relative prominence of social equity among public administration curricula via an examination of program mission. It has long been asserted that social equity is a key component of public administration education so much so that the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) made social equity a fourth pillar of public administration. The article points to a serious dilemma faced within the discipline, namely the unequal geographic distribution of social equity mission statements at the program level, while at the same time promoting it as essential to the discipline nationally. Based on an analysis of 184 public administration programs, this article advocates for a continued commitment and dedicated resources to promote social equity across smaller Masters of Public Administration programs.

Advancing social justice and racial equity in the public sector

ABSTRACT This article argues that the integration of race-conscious dialogues in public administration programs will promote racial and social justice, as well as improve service delivery for a wide array of constituents. Scholars have acknowledged the challenges associated with incorporating racial justice into public sector practices. However, if racial divisions are to subside, academic and professional training programs need to purposefully include discussions of race, racism, and racial equity. This article concludes with a discussion of way to incorporate an antiracist pedagogy in public administration curriculum. This strategy can begin preparing future administrators to thoughtfully engage in difficult dialogues around topics of race and racism.

Quiet voices: Misalignment of the three Cs in public administration curriculum

ABSTRACTScholars preach congruence between the three Cs (concepts, context, and content) of public administration in order to keep the field relevant. The current context of public administration is embodied by diversity of thought. One such type of diversity is descriptive and symbolic representation of women. This research examines the initial socialization of many public administrators to the field by performing a content analysis of the syllabi of highly ranked MPA programs and evaluating what percentage of assigned authors are female and how the curriculum addresses gender diversity. On average, women write less than 20% of required readings and only 5% of courses have specific units on gender diversity. This suggests the content and concepts taught in the MPA classroom do not match the context of the field. The article provides strategies for instructors desiring to increase the alignment of the three Cs in their curriculum.

A comparative analysis of public administration education in the United States and post-Soviet Central Asia

ABSTRACT In democracies, the importance of public service is taught in the public administration curriculum, with an emphasis on democratic governance and how administering public goods contribute to a democratic society. This comparative work contributes to the field of study by applying theories of democratic values of public administration to the process of democratization. The study focuses on a comparative study of graduate-level curriculum delivery in the United States and public administration schools in post-Soviet Central Asia (primarily in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic) governments. This work explores the curricula of public administration institutes under the Presidents of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic. The curriculum, which tends to be controlled by the regime transitioning to democracy, prepares future public servants for state management.

Personality and the Teaching of Public Administration: A Case for the Big Five

Personality assessment is a key concept in the practice of public and nonprofit personnel management, but many faculty struggle with how to introduce the concept of personality in their courses. When Master of Public Administration curricula do include personality, discussions often consist solely of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a popular but theoretically dubious personality instrument. This article argues that the five-factor model of personality provides a theoretically sound, empirically valid, and open-access measure that can help faculty and students understand the role personality can play in public personnel management and decision making. To demonstrate the usefulness of this framework, we rely on existing research as well as the results of a unique survey of United Way managers.

Long-term trends accentuate the import of creative and critical thinking skills developed by design thinking and ill-defined questions

The economic, financial, and political trends such as stagnating standards of living, fiscal pressure, and an escalating mistrust of government were set in motion during the 1960s and 1970s. Due to the duration of the trends, the magnitude, but not the nature, of the challenges confronting the health care, nonprofit and public sectors has changed. Consequently, with the exception of adding topics relating to strategies for securing voluntary compliance and effectively interacting with constituents who are increasingly angry and opposed to government intervention, the Great Recession and subsequent Age of Austerity do not appreciably affect the Master in Public Administration (MPA) curriculum’s content. However, the intractable nature of the challenges accompanying the trends places a premium on cultivating the students’ critical thinking and creative skills. Meeting this challenge necessitates the adoption of learning strategies that shift to students a greater share of the responsibility for learning. One of the options for achieving the outcome is to provide students with the foundational materials and an ill-defined problem that, in conjunction with design thinking, maximizes the students’ freedom to independently define the problem, identify the requisite information for analysis, and develop solutions. The article provides examples of the learning strategy that has been applied in several courses.

Disciplinary rationale and public administration field development

Public Administration as a field o study is relatively new in the People's Republic of China. Nonetheless, it is quickly gaining popularity on China's university campuses, due largely to China's urgent need for managerial capacity building and reform guidance. Properly defining the mission of the discipline of public administration will have a profound impact on the future viability of the field, as well as on the process of social transformation in China. This paper looks into some of the basic questions related to public administration field development in China. Hopefully, it can contribute to discussions among interested scholars, and serve as a reference for public administration curriculum design and research agenda setting.