Puzzling Publics: The role of reflexive learning in universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) policy formulation in Canada and the US

Abstract

Building on theories of social learning and policy change, this article argues that reflexive learning provides a causal mechanism for how public engagement in policy formulation can trigger policy innovation. Reflexive learning is a mode of learning that takes place during policy formulation and is most likely to occur in policy areas marked by considerable uncertainty and complexity (low problem tractability) and the participation of a wide range of actors (low actor certification). We contend that reflexive learning processes can restructure policy problems and widen the menu of available policy options and prompt policy elites and citizens to collectively update their beliefs, resulting in policy innovation. We probe the plausibility of this mechanism of policy change through a comparative study of universal pre-kindergarten policy making in the US and Canada. Through two paired comparisons (Florida and California; Ontario and Alberta), we find that policy innovation occurs when publics are engaged in policy formulation through iterative, ongoing public consultation on policy instruments and settings. Reflexive learning among publics and policy elites generates legitimacy, facilitating major policy change.

Problem Uncertainty, Institutional Insularity, and Modes of Learning in Canadian Provincial Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation

“…When do processes of social learning build trust among citizens for new technologies and under what conditions will consultations deepen polarization (Cleland & Gattinger, 2017; Neville & Weinthal, 2016)? Are policy innovations that stem from social learning more or less likely to endure over time (Millar, Davidson, & White, 2020)?…”

Trust in Public Health Is Essential Amid the COVID‐19 Pandemic

“…Acknowledging uncertainty and engaging the public in decision-making through a process of reflexive learning can build public trust in a time of uncertainty. 16 COVID-19 has also reaffirmed and illuminated that the public health and healthcare delivery systems are intertwined. Failure to "flatten the curve" results in an overrun healthcare system, enormous costs, and significant mortality.…”

“…Such changed guidance can undermine the entire public health message on protective factors. Acknowledging uncertainty and engaging the public in decision‐making through a process of reflexive learning can build public trust in a time of uncertainty 16 …”

Policy Success in Canada

“…Within the province of Ontario, full-day kindergarten has proven remarkably resilient, both programmatically and politically. The engagement of both experts and the public in the process of designing the program resulted in a policy design that has proven to be both enormously popular and quickly institutionalized (Millar et al, 2020). While technically voluntary in nature, parental take-up of the program has been very high, with over 90 per cent of eligible children enrolled in the Ontario FDK program.…”