The Characterisation of Sensemaking in the Formulation and Enactment of the New General Foundation Programme in Omani Higher Education Institutions Context
Creators: name: Al Aufi, Asma
Publisher: name: Lancaster University
Year: 2025
Subjects: Higher education Institutions
Policy enactment
Educational reform
Institutional logics
Cognitive framework
General Foundation Programme
Oman
sensemaking
Qualitative research

description: This qualitative study develops an improved understanding of the General
 Foundation Programme (GFP) policy enactment in the Omani higher education
 context. Using a cognitive framework, the study explores how the different
 stakeholders’ individual cognition (beliefs, experiences and knowledge)
 and their situated cognition (social, cultural and physical contexts)
 influenced the formulation and enactment of the GFP in a selected higher
 education institution in Oman. The study made use of a combination of
 semi-structured interviews and document analysis. A total of 13 interviews
 were conducted with different stakeholders including policymakers,
 Associate Deans, Heads of Departments and Skills Coordinators. Documents
 drawn from the GFP portfolio prepared by the higher education institution
 under study were reviewed and analysed to develop a comprehensive
 understanding of the policy formulation and practice. The interview data
 and the document analysis data were analysed using the thematic analysis
 approach. Consequently, this revealed the process of how agents went
 through the phases of making sense, interpretation, reconciliation and/ or
 counterbalancing different institutional logics to enable or constrain
 them in the policy enactment process. The study findings revealed that the
 GFP reform employed a top-down approach in its formulation and individual
 cognition played a significant role in the formulation and enactment of
 the GFP policy. Although the GFP policy was a brainchild of the OAAAQA,
 the success of its enactment in the higher education institution was
 largely dependent on the individual cognition of the stakeholders within
 the institution. In addition, it was revealed that the situated cognition
 played an important role in the formulation and enactment of the GFP in
 the higher education institution context. The institution’s effective
 organisational structure and culture promoted the extent to which the GFP
 policy was enacted. However, it also emerged that the lack of the
 engagement of the higher education institution in the formulation of the
 GFP policy created a cognitive dissonance regarding the level of
 complexity of the GFP learning outcomes at the institutional level. This
 study further enhanced an understanding of the dynamic nature of education
 policy enactment and its conceptualisation as a multi-layered endeavour
 under different conditions, contexts and resources.
 
 
 
 These and other issues are discussed in detail in the thesis. One of the
 significant contributions of the thesis is the development of a clear
 conceptual framework of the cognitive model that stakeholders can deploy
 to effect educational policy reform and its subsequent effective
 enactment. The thesis acknowledges its limitations and sheds light on
 possible avenues for future research.