The Characterisation of Sensemaking in the Formulation and Enactment of the New General Foundation Programme in Omani Higher Education Institutions Context

Al Aufi, Asma and Trowler, Paul (2025) The Characterisation of Sensemaking in the Formulation and Enactment of the New General Foundation Programme in Omani Higher Education Institutions Context. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

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.