Teaching Family Policy in Undergraduate and Graduate Classrooms: Why It's Important and How to Do It Better*

• Date: 01 January 2006
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2006.00353.x
• Author: Karen Bogenschneider
• Published date: 01 January 2006

Teaching Family Policy in Undergraduate and

Graduate Classrooms: Why It’s Important and

How to Do It Better*

Karen Bogenschneider**

Abstract: As newcomers on college campuses, family policy courses have the potential to benefit policymaking, fill

a void in undergraduate and graduate education, strengthen families, and prepare students for lifelong political

engagement during a pivotal period in their development. Yet, family policy has proven a challenging course to

teach. Family policy is an esoteric concept, which makes courses difficult to distinguish from other policy courses.

The content of a family policy course is fluid and inherently value laden. This paper proposes course content and

teaching techniques to transform these challenges into learning opportunities. The author discusses similarities and

differences in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses and recommends cross-university dialogue and resource

exchange to improve the teaching of family policy in college classrooms.

Key Words: family policy, pedagogy, undergraduate and graduate college teaching.

Family policy courses are newcomers to the curric-

ula on many college campuses, and their inclusion

in college timetables parallels the emergence of

family policy as a specialized field of study. Policy

discourse in the United States has always had

a family tilt, yet family policy is young both in

terms of intellectual inquiry and policy formation

centered on the family concept. Kamerman and

Kahn (1978) trace its origins back to the landmark

Senate hearings on American families in the

1970s. Progress was stymied for almost a decade

in the 1980s by the controversial White House

Conference on Families. Given these birth pangs,

it was not until the 1990s that family policy

evolved as a legitimate area of empirical and theo-

retical inquiry (Bogenschneider, 2000).

During the last three decades, the dramatic

changes in family composition, family functioning,

and the conditions of family life have promptedpoli-

cymakers and the legal system to become more

involved in family issues. For example, between 1990

and 1995, state and federal expenditures on child care

tripled, direct cash benefits to families doubled, and

family services increased by 50% (Kamerman & Kahn,

2001). Thus, it has become increasingly important to

acknowledge family considerations and take them

into account in political and legal decisions. In

response, college campuses have initiated courses on

family policy, and the National Council on Family

Relations has legitimized these courses by requiring

knowledge of family policy for certification as a fam-

ily life educator (Bredehoft & Walcheski, 2003;

www.ncfr.org/cfle/index.asp).

At the University of Wisconsin—Madison, fam-

ily policy has proven a difficult course to teach.

Regardless of instructor, the course evaluations are

generally lower, and student complaints are typi-

cally higher. Granted, the challenges of teaching

family policy may be attributable to both its con-

sumers and producers. Students are often reluctant

*The author expresses appreciation to those on whom the ideas in this paper were tested: the students in my classes, whose questions sharpened my thinking, whose

insights enriched my writing, and whose enthusiasm reaffirmed the value of recording these ideas for other teachers of family policy.

**Karen Bogenschneider is a Rothermel Bascom Professor of Human Ecology in the Department of Human Development & Family Studies at the University of

Wisconsin—Madison, and a Family Policy Specialist at the University of Wisconsin Extension, 1430 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706 (kpbogens@wisc.edu). She

directs the Wisconsin Family Impact Seminars and the Policy Institute for Family Impact Seminars.

Family Relations, 55 (January 2006), 16–28. Blackwell Publishing.

Copyright 2006 by the National Council on Family Relations.