In this paper, I reflect on my experience teaching critical perspectives in public policy. Teaching critical perspectives in policy is often perceived as challenging because they employ less structured methodologies than "conventional" policy analysis. At the same time, students often find the abstract unit of analysis together with the confrontational stance and tone of critical analysis, unsettling. This can create uncertainty among those seeking more concrete and "practical" tools for policy analysis.
Drawing on my experience in both public service and academia, I argue that a dedicated focus on critical perspectives remain both relevant and necessary within public policy curricula, particularly at postgraduate levels. Critical approaches equip students with practical analytical capacities to interrogate the socio-political assumptions and power relations that underpin policy problems and proposed solutions. Although these approaches are often characterised as merely descriptive, this rich and nuanced insights they generate can deepen long-term understandings of complex policy issues and, in turn, can subtly influence policymaking process.
At the same time, this reflection acknowledges that developing critical analytical competence requires sustained engagement beyond a single course. Rather than being confined to a standalone subject, critical perspectives should be integrated across the broader curriculum, allowing students to progressively develop the analytical depth and reflexive capacity needed to engage with increasingly complex policy challenges.
