6.1  Finding out about legislation and policies

Before finding out more about legislation and policies, here are some definitions of what is meant by these terms.

Legislation is a legal act that is passed by government. It is essential that the law is followed.

Figure 6.2  Defining legislation

Policy is defined by Fitzgerald and Kaye (2016, p. 3) as:

An attempt by those working inside an organisation to think in a coherent way about what it is trying to achieve (either in general or in relation to a specific issue) and what it needs to do to achieve it.

Therefore, policy can be national (if it is the government’s approach) or local (which can refer to a local authority). Policies can be even more local because they can be written for ELC settings.

Introduction

Why legislation and policy are important