Cross‐national policy borrowing and educational innovation: improving achievement in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

This paper reports on a case study of the London Education Authority of Barking and Dagenham's borrowing of Swiss educational practices, and the implementation and internalisation of those foreign practices in the teaching of mathematics in primary schools. The study employs analytical frameworks that might be used by policy makers or researchers looking at 'borrowing' educational practices and policies from elsewhere to use at home. The significance of context (e.g. social, economic, political and demographic) is highlighted, both in the process of educational borrowing and in the implementation of these ideas to improve education at home. In conclusion, the paper reflects upon 'best practices' and strategies that might serve as lessons to others. Notes 1. See http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/LEAS/301.shtml 2. The LEA, in conjunction with the NIESR, looked at educational practices in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and other countries in developing reforms for literacy, mathematics, vocational education, and more recently, early learning initiatives. This paper, however, focuses on the borrowing of primary mathematics practices identified in Zurich. 3. Interview with anonymous member of LEA staff. 4. NIESR/ Gatsby/ Barking and Dagenham (1996). Initiatives to raise standards of number‐work in primary schools. Presentation to the Secretary of State, 16 May 1996. 5. Internal Barking and Dagenham report 1993, p. 7. 6. Internal notes. 7. See http://www.ipmaths.co.uk for details. 8. Interviews with IPM teachers were conducted in January and February 2004 in Barking and Dagenham schools, following classroom observations. 9. Text taken from an Occasional Paper, available on the Gatsby Charitable Foundation Website, entitled, 'Mathematics Lessons: funding from a project supporting change in Primary Teaching', p. 4. See http://www.gatsby.org.uk 10. Here, the text cites the following work: Muijs, R. D. & Reynolds, D. (2002) Teacher Beliefs and Behaviours: What Matters, Journal of Classroom Interaction, 37 (2), 3–15. and also Muijs, R. D. & Reynolds, D. (2000) School Effectiveness and Teacher Effectiveness in Mathematics: Some preliminary findings from the evaluation of the Mathematics Enhancement Programme (Primary), School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 11(3), 273–303.