Researching policy borrowing: some methodological challenges in comparative education

This article considers some of the methodological challenges involved in investigating, within the traditions of comparative research in education, the complex issue of educational 'policy borrowing'. It discusses notions of 'borrowing' and 'influence' and refers to a model previously proposed by the authors for the analysis of what are seen as four stages in the policy borrowing process which can be tested empirically. These are identified as cross-national attraction, decision, implementation, and internalization/indigenization. The problems involved in researching each stage of this process are considered, in particular in relation to the authors' previous work on the attractiveness to British observers of educational policy in Germany over a long historical period.