How policies become best practices: a case study of best practice making in an EU knowledge sharing project

Abstract

Best practices are prevalent in all fields of planning and act to highlight effective and implementable examples, set standards, and generally assist 'evidence-based' policy-making. In doing so, they frame what futures are desirable and play a role in shaping the planned environment. Despite this power, little is known about how certain policies come to be considered best practices. This article takes a case of best practice making in an EU INTERREG project and illuminates the processes and justifications used to select and formulate best practices. Reviewing project documents and interviewing those involved in selecting possible best practices, demonstrates who decides what should be exemplified, how the decisions are taken, and on what grounds choices are made. The varied and subjective reasonings we find to justify best practices calls into question their perceived neutrality and sturdiness as policy-making instruments. However, selecting best practices, as a process itself, is not without benefits for participants as the reflective element enabled unique forms of learning, opening up wider questions about what function best practices have in making policy.

Identifying Policy Best-Practices to Support the Contribution of Aquatic Foods to Food and Nutrition Security

“…As outlined above, the concept of best practice is used here in order to identify potential tools to learn from, frame debates, and identify possibilities, and not to replicate a blueprint [ 26 ]. Identifying policy best practices can help frame what futures are desirable [ 27 ] and our examination focusses on current policy framing of aquatic foods and the best practices available for developing coherent food system-based policies that link aquatic foods with healthy, fair and sustainable outcomes. Identifying best practices in any situation inevitably involves judgement.…”

“…There is no single definition of policy ‘best practice’, but the term is generally used to identify policies that are considered to be successful and useful for assisting other entities grappling with similar challenges [ 26 ]. Best practices, once identified, have traditionally been used as blueprints to replicate good policies and propel effective policy-making and change [ 27 ]. However, caution should be exercised when attempting to replicate polices, as what is considered good in one context is not necessarily so in another [ 28 ].…”

Buenas prácticas de docentes de educación básica durante la pandemia COVID-19

“…Producto del conocimiento que el docente posee, así como del conjunto de saberes que pone en juego para impartir de una manera efectiva una materia escolar concreta, siguiendo un proceso de investigación o no (Shulman, 2005;Wilson, Shulman & Richert, 1987). Parte del componente cognitivo, reflexivo y experiencial que le permite implementar soluciones originales en situaciones concretas e inesperadas: "zonas indeterminadas de la práctica" (Jackson, 2001;Schön, 1998), acciones vinculadas con el conocimiento tácito que, a pesar de ser semiexplícito por cuanto no está formalizado, constituye soluciones novedosas a los problemas (Elbaz, 1983), como resultado del dominio de la materia y una manifestación del expertise y eficacia (Rodríguez, 2008), acciones estratégicas que han comprobado su éxito en la consecución de soluciones concretas y efectivas (Armijo,2004;Cid-Sabucedo, Pérez-Abellás & Zabalza, 2009), experiencias apoyadas en evidencia específica que son referentes de buenos resultados y consideradas como ejemplos de "sabiduría" que requieren ser contextualizados adecuadamente para su aplicación (Blake et al, 2020), es decir, "(...) pertinente a las necesidades de los sujetos a quienes desea servir y consecuente con los fines que persigue" (Ornelas, 2005, p.3).…”

“…Por esta razón, sugieren utilizar el término de good practice, que busca destacar su particularidad, limitaciones y evitar que se le identifique como algo perfecto, acabado y utópico (Blake et al, 2008). Es importante destacar que otro de los argumentos para enfatizar la diferencia es que, desde el punto de vista empresarial y de negocios, las mejores prácticas se denominan benchmarking, definido como un proceso sistemático y continuo de evaluación de productos y servicios, encaminado al mejoramiento organizacional (Blake et al, 2020).…”

A Mismatch in Future Narratives? A Comparative Analysis Between Energy Futures in Policy and of Citizens

“…These mismatches might create challenges in the implementation of a just energy transition, which may jeopardize the success of the energy transition in general. In contrast with most studies (DeCarolis et al, 2017;Woolcock, 2018;Blake et al, 2020) that focus on best-practices of environmental policies where the future narratives of citizens meet the futures described in policies, this study focusses on the mismatches between futures narratives of citizens and as described in policies. In situations of narrative mismatch, citizens may be "unable to mobilize information that could help to demonstrate the harms they suffer" (Ottinger, 2017, p. 42).…”