Description: This paper is designed to strengthen understanding of the structural conditions which generate "fast policy" (Menter; Mahoney; Hextall and Moss, 2005) in education in England, that is to say, the mechanisms which allow policy to continually adapt at the centre in the light of action at the periphery under new forms of devolved governance. The paper will argue that this concept is central to understanding the way in which literacy policy content has developed in the UK over the last decade. The paper will consider whether the mechanisms explored here are purely "local" or have wider relevance to the developing market in education policy ideas globally; and what the range of research tools developed in the context of this research can contribute to understanding of the knowledge-policy relationship. This paper derives from a study of the evolution of literacy policy in England between 1996 and 2003/4 . The study tracked the role that a range of government agencies played in defining policy problems and suggesting policy solutions to government in a context which closely monitors output from the literacy curriculum through standardised test scores (Sats). If government is increasingly casting itself in the role of purchaser of policy ideas, "shopping around" for the "best solutions" to agreed policy problems, then this study was designed to track this process, the uptake of particular policy solutions, their translation into policy action and their subsequent adaptation in the light of close monitoring of the policy's impact on performance. This generates new forms of action; new relations between stakeholders; and new kinds of knowledge which are championed by governments in the name of "flexibility" and "innovation". The emergence of "fast policy" in the UK and elsewhere has implications for policy development within the European context more broadly, and for education professionals who often find themselves cast in a new and sometimes peripheral role within this fast-moving policy environment. Re-making Literacy for Schools: Policy networks and literacy paradigms (ESRC RES000230700) Methodology: This paper will consider some of the challenges involved in mapping the evolution of "fast policy" within a specific time period by focusing on the use of three specific research tools designed to throw light on these issues. These are: policy timelines; the collection and selection of policy texts; and interviews with key players. The challenges posed by assembling and managing this kind of database so that the data can be brought into productive relationship will be explored. Conclusions: By closely examining a leading edge policy in England, this paper will aim to contribute to a broader understanding of the relationship between policy and research, and the transformation of knowledge as it moves from one such domain to another (Nutley, 2003). Relevance to the wider European context will be sought through the application and evaluation of the specific research tools used here.