The presentation makes a case for contextual, qualitative comparative analysis that takes into consideration the temporal and space dimensions of policy transfer and disaggregates a reform by its policy goal (theory of change), bundle of policies, and policy instruments. The disentanglement helps to specify what exactly has traveled, and why. In an attempt to illustrate the interpretive framework used for contextual comparison, it draws on two recent co-authored publications on the selective borrowing of the school-autonomy-with accountability (SAWA) reform in Switzerland (Steiner-Khamsi, Appius and Nägeli, forthcoming) and Iceland (Steiner-Khamsi, Jóhannesdóttir, and Magnúsdóttir, forthcoming). The two studies provide an opportunity to reflect on methodological lessons learned for advancing scholarship in qualitative comparative policy studies, in particular research on policy transfer. A special focus will be placed on the temporalities of the SAWA reform in the two countries. In addition, it discusses methodological aspects of how to compare national receptions and translations against a global script, here against SAWA. The study compares the three reform waves, identified by Bromley et al, (2023) based on their analyses of the World Education Reform Database (WERD). The presenter chooses to label the three reform waves as (i) (equal opportunity, (ii) school-autonomy-with-accountability, and (iii) student-wellbeing reforms. She discusses how the three reform waves differ in terms of their policy goal but also their bundle of policies and the choice of preferred policy instruments. The WERD database is the most comprehensive database that exists to date on education reforms globally. It contains over 10,000 policy documents from over 180 countries over the period 1970 - 2020. The database has been developed by Patricia Bromley (Stanford University) and Rie Kijima (University of Toronto) and their associates. It is publicly available here: https://werd.stanford.edu/.

Bromley, P., Furuta, J., Kijima, R., Overbey, L., Choi, M. & Santos, H. (2023). Global determinants of education reform, 1960 - 2017. Sociology of Education, 96 (2), 149 - 167. DOI: 10.1177/00380407221146773 Steiner-Khamsi, G., Appius, S., and Nägeli, A. (forthcoming). School-autonomy-with-accountability: Comparing two transfer spaces against the global script. Steiner-Khamsi, G., Jóhannesdóttir, K., and Magnúsdóttir, B. R. (forthcoming). The school-autonomy-with-accountability reform in Iceland: Looking back and making.