This final paper takes an overall view of the ten case studies examining the different types and approaches taken to reform as well as the outcomes. We conclude that evidence is not enough that there has got be a use of knowledge to inform implementation. The managerialist reform models, like ‘deliverology’, skate over the historical and cultural factors which shape participants’ responses to proposals which aim to change core processes like pedagogy and assessment. We examine the different features and demands of reform in the different contexts. Our conclusions compare these cases to those written about in 2012 and we conclude there are strong variations and new elements. The model of reform needs to be changed and the popular model has serious side effects and distortions. A more consensual approach is needed The more populist models and approaches have become more in vogue and dominant. Some may see this prognosis as pessimistic, but what is clear is that education reform is now an overtly political process, sometimes symbolic, sometimes democratic, and always shaped by culture, heritage and individual interests and voices. Consensus building approaches are important in this climate if generations of learners are to be spared repeated waves of ill-conceived reforms.

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