Constructing Paradigm Change in Early Childhood Education: Rational and Cultural Influences on Policy Change

The puzzle of much contemporary policy making is why some ideas spread seemingly “like wildfire” and other ideas are not picked up at all by policy makers. Scholars studying variation in the global diffusion of policy ideas argue that ideas are picked up unevenly, sometimes in waves, other times not at all. Domestic political factors such as institutional veto points and partisan interests have been identified as affecting ideational uptake. An additional factor this paper focuses on is the role of culture: policy making involves decisions relating to morally contentious issues that evoke appeals to principles and beliefs and underlying worldviews. Thus, scholarly attention must be paid to both rational beliefs underpinning policy ideas (that is, the evidence basis of policy) and the public judgments policy makers and publics hold about a policy.