the conceptualization and development phases. FIRSTMATH is studying novice
teachers’development of mathematical knowledge for teaching and the influence
on that knowledge of previous preparation, school context, and opportunities to
learn on the job. FIRSTMATH is exploring the connections between pre-service
preparation and what is learned on the job with respect to knowledge, skills, and
curricular content and the degree to which standards, accountability, and other
similar mechanisms may enhance the support that beginning teachers of mathe-
matics receive during theirfirst years of teaching.
We expect that the results of this study will provide needed empirical evidence
about the influence of school context and on-the-job opportunities to learn on
mathematics teachers’knowledge, as well as about the nature of the knowledge that
is useful in and for mathematics teaching in diverse settings and school contexts.
The study speaks to contentious policy issues about the relative cost-effectiveness
of university-based and alternative certification programs. Understanding these
effects has potential economic impact for thousands of school districts and other
agencies concerned with teacher recruitment and retention and with developing
quality mentoring, induction, and professional development programs for teachers
of mathematics and other subjects.
42.7 Conclusion
The various research experiences described above, suggest that a comparative-
collaborative-reflective approach to policy-oriented inquiry is uniquely positioned
to create spaces for the collaborative construction and collaborative contextual-
ization of policy-usable knowledge.^19 As comparative scholars, we must ask our-
selves: What can we learn from doing collaborative and reflective education
research and how can this learning be put to good use?
Following Sadler (1900; cited in Bereday 1964 ; Phillips 2006 ), there is a need to
understand context and culture for the contextualization of policy making and
implementation. Additionally, we need to pay attention to the unintended conse-
quences of the myths around the so-called a-contextual“policy borrowing.”I pro-
pose that we engage national and international networks in what I call the
“collaborative and reflective construction of policy knowledge in context”through
comparative international research. This approach supersedes the notion of policy
borrowing because this joint work by definition brings about the re-contextualization
of policy useable knowledge, an action that should not only explain what is, but must
identify the factors within specific macro, meso and micro contexts that may lead to
continuous educational improvement.
(^19) The comparative research paradigm I propose already constitutes an intervention and alters the
policy landscape as studies progress. This is true from the Sri Lanka studies to the TEDS-M study,
where policy evolved as the research evolved. By definition, the research is reflective. That is, it
conceptualized and developed by those whofinally implement it.
42 The Role of Comparative and International Research... 633