Warranting Practices: Teachers Embedding the National Numeracy Strategy

Abstract

This paper explores the notion of the ‘evidence-based practitioner’ in relation to the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS). The exploration is dealt with in the context of a pilot study of the implementation of the NNS one year before its national launch in September 1999. We begin by describing some of the milestones encountered in the relatively short life history of evidence-based practice (EBP) and exploring some of its various articulations. Challenging the appropriateness of current externally derived formulations of ‘evidence’ we develop the notion of ‘warranting’ in order to examine alternative ways in which teachers legitimate their professional practice in relation to the NNS. We conclude that what we observe is a series of shifting and multiple meanings and justifications, carrying different constraints and possibilities for practice.