Reframing practice through policy implementation projects in different knowledge contexts

Policy-implementing projects in public-sector organisations have gained increasing importance over the last two decades, but policymakers have difficulty influencing practices in the host organisation. We studied how the intentions behind a public-health policy influence two differing school contexts of teachers and kitchen staff. The actors interpreted the policymakers' intentions in relation to their different knowledge contexts in different ways and with different outcomes for policy-implementation projects. We analysed the reason for this finding using the concept of frame alignment. The policymaker tried to use both ideological and instrumental efforts in reframing practice (in both contexts). We discovered the negative consequences of an inability to use instrumental efforts. We further discovered difficulty in upholding the conditions of a project, especially given the sensitive face-to-face interactions in a bottom-up policy process. The results also led us to question the idea that a project is successful merely because the demarcation is successful.