good practice

[Maybo]

I don't understand the meaning of "good practice visits" in the following sentence:

The report is also informed by good practice visits to 11 primary schools, one secondary school and two sixth-form colleges, but the evidence from these visits is not included in the proportions quoted in the report. (Mathematics: made to measure by OFSTED.gov.uk)

Does it mean "the right way of visiting schools" provided information for the report?

[teechar]

I don't understand the meaning of "good practice visits" in the following sentence:

That's a good question, because a hyphen should have been used to help clarify the meaning.
Which one do you think it should be?
a- "good-practice visits"
or
b- "good practice-visits"

[Maybo]

That's a good question, because a hyphen should have been used to help clarify the meaning.
Which one do you think it should be?
a- "good-practice visits"
or
b- "good practice-visits"

a?

[Tarheel]

Yes.

They are, I think, visits designed to make sure people are doing things the right way.

[Maybo]

a?

Does good-practice mean formal way of doing something?

[Tarheel]

No. It has nothing to do with formality. If you are supervising somebody you want to make sure they are doing things the right way. (The way you want them to do those things.)

P.S. You left out an article.

[emsr2d2]

You'll hear "best practice" more often in connection with working practices.

[GoesStation]

The phrase "good-practice visits" is evidently a term used by the OFSTED government office. It's jargon which is meaningful to people who work in that office and, presumably, in the schools it regulates, but not necessarily to others.

[jutfrank]

Both terms good practice and best practice seem to me to be widespread management-speak nowadays.

[GoesStation]

Both terms good practice and best practice seem to me to be widespread management-speak nowadays.

"Good practice" seems less likely in the American environment, where only superlatives count.

Britain is different. I once saw an advertising display in a London mobile-phone shop that proudly noted that a new model featured "slightly improved software".