This paper draws attention to processes of policy implementation in developing contexts, and to the unintended consequences of education policies that follow international policy scripts without enough consideration of local histories and cultures. Drawing on a study of teaching practices in Peruvian rural secondary schools after a period of comprehensive reform and the introduction of a new outcomes-based national curriculum, the paper highlights the way in which such reforms have led to a displacement of knowledge in rural schools that acts against an already educationally disadvantaged population. This is linked to the prevalence of highly performative and ritualised teaching practices that have emerged through a history of school expansion that has tended to follow imported scripts without much consideration for local knowledge. The paper suggests that policy makers, particularly in highly varied contexts like Peru, should attempt to understand local specificities and plan policies accordingly. © 2010 British Association for International and Comparative Education.