What happens when educational ideas cross national and cultural borders? How do teachers respond to ideas originating in a different school system and a different national culture? This article reports on an empirical study investigating the transfer of ideas from Design & Technology as a subject in England and Wales into Norwegian schools. A sample of teachers participating in a specific project on technology teaching inspired by this subject has been studied by means of interviews and classroom observation. Results of the study show that while some elements of Design & Technology are adopted by the teachers, essential ideas of the subject are significantly transformed. Drawing on Barnes, (1992, "Teachers and Teaching: From Classrooms to Reflection" (pp. 9-32), The Falmer press, London) concept of teachers' professional frames for teaching, it is shown how specific aspects of the national and educational culture have had a considerable effect on the teachers' interpretation of the nature of technology as a subject of teaching and its place in the curriculum. The study illustrates the importance of the cultural context in how educational ideas are interpreted, reshaped and realized in schools.