This case study focuses on researching the connections between policy and teaching practices in the context of English further education. It describes how an ethnographic approach was used to examine how teachers navigate policy directives in their day-to-day work, focusing particularly on quality improvement directives. It shows how two linked theoretical perspectives can be used to collect and analyze data. On the one hand, complexity theory is used to identify and describe a genuinely complex environment, workplace culture, and the relevance of ethnography in investigating such environments; on the other hand, analysis drawing on Michel Foucault's approach to discourse is used to investigate this complexity, focusing on policy and its impact on practitioners and their own ideas about practice. Conducted as an ethnographic case study of one college, we show how, as critical researchers, we can challenge assumptions in policies as well as our own beliefs about quality, education, and power. Using classroom observations, interviews, and policy analysis to provide a rich, triangulated data set, we show how ethical standards were met when dealing with potentially sensitive data-collection techniques. Our research not only highlights the validity of such methods but also offers theoretical insights into the research of complex systems. This approach also provides a framework for researching the interplay between policies and practices in contexts beyond education. [This content is provided in the format of an e-book.]