Transformative Innovation in Education

‘We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that have not been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.’

How can we do that? Extrapolating the existing system cannot be enough. Around the world we see a pattern of steady, incremental improvement in education that continues to push the relevant statistics on participation and attainment ever higher, but a singular lack of transformative innovation.

Transformative Innovation in Education: a playbook for pragmatic visionaries explains how this push for ‘incremental improvement’ has crowded out space for anything more visionary and far-sighted. It provides practical advice, frameworks and worked examples of how to escape this gravitational pull: the ‘three horizons’ framework for long term change, templates for resolving dilemmas, examples of where this approach has been applied in practice.

The pamphlet is written for practical innovators, pragmatic visionaries, teachers and school leaders. It takes Scotland as a case study and records work with a diverse range of education professionals and policy makers seeking to realise the transformative potential of the Scottish Government’s Curriculum for Excellence. The tools and methods discussed can be used in any school, any education authority. And the pamphlet has some advice for those designing national policy frameworks: a six point plan for incorporating transformative innovation into any change strategy. 53 pages.