Scotland should create an “innovation fund” for schoolsas part of an effort to endthe country’s “risk-averse” educational culture, a new report recommends.
Published jointly by thecampaign and the (SMF)think tank, the new paper concludes that Scotland’s schools system is “cautious, conformist, risk-averse and stuck in its ways - in a word, stagnant”.
The report argues that Scottisheducationis constrained by a middle-management layer that aims to avoid “rocking the boat”, and calls onthe next Scottish government to encourage innovative approaches byaskingschoolsto come up with new ideas suitable for their own students.
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These ideas could include interdisciplinarystudent projects such as engineering and software design, vocational options, inter-year classesor programmes that get parents and families more involved in school life.
Promoting innovation in Scotland’s schools
The report also statesthat the Scottish government elected after the 6 May parliamentary electionshould:
- Make innovation and experimentation an explicit part of the remit of educational bodies, especially the “regional improvement collaboratives” (RICs).
- Diversify hiring and appointments to key roles in government and agencies.
- Support forums for the exchange of ideas.
- Invest in research and knowledge exchange.
Written by SMF chief economist Aveek Bhattacharya - who was educated at Cults Academy in Aberdeen and holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, for which he compared education policy in Scotland and England- the reportis based on interviews withScottish education experts and evidence from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and other sources.
Mr Bhattacharya says that claims Scottish education is failing are “overstated”, but the report backs the view ofProfessor Lindsay Paterson,of the University of Edinburgh, that it is“stagnating”.
Mr Bhattacharya concludes: “Though experts disagree about the state and direction of Scottish school education, there is a remarkable degree of consensus over its cultural malaise. The accounts of academics, journalists, activists and school leaders converge to present a picture of a system that is cautious, conformist, risk-averse and stuck in its ways - in a word, stagnant.
“This will not do if the country is to meet the social, educational and technological challenges of the years to come, not least in the wake of the current pandemic.”
The report concludes that a dedicated innovation fund could help to shift priorities and catalysebroader cultural change.It argues thatschools that come up with the most effective initiatives should be able to apply for an “innovation prize”, perhaps presented by the first minister.
The report sets the most significantbarriersto innovation in Scotland:
- A culture of micromanagement that has led to teachers being overloaded with bureaucracy.
- The role of the “middle layer” - the local authorities and the RICs-that sits between schools and national government, which area “brake” on innovation.
- Senior personnel in leading educational bodies who are too insular and defensive of the status quo.
- The lack of time and resources - at lower-secondary level, 63 per centof teachers’ time is in the classroom teaching, way above the OECD average of 43 per cent.
- Too little opportunity for school innovators to compare and contrast new approaches.
- An overly rigid inspection process thatdiscourages “out of the box” thinking.
- A lack of research and evaluation as to “what works”.
Eddie Barnes, project manager for ScotlandCan, said: “This important piece of research sets out some practical steps Scotland can take now to make our schools more dynamic and innovative. It’s now for all political parties,at the coming Holyrood election, to set out clear plans on how they intend not just to restore education, but to improve on what went before.”
The full report is available on the ScotlandCan .
