School innovation: pathway to the knowledge society

The Innovation and Best Practice Project (IBPP) is one of the first large-scale research and development projects that has specifically focused on innovation in schools. Each of the 107 participating schools developed and implemented a significant innovation aimed at improving learning outcomes for students. The schools were then asked to research and assess the magnitude of the impact of the innovation on learning outcomes and the differential impact of their innovation for different groups of students.

Sixteen primary schools within the IBPP focused on innovative approaches to literacy learning. Nine IBPP schools chose mathematics as their area of innovation. Twenty schools in the IBPP sought to break the traditional teaching and learning mould and provide opportunities for young people to learn appropriate ICT-based skills and knowledge. Thirty-three schools nominated the middle-years as the focus of their innovation. Other school incorporated a number of different subject areas into their innovations.

Key findings from the project include:

1. Effective innovations were rooted in whole-school understandings and beliefs. IBPP schools believed that students could master the basic skills and be successful learners.
2. In most of the IBPP schools, the principal was a key supporter of the innovation and in many instances also the catalyst. However, teachers were the driving forces of instructional leadership.
3. Innovative schools were prepared to set standards and targets for their improvement and to modify these in light of experience. Many schools found that they had to invent their own strategies for measuring their success.
4. IBPP schools were prepared to take a hard look at their performance and subject their innovations to rigorous scrutiny.
5. Teaching and learning was the principal focus of the innovation in each school.
6. The models of teaching that schools incorporated into their innovations were based on the integration of whole-class or large-group explicit teaching; small-group cooperative learning and teaching; and one-to-one tutoring.
7. Probably the most important outcome of the IBPP project was its lessons for teacher learning.
8. The IBPP schools sought to enhance the learning network. This includes the parent community.
9. The IBPP demonstrated some significant gaps in the capacity of schools to undertake innovation and evaluation without external support.

The evidence from this research supports a continuation of devolution reforms to provide schools with the opportunities to address the challenges that lie ahead. Schools need to be supported by policies that encourage innovation.  This will allow them to play a role in meeting the challenges of the knowledge society and knowledge economy.

This report was funded under the Quality Outcomes Programme.

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