1. Innovation to improve 21st
century education for all
Prof. Dr. Dirk Van Damme
Head of the Centre for Educational
Research and Innovation - OECD

2. 2

3. 3

4. 1.
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
4

5. “Education is only the image and reflection
of society. It imitates and reproduces the
latter…it does not create it”
Emile Durkheim
“Education is a social process. Education is
growth. Education is not a preparation for
life; education is life itself”
John Dewey
5

6. Time, continuity, change
• Durkheim – and ‘reproduction theories’ after
him – sees education as a kind of ‘condensation’
of a society’s history, social structure etc., thus
following social change
– ‘slowness’ in terms of time-lag between social
change and educational change
– ‘slowness’ in terms of individual biography and
the prolonged impact of education on one’s life
6

7. Time, continuity, change
• John Dewey – and progressive educators in his
footsteps (Paulo Freire) – see education as a
potential driver of social change by stressing the
transformative capacities of education
– Enhancing the capacity of critical analysis and
reflection to overcome historical legacies
– Guiding individuals and communities to pockets
of change in society (e.g. science) which drive
transformative change
7

8. Time, continuity, change
• The transformative capacity of education has a
lot to do with the capacity of educational systems
themselves to change
– So, analysing innovation in education helps to
understand the capacity of education to drive
innovation in society at large
• This becomes extremely relevant today as
change is accelerating and several ‘change
agents’ perceive education as ‘out-of-tune’ with
the pace, direction and contents of change
8

9. 2.
EDUCATION IN THE 21ST C:
‘MORE OF THE SAME’?
9

10. 20th century education: expansion
• Following the emergence of popular education in
the 18th and 19th C, modern institutionalised and
professionalised education systems have
consolidated and expanded in the 20th C
– Connected to economic, political and social
transformations: global capitalism, democracy,
social mobility and meritocracy
– From elitist to universalist ambitions
– Globalisation and convergence
– Standardisation
10

11. %
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
40
45
50
35
Canada
United States
New Zealand
Estonia
Finland
Australia
Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Switzerland
2000's
United Kingdom
Denmark
Japan
Germany
Iceland
1990's
Belgium
OECD average
Luxembourg
EU19 average
Ireland
1980's
France
Spain
Hungary
Slovenia
Greece
1970's
Austria
Poland
Korea
groups 25-34 years, 35-44 years, 45-54 years and 55-64 years (2007)
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Italy
Growth in university-level qualifications
Mexico
Chile
Brazil
Approximated by the percentage of the population that has attained tertiary-type A education in the age
Turkey
Portugal

12. Where are we now?
• Enormous expansion and massification: the
‘educational revolution’
– In 55-64y olds population: 39 million tertiary qualified
– In 25-34y olds population: 81 million tertiary qualified
• Shifting balances in global talent pool
– US: from 35.8% to 20.5% between two generations
– China: from 6.9% to 18.3%
12

13. Where are we now?
• Universalist ambitions have not (yet) been fully
fulfilled
– Still huge gaps in access, participation and
achievement
– Equity: huge impact of social background on
educational outcomes
– Standardisation: huge quality variation in
comparable levels of qualification
– Lifelong learning: unproductive concentration of
educational investment in early phase of life-
course
13

14. Where are we now?
• While at the same time the impact of education
on economic and social outcomes has reached
unprecedented levels
– Increasing impact on earnings distribution and
labour market participation
– Increasing impact on social risks and social
outcomes
• This tension between increasing social relevance
and difficulties in delivering constitute a huge
risk for educational systems
– Alternatives already appearing
14

15. %
%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Portugal
Spain
Iceland
Italy
Norway
Luxembourg
United Kingdom
OECD average
Greece
Belgium
Netherlands
Estonia
Born abroad
France
Germany
Hungary
Austria
Ireland
United States
Israel
Born in the country
Canada
Australia
Finland
Switzerland
no upper secondary qualification (2007)
Sweden
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Poland
Czech Republic
15
Proportion of 20-24 year-olds who are not in education and have

16. 100
120
140
160
180
200
220
240
260
40
60
80
Brazil
Hungary
United States
Czech Republic
Portugal
Slovak Republic
Poland
Below upper secondary education
Luxembourg
Israel
Austria
Canada
France
Italy
Germany
Finland
Tertiary-type B education
Korea
OECD average
Ireland
Turkey
Belgium
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Switzerland
Spain
Index for males, upper secondary=100, 25-64y olds (2008)
Sweden
Australia
Japan
Denmark
Relative earnings by qualification
New Zealand
Tertiary-type A and advanced research programmes
Norway
16

17. Low skills and economic outcomes
Increased likelihood (16-65 year olds)
Increased likelihood of failure (16-65 year olds)
3.5
In lowest two quintiles of
personal income
3.0
Unemployed
2.5
2.0
Received social assistance
in last year
1.5
Did not receive investment
1.0 income in last year
0 1 2 3 4
Number of of skills domains with low performance
Number skills domains with low performance
Number of skills domains with low performance
17

18. 150
200
250
300
350
Skill score
Not completed school
Upper secondary
University
Not completed school
Upper secondary
University
Not completed school
Upper secondary
University
The skills value of qualifications
Interquartile range in skill distribution by educational qualification
18

19. Lifelong de-skilling
Skill score
305
295
Factoring in
population ageing
285
275
265
255
245
235
225
15 25 35 45 55 65
No adjustment Age
Adjusted for immigrant status and education
Adjusted for immigrant status, education and reading engagement
19

20. But also vast macro-efficiency problems
• Despite huge increase in expenditure for
education, very limited rise in outcomes over the
past 10 to 15 years
• Problems in quantity and quality of the teaching
work force
• Governance reform (school
autonomy, decentralisation) have not fully produced
expected results and have counterproductive effects
20

21. Is expansion the only answer?
• Most development goals in education
(MDGs, European Commission 2020, etc.) are
still purely quantitative targets, aiming at further
expansion of education systems
• But will ‘more of the same’ be a sufficient answer
to address the needs and tackle the increasing
challenges in delivering and efficiency?
– “has the concern for equity and access driven
progressive educators into conservatism?”
• Or will innovation be truly part of the response?
21

22. 3.
INNOVATION DRIVER: NEW
SKILLS DEMANDS
22

23. CERI’s Innovation Strategy project
• The main driver for innovation in education
does not come from within education, but from
the external changing skills demand
• Research questions:
– Do innovation-driven economies require more
and better educated populations?
– What qualifications do innovative businesses
need?
– What individual skills should education systems
foster?
23

24. Changing skill demand
Economy-wide measures of routine and non-routine task input (US)
Mean task input as percentiles of the 1960 task distribution
Routine manual
65
60 Nonroutine manual
55
Routine cognitive
50
45 Nonroutine analytic
40
Nonroutine interactive
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Source: Levy and Murnane, 2005
24

25. Working in creative jobs
Increase in creativity-oriented jobs (Canada, 1901-2006)
25

26. Employment structure in selected countries in 1980
Source: Michael et al. 26

27. Employment structure in selected countries in 2004
27
Source: Michael et al.

28. Skills supply hampering innovation
(odds ratios: innovative vs. non-innovative (ref))
Lack of finance from sources outside your enterprise 1.39
Lack of qualified personnel 1.37
Lack of funds within your enterprise or enterprise group 1.29
Innovation costs too high 1.18
Lack of information on markets 1.14
Difficulty in finding cooperation partners for innovation 1.05
Lack of information on technology 1.00
Markets dominated by established enterprises 0.98
Uncertain demand for innovative goods or services 0.97
No need to innovate due to prior innovations 0.44
No need to innovate because no demand for innovations 0.35
0.3 0.6 1.2
28
Source: OECD, based on CIS data

29. Which tertiary education studies lead to active
participation in innovation?
Innovator work in innov. comp. Not in innovative organisation
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
29
Source: OECD, based on REFLEX and HEGESCO data

30. Critical skills for the most innovative jobs
(tertiary-educated workers)
Likelihood (odds ratios) of reporting the following job requirements: people
in the most innovative jobs vs. least innovative jobs
come with news ideas/solutions 2.97
acquire new knowledge 2.44
willingness to question ideas 2.34
alertness to opportunities 2.24
present ideas in audience 2.18
analytical thinking 2.15
master of your own field 2.11
coordinate activities 2.05
write and speak a foreign language 2.02
use computers and internet 2.00
make your meaning clear 1.99
use time efficiently 1.98
mobilize capacities of others 1.97
work productively with others 1.95
write reports or documents 1.94
perform under pressure 1.81
knowledge of other fields 1.76
negociate 1.76
assert your authority 1.56
0.90 1.80 3.60
30
Source: OECD, based on REFLEX and HEGESCO data

31. Skills for Innovation
• Foundation skills (literacy, numeracy…) are
key to access lifelong learning
• Which individual skills for innovation are key?
– Subject-based skills (know-what and know-
how)
– Skills in thinking and creativity (critical
thinking, imagination, curiosity...)
– Behavioural and social skills (self-
confidence, energy, passion, leadership, collabora
tion, communication...)
31

32. Skills for Innovation
What individual competences should people acquire to
contribute to innovation as producers and users?
Subject-based
skills
(know-what and know-
how)
Behavioural and Skills in thinking
social skills and creativity
(Self-
(Critical thinking, ability
confidence, energy, persev
to make
erance, passion, leadership
connections, imagination,
, collaboration, communic
curiosity,...)
ation)
32

33. 21st Century Skills
•Creativity and innovation
Ways of thinking •Critical thinking, problem solving
•Learning to learn, meta-cognition
•Communication
Ways of working
•Collaboration (teamwork)
•Information literacy
Tools of working
•ICT literacy
•Citizenship – local and global
Living in the world •Life and career
•Personal, social responsibility
Source: Microsoft-Intel-Cisco ATC21S project
33

34. A challenging situation
• Early 21st C education systems are especially
good in delivering routine-based skills which can
easily be taught in standardised ways but also
easily digitised and automated
• But are not yet well prepared to equip learners
with the flexible, creative, innovative and
collaborative skills sets which they will need in
21st C economies and societies
34

35. 4.
ARE EDUCATION SYSTEMS
INNOVATION-FRIENDLY?
35

36. Innovation in education
• Education generally is a low innovation-intensive
sector
– Especially low in product/services and
tools/instruments/methods innovation
• Available evidence does not show a knowledge
dynamics between ‘grey’ and ‘green’ knowledge typical
for knowledge-intensive and innovative sectors
– New teachers do not have different pedagogical beliefs
than more experienced teachers
• Innovation is not rewarded in professional appraisal
systems
– Three out of four teachers reporting not to be rewarded
for innovation
36

37. Product/service innovation
37
Source: Paul (2007)

38. Process/tools/instruments innovation
38
Source: Paul (2007)

39. Are new teachers innovators?
Constructivist beliefs - Experienced teachers Constructivist beliefs - New teachers
Direct transmission beliefs - Experienced teachers Direct transmission beliefs - New teachers
0.5
Ipsative means
0.0
-0.5
Italy
Hungary
Denmark
Estonia
Austria*
Turkey*
Spain
Portugal
Malta
Norway
Poland*
Ireland*
Brazil
Lithuania
Iceland
Slovenia
Australia
Korea
Slovak Republic
Bulgaria
Mexico
Malaysia
Belgium (Fl.)*
39

40. %
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Belgium (Fl.)
Norway
Ireland
their teaching
Australia
Denmark
Spain
Korea
Austria
Malta
Iceland
Portugal
Brazil
Estonia
TALIS Average
Lithuania
Turkey
Slovenia
Mexico
Hungary
Rewarding innovation
Slovak…
Italy
Poland
Bulgaria
Teachers who would receive increased monetary or non-monetary rewards if they are more innovative in
%
Malaysia
40

41. Research as a motor for innovation?
41

42. Research as a motor for innovation?
42

43. 350
400
550
600
300
450
500
Finland
Liechtenstein
New Zealand
Japan
Canada
Germany
Korea
Netherlands
Hungary
Ireland
Switzerland
Belgium
Australia
Austria
Frequent use
Sweden
Greece
Poland
Spain
Croatia
Macao-China
Lithuania
Italy
Slovenia
Slovak Republic
Moderate use
Czech Republic
Norway
Latvia
Iceland
Portugal
Denmark
Russian Federation
Chile
Turkey
student performance on PISA science scale
Frequency of use of computers at school and
Uruguay
Rare or no use
Bulgaria
Thailand
Serbia
Jordan
Colombia
43
Qatar
Technology as a motor for innovation?

44. 5.
INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGIES
44

45. Conceptual model
45

46. Learning research
46

47. Transversal conclusions
To promote learning, environments should:
• Make learning central, encourage engagement, and be
where learners come to understand themselves as learners
• Ensure that learning is social and often collaborative
• Be highly attuned to learners’ motivations and the
importance of emotions
• Be acutely sensitive to individual differences including in
prior knowledge
• Be demanding for each learner but without excessive
overload
• Use assessments consistent with its aims, with strong
emphasis on formative feedback
• Promote horizontal connectedness across activities and
subjects, in-and out-of-school
47

48. Expressed in educational terms…
These ‘principles’ mean that learning environments should be:
• Learner-centred: highly focused on learning but not as an
alternative to the key role for teachers
• Structured and well-designed: needs careful design and high
professionalism alongside inquiry & autonomous learning
• Profoundly personalised: acutely sensitive to individual and
group differences and offering tailored feedback
• Inclusive: such sensitivity to individual and group differences
means they are fundamentally inclusive
• Social: learning is effective in group settings, when learners
collaborate, and when there is a connection to community.
48

49. Cognitive outcomes versus interest
Science scores and interest in science are not always fostered simultaneously
640
LOW SCORE HIGH SCORE
HIGH INTEREST HIGH INTEREST
620
IDN
MEX
600
BRA CHL
580
Interest in science score
PRT
560
GRC
540 TUR RUS ESP HKG
ITA
FRA MAC
520 SVK DEU
HUN
ISR LUX AUT SVN JPN
500 POL BEL CHE EST
CZE
KOR
480 USA IRL
NOR CAN
ISL GBR AUS
460 DNK NZL
LOW SCORE FIN HIGH SCORE
SWE
LOW INTEREST NLD LOW INTEREST
440
380 400 420 440 460 480 500 520 540 560 580 600 620
PISA 2006 Science score 49

50. More supportive teaching?
PISA 2009 PISA 2000 Change 2000-2009
100 18
90 16
Percentage points change 2000-2009
80 14
70 12
60 10
Percentage
50 8
40 6
30 4
20 2
10 0
0 -2
50

51. Ipsative means
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
-1.5
-1.0
-0.5
Denmark
Norway
Iceland
Malaysia
Turkey
Poland
Structuring teaching practices
Mexico
Brazil
Austria
Australia
Korea
Slovak Republic
Estonia
Spain
Slovenia
Student-oriented teaching practices
Belgium (Fl.)
Lithuania
Portugal
Italy
Bulgaria
Malta
Hungary
Ireland
51
More innovative teaching practices?
Enhanced teaching activities

52. Pedagogies for innovation skills
Science score Interest in Science Topics
0.3 0.3
0.25 0.25
20
0.2 0.2
0.15 0.15
0.1 0.1
0.05 8 3 6
4 0.05
1 0
0 0
-1 -2 -2 -2 -1 -1
-0.05
-0.05
-0.1 -10
-0.1
-0.15
-0.15
52

53. Pedagogies for innovation skills
Science Enjoyment Science Self-Efficacy
0.3 0.3
0.25 26 0.25
0.2 0.2
0.15 0.15 15
11
0.1 0.1
4 5 4
0.05 0.05
1
0 0
0 2 0
-1 -3
-0.05 -0.05
-0.1 -0.1
-0.15 -0.15
53

54. 6.
UNDERSTANDING
EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION
54

55. Further work
• CERI publications on skills for innovation and
innovation in education in 2012-13
• CERI publication on innovative learning
environments: analysis of innovative cases
• CERI/NSF publication on learning research and
implications for innovation in education
• Analytical work on innovative teaching practices
in science and math
• Etc.
55

56. Innovation for 21st C education
• Many of the emerging and developing countries
focus exclusively on traditional cognitive
learning outcomes
• How to integrate 21st skills and innovative
pedagogies into the educational development
agenda?
• An ecology of innovation will require visionary
leadership, better research evidence, more
knowledge-intensive professionalisation, strong
communities of practice and open institutions
56

57. Thank you !
dirk.vandamme@oecd.org
www.oecd.org/edu/ceri
57