17. Bellaire PS DISCIPLINED INNOVATION School slogan: “A school that is shaping the future” a perfect expression of what innovative organisations do change fatigue energising innovation more than 200 visits a year
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27. The Model DISCIPLINED INNOVATION FOUNDATION Strategic management INNOVATION Strategic innovation management MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP STRATEGY STRATEGY for INNOVATION Alignment, focus, portfolio OPPORTUNITY SCANNING Trends, opportunities and threats OPPORTUNITY CREATION Discontinuities and Networks MARKETING CULTURE Fostering innovation - internal marketing of innovation OPERATIONS Teaching, assessment, student support CORE ROCESSES Create, Capture, Assess, Apply ADMINISTRATION MEASURE AND MAINTAIN
My area of expertise is innovation and measuring innovation New to education – although I have lecturing, and leadership development experience Most wok in education has been with public schools
Here is an outline of the paper I put a high value of experiential learning – so while I will tell some stories I’m also inviting you to tell some stories.... I will illustrate innovation in schools by talking about 4 schools I’ve said that I have little knowledge of independent schools Its possible that some of your schools or schools that you know are equally innovative and if so I hope you will speak up..
Professor Vivien Robinson Lots of failed innovations OPEN classrooms in the 1970’s NOT EVIDENCE BASED POORLY IMPLEMENTATION Too much haste DISCIPLINED INNOVATION
The McKinsey report also illustrates the interplay of evolutionary and innovative initiatives. The report could not have, for the first time on a global scale, “linked qualitative results with quantitative insights on what high performing and rapidly improving school systems have in common”, (op cit, Page 9) without the gradual development of the OECD’s PISA measurement model and database. I was struck by the description in the McKinsey Report (2007) of how special education has been de-stigmatised in Finland. The Finnish students sent for additional instruction are not only those at risk of falling behind but also, on occasion, the best students. The report did not describe this practice as innovative, but seen against mainstream practices it is highly so.
It is not surprising that innovation is not yet well understood and often times not well managed. Not covered in teacher or leader training programs One course conducted jointly by Cambridge University and the Singapore Government.... Without hands-on experience and some conceptual framework reflection Principals and teachers who manage innovation fly through fog – they fly half blind -
UK – US – Singapore – Australia Lindsay Tanner, the Finance Minister from Australia, considers imagination and innovation to be the elements of human capital that are most critical to competitive success in the global economy.
WHAT WAS YOUR DEFINITION OF INNOVATION? These definition applies at any scale, ( idea in the morning – tricky problem solved in the evening to long term R&D) and any part of any organisation... Knowledge = research outputs, and conceptual development As in a book proposing a new educational leadership model Finding – could be extended with words like creating, discovering, generating, inventing and so on... Ideation is the term now used to describe parts of the innovation processes where people play seriously with ideas...
Innovation is both a process and a result – a verb and a noun Innovations are things, services, policies, anything new, different and more valuable than what they replace... I put most emphasis on the last point rather than the other two....
Here is another way to understand innovation There are three types of purposeful change - mos /m&b/sd MOS underlies the field known as quality management maintaining consistent standards M&B describes Continual Improvement – the data driven methods and mindsets pioneered by Edward Demming.. Originally used in industry – now used, or at least the language taken up in the education sector All three have a role in high performing schools Innovation involves more creativity, originality and novelty – more risk and when well managed more payoff...
Forty years ago art teachers believed that drawing skill depended on inborn talent A young teacher called Betty Edwards was assigned the job of bringing students up to speed on drawing at Venice High School in San Francisco Betty struggled to find the difference between the fast and slow students. One day on impulse she asked her students to copy a Picasso drawing upside down. To everyone’s surprise the drawings were extremely well done. As a result of her continuing experiments and research her approach is now used by drawing teachers in many countries. Until retirement – E Professor of ART at California State Uni -3M copies.. Illustrates entire innovation process... An experiment – something different – then knowledge building over a No of years – written up in books....practice guides
Move chairs Handout Task... Three minutes of silence Groups of four Time keeper Three to four minutes each = 12 Timekeepers can let really interesting story tellers a bit more latitude Report back .......
This is the website of the AB Combs school in North Carolina Their modest goal is to develop global leaders one child at a time The school has tremendously high expectations of the potential of the children the teach. Their high expectations of students is supported by Hattie’s research – he identified “teachers having high expectations of students” as one of the few factors that clearly improve student outcomes Who knows about this school?
The STORY started in 1999 a year after Muriel Summers took over as principal of the school. She was looking for a way to revitalize a good but not high-performing magnet school… ( not limited to children from the local area) Attended Stephen coveys workshop…He developed the 7 habits of highly effective people Idea Stakeholders analysis concept development – ubiquitous strategy– data notebooks Drew on other educational models – 7 correlates, essential 55 aligning – selling + start with a pilot with one teacher per grade – to demonstrate that it works + teacher training – 7 habits workshop + rewards Examples One week on leadership skills at the beginning of each year * Students have a chance to interview new teachers * A leadership day – for visitors * greetings and complements every day for every child Infused…. RESULTS * Over first two years of program % of students passing end of grade tests increased from 84% to 94% - These scores were not only maintained but increased over the next five years to 97% Visitors notice the self confidence of the students most…
This is the website for Bellaire PS in Geelong – serves a middle and upper middle class area The principal describes Bellaire as an innovative school
This is another page showing the large open teaching space The school has two slogans – AIM HIGH and A SCHOOL THAT’S SHAPING THE FUTURE
Here are the Principal’s description of the open space program .
This school was a delight to visit. The fist thing that struck me when I arrived was the quality of the operatic music being piped throughout the school during the recess break Quote SLOGAN + perfect expression... The Principal scanned for leading practices and after not finding a single suitable model, used various models as ingredients to create their own unique approach. The Principal had created an environment at the school where change and innovation is positively energising Most teachers had a small innovation or improvement project The school attracts talented teachers that want to be part of an innovative school Over 50 visit ayear Type - Primary S-E Status - Middle-class Princ. at school - 6 years No Students - 560 Student Outcomes - High Performance trend - up
This is the home page for C…G …l near Dandenong
In 2006 the Principal, Loretta Hamilton led the development of a Non-Fiction and Multimedia Writing Program based on the landmark research of Dr Douglas Reeves. Reeves had researched high performing schools in low income urban areas in the USA in the late 1990’s.. DEECD supported C-G with funds for new multi-media facilities, providing new writing and communication tools. The school demonstrated improved student learning outcomes and its program is already being transferred to twenty nearby schools. In a global context this innovation was part of the diffusion of a curriculum innovation. Reeves findings. Within Australia it was a first. This example illustrates the value of well managed incremental innovation . The change was not radical and it was easy to understand. In this case it enables teachers to rapidly close performance gaps in student learning outcomes and it had been easy for other schools for adopt, enabling faster diffusion. It also illustrates an innovation directed at improving core literacy abilities Inc innov = safest path offering best value... Because the program was relatively easy to implement – its already been picked up by another twenty nearby schools
2007 to 2009
I think value added is one of the best measures of a schools effectiveness It indicates the progress that students make, improvements in their performance, while they are at a school
There are hundreds of tools that measure organisational health and performance. The Disciplined Innovation tool tool is unique because of the model behind it There are few tools that focus on STRATEGIC management capabilities, even less that cover Innovation Management and no others that cover the two areas with an integrated model.
For simplicity When facilitators introduce the tool they show managers the list of the six Foundation capabilities. IN BLUE Managers readily agree that these capabilities are important Facilitators then reveal the functionally similar Innovation capabilities and provide a conceptual bridge for managers to see what is required to manage innovation successfully.
All schools Pioneering – to varying degrees A mixture of inventors, creators and adopters Adoption – Covey leadership model, Douglas reeves, (also innovation in literacy) personalised learning (innov unit) Adoption of research findings and models – innovating with knowledge – an entire body of practice knowledge rather than simple ideas Some innovations involved core areas while others have a broader focus A main focus or theme – leadership, innovation, curriculum innovation, personalised learning _ the theme or model was infused across curriculum and teaching activities A combination of one major innovation and many minor innovations Visits Two to three years implementation period
In this part I will argue or perhaps I should say speculate, that new and innovative curriculum, which are putting more emphasis on social skills and competence, are more conducive to and sometimes demand, innovation in thinking and personal behaviour. and as the future arrives these social skills and innovation abilities will well worth having.
There are some paradoxes in our modern world Technology contributes to material wealth and comfort but has also introduced more pressures, more complexity, more speed and more options for people More than ever before competition is global And our schools must prepare students for this world...
Around the English speaking world Educational authorities are responding to these trends by developing new curriculum. They are updating content, changing the mix and changing the way subjects are taught NESTA ----commissioned a report called “Wider skills for learning” last year. The report reviewed a wide variety of new curriculum. The quote is from the report’s summary. My less flamboyant way of describing the trend is that it involve a broadening of focus from developing cognitive intelligence to cognitive AND emotional intelligence – put another way - from thinking to thinking and social skills. EI provides a way of describing and measuring these skills.
Who is familiar with the concept? Who has measured their EI? The concept of intelligence is 100 years old and the measure of intelligence is a robust as any in the behavioural sciences. However while it predicts academic performance quite well it has its limitations as a predictor of successful living. In the last 15 years the concept of EI has become widely accepted. It offers an explanation of social competence and effective leadership. There is a strong link between Emotional Intelligence and effective leadership. The Ontario Principal’s Council studied the link in 2005. The study of principals and deputy principals found that the above average leadership group scored significantly higher than the below average leadership group on total EI and on four of the five dimensions (intrapersonal, interpersonal, adaptability, and stress management) listed. All except General mood. Most of these skills are teachable... and are being taught – All four of the innovative schools I described are to varying degrees, helping students to improve their EI
This is the report that I mentioned and that I used for this part of my talk. Its available at the NESTA website.
A common direction for most frameworks was an increased emphasis on personal and social competence.
I will outline one of the 25 frameworks , the NI Curriculum, because it rated highly on sophistication, easy of use and assessment and because of its emphasis on social competence. Under development for six or seven year and of-course supported by teacher training. Covers all primary school grades and most secondary school grades. A set of thinking skills and personal capabilities make up the core of the framework.
This slide summarises the rationale of the curriculum and describes the thinking and personal skills– the words are from the framework Thinking - touches of creative thinking Personal and interpersonal text - refers directly to managing emotions
The Framework has five parts All course material and teaching guides are linked back to this framework Here are some examples of the materials
Personal Development and Mutual Understanding is one of the primary school learning areas This is one of the resources for the learning area, for year 7 There are also guides for assessment and for reporting to parents
Here is another page from the Guide I was at a professional development course in the UK last year The leader made the point that many people, including many skilled professionals, do not have a rich emotional vocabulary – words to describe their feelings. How are you I’m OK> IM good, I’m frustrated... This curriculum is teaching a wider and richer emotional vocabulary
Here is part of a guide for a secondary school unit, called Technology and Design You can see in the bottom half of the slide the links to three parts of the framework – being creative – managing information – working with others
The emerging wider curriculum - Put more emphasis on social skills and creative problem solving - Involve new teaching methods that links personal skills with subject matter Now social competence is not in itself innovative – but socially competent behaviour is conducive to creative and innovative thinking... To teach social skills teachers need good and very good social skills. Developing the ability to teach social skills, improving EI, often involves... changing ingrained habits re-learning and un-learning New ways of seeing one’s behaviour In other words it involves innovation at the personal level. Overall; as curriculum becomes broader and encompasses social competence it provides a platform for higher quality teaching, more holistic learning and a more innovation in school and society.