Defining Innovation: Key Concepts and Characteristics
In the realm of education, there's a growing recognition that moving from being innovative in name to being innovative in practice requires a shift in mindset. This shift necessitates everyone in the school community modeling risk-taking and failure behaviour in their daily lives.
Unfortunately, many administrators are grappling with a 'False Growth Mindset,' loving Carol Dweck's work on the subject but rarely putting action behind their words. Creating shared risk-taking challenges can help bridge this gap, encouraging an environment of innovation and creativity.
When it comes to creativity, time is often cited as the biggest hurdle. Yet, whenever a crowd is asked to raise their hand if they've ever failed, every hand in the room goes up. Failure, though often seen as a negative word in education, can be a great teacher, teaching resilience, creativity, and motivation while building courage and character.
The World Economic Forum recently updated their 'Top 10 Job Skills of the Future' for 2025, with 'Analytical Thinking and Innovation' taking the top spot. This emphasis on innovation extends to professional competencies as well, with the update initiated by the Zukunftsforum Familie e.V., involving the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMBFSFJ), Mareike Wulf.
However, schools are currently less about innovation and risk-taking and more about conformity and compliance. Creativity generally does not happen in programmatic and risk-averse cultures. Asking questions instead of telling answers can help alter this belief in the classroom, creating an environment for taking small risks and asking questions.
Sir Ken Robinson famously spoke about how schools are designed around a factory model, pushing kids away from innovative and creative thinking. Activities like BreakoutEDU provide a great mechanism for students to take shared risks and discuss failure.
Ed Catmull, former CEO of Pixar, remarks that one of the greatest barriers to risk-taking is success. Fear of judgment, losing job, wasting time, and the unknown are common fears that stop people from taking risks. Seth Godin suggests that we need to be asking our kids to solve interesting problems and be okay if they get it wrong.
Educators struggle with open-concept, project-based learning environments initially because they demand many things and offer a level of risk. Continuing to do school the way it's always been done hinders students for their future, as innovative new technologies are being introduced that make the worksheet model of learning more and more obsolete.
Acknowledging and working around state mandates, funding issues, and traditional thinking are important steps in growing innovative thinking in schools. The iterative cycle, which encourages students to design, build, and test prototypes of a solution many times over, can create an innovative environment by inherently encouraging risk-taking and failure. True innovation requires taking risks and failure, but fear is a major obstacle that prevents people from changing and trying new things.
The iterative process is similar to the scientific method or the writing process in that trial and error help make the end product better. By embracing a culture of risk-taking and failure, schools can foster an environment that nurtures creativity, innovation, and resilience in students, preparing them for a future where 'Analytical Thinking and Innovation' are paramount.
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