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Chapter TwoCONTEXT AND STRATEGIES FOR EDUCATIONALINNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTIN ASIA-PACIFICJohn Dewar WilsonIntroductionAsia-Pacific Centre of Educational Innovation for Development (ACEID)encompasses a region that houses two thirds of the world’s population. Itis diverse in many respects – economically, in terms of religion andvalues, age distribution and structure, birth rate and standard of living. Itincludes ‘mature’ economies, such as those of Japan, Australia and NewZealand, the much heralded economic ‘tigers’ of Singapore, Taiwan andSouth Korea, and least developed countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia,Nepal and Bangladesh. In 1997 GDP across the region varied fromUSD$25,000 per head in Japan to USD$1,900 in Thailand and USD$218in Bangladesh (UNDP 1999). The age distribution varies greatly witharound 50 per cent of the estimated 120.4 million Bangladeshi populationbeing under the age of 20, while around one in five Japanese is aged over65. Cultural norms reflect the influence of religion and tradition withHindu, Moslem, Buddhist, Shintoist and Christian belief systems shapingvalues and attitudes to authority and change. In his classic study of nonmanagerialworkers at IBM in different countries across the worldHofstede (1991) found clear differences in characteristic traits of peoplefrom different communities. One trait of special relevance to innovationis likely to be ‘uncertainty avoidance’ where high scorers are likely toreflect the desire to stay with the tried and familiar rather than with thenew and unknown. Japan and, to a lesser extent, Pakistan score relativelyhigh on this dimension; Singapore scored lowest, and Hong Kong,Malaysia, India and the Philippines were also relatively low scorers.Thus generalizations about the region must be made with caution.This chapter sets out to provide a context for Snapshots, to review themodels of innovation that the examples are based on, and to identify anddiscuss factors influencing sustainability. It draws on the literature onplanned change and innovation, as well as on the author’s experience asan education consultant in Australia and Asia, over almost 20 years, andas teacher training specialist to the Higher Secondary Education Project(HSEP) in Bangladesh in 1996-97 (Wilson 2000). HSEP was the firstContext and Strategies © 11