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70 quoted in Cutler and Co
(2008:45)
71 cf Hearn & Bridgstock
(in press)
72 Lucas & Claxton (2009:4)
73 Lucas & Claxton (2009:4),
SKE (2007:3)
74 Victorian Government
(2007: 24)
75 SKE (2007:3), NESTA
(2007b)
76 Sawyer (2006:41)
77 NESTA (2007a:1)
2.1 The links between
education and innovation
The education sector can foster innovation
by developing the skills and values required
for an innovative workforce and society.
While education alone cannot produce a
more innovative society, formal and informal
opportunities for learning have a significant
part to play in building innovation cultures
and capacities. Investing in this component
of the innovation system is sometimes
described as investing in the ‘human capital’
of innovation. As the federal Department
Education, Employment and Workplace
Relations puts it:
Innovation is fundamentally a peopledriven
exercise and a nation’s capacity
to innovate is inextricably linked to the
breadth and quality and focus of its
education and training systems. 70
The education system, then, needs to be
calibrated with the features of innovation 71 ,
and it is argued that the most important areas
to focus on are “the mental and emotional
habits of mind that underpin innovation,
and … the cultural practices of schools
and colleges that invite and strengthen
those habits.” 72
In the academic and policy literature at large,
educating for innovation is discussed in terms
of innovation skills and values that can be
developed through various approaches to
structuring content and delivery:
skills—building the skills, dispositions
and habits of innovation, as varied and
problematic to define as these may
prove to be.
values—encouraging the spirit of
innovation, by encouraging the attitudes
and ethos to have positive experiences
of experimentation, risk, collaboration,
resilience and the like. 73
content—providing stories and
experiences of innovations and innovators,
across disciplines and in formal and
informal contexts.
delivery—developing and utilizing new
technological and personalized platforms
of learning suited to the 21st century
environment.
Educating for innovation is the responsibility
of many yet the contribution of schools
is critical given their reach across society
and their involvement in the early years of
learning. In reality, the educational system is
a very broad network and all within it have a
part to play. As the Victorian Government has
acknowledged:
Developing skills for innovation is a
responsibility shared by governments,
education and training institutions, research
organisations, businesses, unions and
individuals. 74
Developing innovation skills and attitudes
at a young age, however, is a key long-term
strategy. This places a stronger emphasis on
teachers, schools and education policy to
foster an innovation agenda. 75
For their part, schools in many parts of
the world now recognize innovation as a
key component of 21st century learning.
Further research on how to implement this
agenda is, however, now a priority. In an
international review of learning frameworks,
Lucas and Claxton conclude that many first
world countries are beginning to register
and infuse both creativity and innovation as
priority areas. Still, more attention needs to be
paid to how this is undertaken in practice, not
just theory. According to Sawyer, “educational
researchers have paid very little scholarly
attention to the recent shift to an innovation
economy, although it has substantial
implications.” 76 In Australia, The Society of
Knowledge Economics called for a study into
how the education system could be improved
to create a more innovative nation (2007:9).
And as one NESTA report points out:
In the short term, the role that existing
school-focused programmes play in
innovation, and how these link in with
initiatives beyond the school gate, should be
reviewed. More should be done to facilitate
learning between schools on how the
best among them encourage and enable
innovative behavior. 77
Since these claims were made in 2006 and
2007, various preliminary research projects
have been initiated.
The gap in knowledge is being addressed
via the recent work of organizations such
as NESTA and Futurelab in the UK, whose
Growing future Innovators: a scoping study 21