Innovation Strategy for Education and Training: the general framework

1. OECD/France Workshop, 23-24 May 2011 Innovation Strategy for Education and Training: the general framework Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin OECD/CERI

2. The context • OECD Innovation Strategy (MCM 2010) • Importance of innovation for growth • « Empower people to innovate » • OECD Skills Strategy (MCM 2012) • Identify and assess essential skills for growth and how they are developed • CERI Innovation Strategy for Education and Training: • Education and skills for innovation • Innovation in education

3. INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

4. Innovation strategy for the education sector • Stimulating science-driven innovation • Stimulating business-driven innovation • Stimulating teacher-driven innovation • Stimulating user-driven innovation • Innovation = radical innovation or continuous improvement

5. Some policy instruments Educational Research Educational development Market mechanisms Assessment Curriculum policy School organisation Educational information systems Innovation and experimentation funds

6. SKILLS AND EDUCATION FOR INNOVATION

7. Skills/qualifications for Innovation • Do skills matter for innovation? • Yes, the lack of qualified personnel within the business and the sector is quoted as one of the top impediments to innovation by innovative businesses • What skills/qualifications foster innovation in the economy? • A broad mix of skills: scientific and non-scientific; general and vocational • Has recent innovation led to a change in the level and type of education demanded? • Evidence of hollowing out of wage distribution in the US, Canada, EU-15 (skill biased technical change + something else) • Are certain uses of workforce skills associated with more innovation? • Yes, learning organisations where employees learn, are trained and have discretion are also associated with more lead innovation • There are different national « cultures » about that

8. Individual Skills for Innovation • Literacy and numeracy: « foundation » skills are key to access lifelong learning (upper secondary education?) • What individual competences for innovation (« 21st Century skills ») should people acquire to contribute to innovation as producers and users? • 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, collaboration, communication) • Departing from classification between « cognitive »/ « non-cognitive » skills or « hard »/« soft » skills

9. Education for innovation • Competences to be stimulated: • Creativity • Entrepreneurship • Interest in learning • Educational policy questions: • How broad/narrow should be the curriculum? • How to develop all categories of skills simultaneously? • What change in teaching and assessment practices? • Limited current evidence: • Importance of traditional academic competences • Importance of specialisation

10. How to foster these skills? • What do we know about the impact of some curricula and pedagogies on specific skills belonging to these broad categories at different educational levels: • Arts education • STEM education • Entrepreneurship education • What are the promising ideas and practices in this area? • What policy measures could we propose to policy makers and practitioners?

11. THANK YOU Stephan.Vincent-Lancrin@oecd.org www.oecd.org/edu/innovation