SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
INNOVATIONS AND RENEWAL IN EDUCATION
MEANING OF INNOVATION AND RENEWAL
Refers to improvements done in the education system to facilitate fitting to the changes which occurs from time to time.
It involves predicting and recognizing forces likely to cause undesirable impacts, therefore increasing the chance of failure to attain the intended education goals
It’s a tool for facilitating the alignment of education system to its strategy
What is innovation?
Innovation is “the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service) or process, a new marketing method, or a new organizational method in business practices, workplace organization or external relations.”
Also innovation in education means solving a real problem in a new, simple way to promote equitable learning.
General meaning
Most of the literature defines innovation as the implementation of not just of new ideas, knowledge and practices but also of improved ideas, knowledge and practices in the education system.
Educational organizations (e.g. schools, universities, training centers, education publishers) can introduce;
i.New products and services, such as new syllabi, textbooks or educational resources
ii.New processes for delivering their services, such as e-learning services
iii. New ways of organizing their activities, for example communicating with students and parents through digital technologies,
iv. New marketing techniques, such as differential pricing of postgraduate courses.
Such new practices aim at improving the provision of education in one way or another, and should therefore be regarded as intended “improvements”that matches the scale of the solution to the scale of the challenge.
Why innovation in education?
- Innovation in education encourages teachers and students to explore, research and use all the tools to uncover something new
- It involves a different way of looking at problems and solving them. The thinking process that goes into it will help students develop their creativity and their problem solving skills.
- The need for transformative innovation in order to develop new relationships and ways of working, to update approaches, and to harness the collective social capital and skills of school communities to deliver better learning and teaching.
- To develop children’s critical thinking, creativity and communication skills.
- Innovations improves learning outcomes and the quality of education provision. For example, changes in the educational system or in teaching methods can help customize the educational process
- Innovations helps enhance equity in the access to and use of education, as well as equality in learning outcomes.
Types of innovation
Some Examples of Innovation in Education
- Competency-Based Learning
- Open Curriculum
- Changing nature of faculty
- Changing revenue sources for institution funding
- Digital textbooks
- Use of data analytics
- Innovation in teaching style
- Innovation in instructional practices
- Innovation in class organization
- Innovation in the use of textbooks in classrooms
- Innovation in the methods of assessment used in classrooms
- Innovation in the provision of special education in schools
- Must be compatible with technological development.
- Must be within the potential available resource capability.
- Must be a result of (informed) by research and development.
- Must be related to the existing infrastructure and structural strategies.
- Must be aligned to the social, political and legal requirements.
- Must allow further improvements.
How does innovations and renewal occur in the education system?
The process of pursuing initiatives marking a culture of innovation and renewal is guided by theories
Diffusion of innovation theory-DOI
The theories provides the required dimension that if adhere to can help to redefine, restructure ,reform and integrating the practices of delivering education to the required patterns of delivering education across the education system.
Innovation and renewal theories are the base sustaining continuous improvement effectively and efficient
DOI THEORY
DOI theory seek to explain why, how and at what rate new ideas spread across the system and among stakeholders
The dimension of theory of innovation requires the process of spreading innovation skills in education to go through the following stages
Adaptation-means fitting innovation to targeted context/education system
Adoption-Meaning institutionalizing the innovation to adaptors (education system receiving the innovation
Communication- meaning sharing information related to the adopted innovation with key stakeholders and exposing them to key competences in order to enhance their ability to use the new skills
Measuring and enforcing the acceptance- of the innovation that has been commutated across all stakeholders
Monitoring, controlling and evaluating- It involves the practices in applying the adopted innovation and taking appropriate measures for corrective measures for continuous performance improvement
Innovators; 2% & characterized by those who want to be first to try the innovation
Early adaptors- 14% & characterized by those who are comfortable with change and adopting new ideas
Early majority- 34% and are Characterized by those who adopt new innovation before the average person. However, evidence is needed that the innovation works before this category will adopt the innovation
Late adaptors- 34% & characterized by those who are skeptic of change and will only adopt an innovation after its have been generally accepted and adopted by the majority of the population
Laggards- 16% & characterized by those who are very traditional and conservative they are the last to make the changeover to new technologies
EDUCATION IMPLICATIONS
Each innovators category have a unique purposes
Innovators are very few and responsible for bringing new ideas for addressing emerging challenges
Early adopters are few and responsible for taking up the new ideas for practical application in the process of addressing challenges (at the pilot level)
FACTORS FOR EDUCATION INNOVATIONS
Financing ability in the education system
Willingness to conduct educational research and use findings in planning
Total quality management
Good leadership and governance
FACTORS FOR EDUCATION INNOVATIONS
Ability to develop human resources
Adopting co-opetion-means cooperating while competing
SELECTED INNOVATIONS AND RENEWAL INITIVAES IN THE TANZANIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
- Upe
- Memkwa
- Sedp
- Open education policy
- Adoption of learner centered pedagogy
SELECTED INNOVATIONS AND RENEWAL INITIVAES IN THE TANZANIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
- Ict
- Cost sharing in higher level institutions-loan board
- Gender mainstreaming in education
- Public Private Partineship in education
- Adoption of foreign education policy
CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERD IN THE ADPTION AND IMPLEMENTION OF EDUCTION INNOVATION AND RENEWAL IN TANZANIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
- Poor financing ability
- Dominant foreign influence in education system in Tanzania.
- Lack of shared vision and commitment among stakeholders
- Poor career planning management and development
- Declining sense of nationalism and patriotism
- Poor leadership & governance
Overly-Rigid Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
Corruption in Education
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted with a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain.
Corruption in education occurs at the political, administrative (central and local), and classroom level.
Common types of corruption in education sector range from academic cheating to bribery and nepotism in teaching appointments to bid-rigging in procurement of textbooks and supplies.
Corruption in Education sector takes various forms, some of which are;
- Illegal charges levied on children’s school admission forms which are supposed to be free
- Children from certain communities favored for admission, while others are subjected to extra payments
- Good grades and exam passes obtained through bribes to teachers and public officials.
- Examination results only released upon payment.
- Teacher recruitment and postings
- influenced by bribes or sexual favors.
- Misuse of school property for private commercial purposes also constitutes corruption.
- Corruption also occurs in the allocation of loans and scholarships.
Causes of corruption
Economic factors
- Inadequate, irregular, or delayed salaries often force teachers to seek supplementary income.
- Lack of transparent regulations and criteria – Without clear standards and regulations, the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior becomes blurred.
- Social factors-Some cultural practices can aggravate the problem of corruption in the education sector. For instance the tradition of giving token gifts has in some places evolved into a practice of widespread extortion.
- Lack of infrastructure - Poor road, railway and telephone links often prevent inspectors from visiting schools, resulting in teachers’ misconduct and corrupt practices going unnoticed and unpunished.
- Inadequate organizational structures and control mechanisms- Absence of incentives for improved performance can stimulate corruption, as may a lack of mechanisms for control and punishment
- Lack of community involvement and access to information-Parents who are - deliberately or unintentionally not given the opportunity to involve themselves in establishing, overseeing and supporting a school may lose a sense of ownership.
Effects of corruption in the development of education sector
Corruption in Education sector erodes social trust, worsens inequality, and sabotages development.
- A high drop-out rate, which increases at high levels of poverty.
- Low quality teaching, leading to poor achievement
- A system susceptible to adverse political, religious and ethnic influence.
- Deepened inequality between rich and poor, preventing entire generations from pursuing a meaningful future.
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