Innovation Impulse for Education

The educational sector is facing a major challenge: how can we maintain quality and ensure that the workload does not increase when large numbers of teachers are retiring as a result of an ageing population? The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has provided 20 million euros via Innovation Impulse for Education (InnovatieImpuls Onderwijs) to support primary and secondary schools that wish to prepare themselves for the years ahead in an innovative manner.

Fresh look at school organisation
The key innovations in this project will allow schools with fewer teachers to offer a similar level of education. This therefore entails organisational innovations, such as organising timetables and classes or deploying people and resources differently. What role can ICT play in this, which tasks can be taken over from teachers, and is it not significantly better but also more fun in particular if things are organised completely differently? Feel free to provide a fresh and critical look at the current educational system and to think out of the box!

Innovative power of schools themselves
The basis of the Innovation Impulse is that teachers personally know best where opportunities for change within education lie. According to Kennisland, it is important to stimulate bottom-up innovation and increase the innovative ability of the schools themselves. All IIE experiments focus on ideas that allow work to be organised differently (e.g. with fewer teachers, but with the use of other people, and with the help of new technology), without increasing the workload or affecting the quality of education. The Innovation Impulse for Education comprises two parts; the IIE Experiments and the IIE Network. The IIE Experiments are five innovation experiments developed by schools themselves that will be conducted across the country at 158 experimental schools between 2011 and 2014. The five IIE Experiments are: SlimFit, E class & PAL student, Pupils for Pupils, Educational Teams and Video Lessons.

Innovation Impulse Network
The aim of course is that schools will also learn from each other and acquire knowledge about the effect of their innovations. The IIE Network provides a platform to this end. In this network created for and by innovative thinkers and doers who work in the field of education, members inspire and advise one another. This enables the creation of a broader innovation movement, which occurs during meetings in the form of Bendecafés (Gang Cafés).

Research
Researchers from SEO and ResearchNed are studying the effects of the IIE Experiments. They are examining the effects of the innovations provided under Innovation Impulse for Education on labour productivity, the quality of education and the workload of teachers. The results of the study on Innovation Impulse for Education can be leading for education during the decades ahead.

Organisation
Kennisland, together with CAOP, is responsible for the composition and implementation of the Innovation Impulse for Education programme. Visit the website for more information about the planning, to find out what has already happened in the area of educational innovation and to follow current developments.

• KL'ers involved
• Nora van der Linden nl@kl.nl
• Iselien Nabben in@kl.nl