Damon L. Cooper¹ and Dr Dale F. Cooper²

1. Head of Teaching and Learning, Central Coast Grammar School, Erina Heights, NSW, Australia. Corresponding author: damonlcooper@me.com.

2. Director, Broadleaf Capital International, Cammeray, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

Schools need to innovate to survive in a competitive and constantly evolving industry. This paper provides a new, simple way of thinking for educational leaders and teachers, to increase confidence in innovation projects, enable them to empower innovation in their schools, better justify innovation proposals and persuade other teachers to participate.

This case study shows how aspects of risk management and bow tie analysis can contribute to innovation activities. We show how the approach was applied successfully to the introduction of new classroom technology and collaborative learning in a secondary school.

The teacher uses six key questions, plus bow tie analysis, to structure and strengthen her innovation plan to make it more likely to succeed. This provides additional confidence to proceed, knowing that the innovation has been thought through carefully, advantages and disadvantages have been considered, and additional tasks have been included to improve the chance of success.

Keywords: innovation; innovation plan; innovation business case; enhancing teacher confidence; education technology; collaborative learning; secondary school; bow tie analysis; risk management; performance improvement; change management; case study.

Purpose of the paper

This paper provides teachers and educational leaders with a process that can increase confidence in innovation projects and enable them to empower innovation in their schools. It describes simple tools to help them innovate more effectively and more confidently, strengthen their professional practice and improve learning outcomes.

The paper draws on tools from risk management, and particularly bow tie analysis, to describe a new way of thinking about innovation activities. A case study in a secondary school demonstrates how this approach was applied to a recent innovation associated with new classroom technology and collaborative learning.

While the approach is described in terms of innovation, it can also be applied to many other performance-improvement and change-management decisions.

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Read the full paper here.