A call for innovation in school education: Beyond school improvement performance

The authors argue for policy makers and educators to move beyond the ‘inside-the-box’ thinking of the school improvement agenda, which relies on incremental change within a troubled system. They highlight the ‘improvement versus innovation’ dilemma; draw attention to the risks of overlooking a more disruptive innovation agenda; and provide an overview of the global education innovation movement, where innovation is pivotal to split-screen and leapfrog transformational strategies. They examine innovation in Australia, which is occurring in pockets; suggest mechanisms to further enable innovation; and call for a priority focus on redesign and the building of a healthy innovation ecosystem to enable reform of school purpose, design, experience and outcomes.