School head teachers’ views of the drive towards educational innovation in Catalonia / La visión de los directores de escuela sobre el impulso de la innovación educativa en Cataluña

Abstract

Today, educational change and innovation are a clear priority in educational centres across the world. This article analyses the strengths and opportunities presented by the process of educational innovation taking place in Catalonia from the perspective of school head teachers, employing a quanti-qualitative methodology using 227 surveys and 29 semi-structured interviews. The results locate the innovation process in a phase characterized by efforts aimed at updating existing practice, resistance to change generated by the system itself, and a lack of systematic reflection on current practice. Two strengths of the process reported relate to its scale and transversality across the whole territory on the one hand, and the importance that collaboration between teachers and schools is having in order to facilitate innovation. Other aspects highlighted are: the need to invest more planning in innovation processes; the need for the Deparment of Education to reflect on its own role within the process; and, finally, the need to develop the role of technologies as facilitators of innovation and communication.