Management of innovation in school technology

Toft, PN

Abstract

This thesis documents and evaluates two associated topics of action
research in the form of case studies in school technology. Its emphasis
is on the role of strategic planning in the management of innovation
within this increasingly important area of the English school
curriculum.
The research was carried out during a period in which British industrial
innovation, and its effective management, was seen to be crucial to the
nation's economic well being in the face of international competition.
Growing acceptance of the importance of technology in general schooling,
evidenced by its inclusion in the national curriculum embodied in the
1988 Education Reform Act, is set against the interlinked cultural,
epistemological and professional barriers to its acceptance as high
status activity within schools. It is argued that considerable energy
expenditure is required before the intentions of the Reform Act become
reality, and that innovation will need to be effectively managed. The
study is therefore set against a review of the literature of innovation
management in three spheres: curriculum development; the diffusion of
Innovations; and industrial management.
The first case study examines the implementation of an innovatory
interpretation of the school subject Craft, Design and Technology (CDT)
within the City of Manchester Education Authority. It tests the
feasibility of developing a 'concept base' approach to CDT by teachers
collaborating and being supported by the authority's inspector for CDT.
It concludes that the innovation in a simple form is feasible, given that certain conditions and levels of resourcing can be met, but that in
a more elaborate form, the innovation is severely problematic. The
turbulence and rapid change being experienced within schools in the late
nineteen eighties increases the severity of these problems.
The second case study describes a project carried out in the North West
of England in which various local education authorities and institutions
of higher education collaborated to reduce perceived severe qualitative
and quantitative shortages of CDT teachers. Five project aims were
tested within the research and it is concluded that under certain
conditions they are achievable, but that collaboration between
institutions with different goals and customs is difficult, and that the
quality of management information available to CDT staffing decision
makers in the region W4S insufficiently accurate or sophisticated for
effective innovation to proceed.
In conclusion, certain generalisations are made relating to the
effective management of innovation in school technology. These include:
the inevitability of transactional distortion of objectives in the
journey from intention-to outcome; the need to formulate and understand
objectives and defend them from this drift, albeit in flexible ways; the
need for incentives and central control in such collaborative
endeavours; and finally the need for simple and effective communications
within innovations.

Citation

Toft, P. Management of innovation in school technology. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 18, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 18, 2011
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1988