An innovative school is built together through development
The Innovative School is working! project, launched in the fall of 2021. The project deepened the school’s comprehensive development in line with the Innovative School model and continued to develop the model with nine municipalities (Espoo, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lappeenranta, Lohja, Luoto, Rovaniemi, Tampere and Oulu) and the ENorssi network. The project utilized the operating methods and models developed in the Innovative School project (2019–2021). The project was funded by the Finnish National Agency for Education and coordinated by Saimaan mediakeskus with the Innokas team at the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Educational Sciences.
The project’s main objective was to support the school’s own development work in accordance with its needs and to instill a continuous development approach in the school’s operating culture. In the initial situation, the needs of the school were identified by means of a needs survey, which gave direction to the school’s own development project. During the project, school development teams were supported through guidance, peer dialogue, joint meetings and various project tools. It’s essential to make the development work genuinely inclusive: The key actors and innovators were students, teachers, school management, parents and collaborative networks such as universities according to the Innovative School model. Project activities also strengthened the working methods for developing digital competence in schools as part of the school’s daily activities.
Establishing a culture of continuous development at school is a time-consuming process that requires support. During the process, schools were supported via various services, and these service packages were developed with project participants. In the development phase, the themes of the service packages were as follows: 1) the school’s continuous competence development and assessment practices; 2) models and practices of collaborative and team teaching; 3) innovative learning facilities and events; 4) digital technology as a subject and learning tool; and 5) digital technology as a cooperation, interaction and leadership tool.
Read more about the project’s activities on the Innokas blog #innovatiivinenkoulu (in Finnish).
Read about the results of the Innovative School Is Working! project here (in Finnish): www.innokas.fi/materiaalit/innovatiivinenkoulutoimii/
Read about the results of the Innovative School project (2019–2021) here (inFinnish): www.innokas.fi/materiaalit/innovatiivinen-koulu-projektiesimerkit/
