Management of innovation in school technology

This thesis documents and evaluates two associated topics of action \nresearch in the form of case studies in school technology. Its emphasis \nis on the role of strategic planning in the management of innovation \nwithin this increasingly important area of the English school \ncurriculum. \nThe research was carried out during a period in which British industrial \ninnovation, and its effective management, was seen to be crucial to the \nnation's economic well being in the face of international competition. \nGrowing acceptance of the importance of technology in general schooling, \nevidenced by its inclusion in the national curriculum embodied in the \n1988 Education Reform Act, is set against the interlinked cultural, \nepistemological and professional barriers to its acceptance as high \nstatus activity within schools. It is argued that considerable energy \nexpenditure is required before the intentions of the Reform Act become \nreality, and that innovation will need to be effectively managed. The \nstudy is therefore set against a review of the literature of innovation \nmanagement in three spheres: curriculum development; the diffusion of \nInnovations; and industrial management. \nThe first case study examines the implementation of an innovatory \ninterpretation of the school subject Craft, Design and Technology (CDT) \nwithin the City of Manchester Education Authority. It tests the \nfeasibility of developing a 'concept base' approach to CDT by teachers \ncollaborating and being supported by the authority's inspector for CDT. \nIt concludes that the innovation in a simple form is feasible, given that certain conditions and levels of resourcing can be met, but that in \na more elaborate form, the innovation is severely problematic. The \nturbulence and rapid change being experienced within schools in the late \nnineteen eighties increases the severity of these problems. \nThe second case study describes a project carried out in the North West \nof England in which various local education authorities and institutions \nof higher education collaborated to reduce perceived severe qualitative \nand quantitative shortages of CDT teachers. Five project aims were \ntested within the research and it is concluded that under certain \nconditions they are achievable, but that collaboration between \ninstitutions with different goals and customs is difficult, and that the \nquality of management information available to CDT staffing decision \nmakers in the region W4S insufficiently accurate or sophisticated for \neffective innovation to proceed. \nIn conclusion, certain generalisations are made relating to the \neffective management of innovation in school technology. These include: \nthe inevitability of transactional distortion of objectives in the \njourney from intention-to outcome; the need to formulate and understand \nobjectives and defend them from this drift, albeit in flexible ways; the \nneed for incentives and central control in such collaborative \nendeavours; and finally the need for simple and effective communications \nwithin innovations.