Educational Innovations in Finnish and European Contexts: An Analysis of the Aims and Outcomes of "the European Observatory" of the...
- ISBN-10
- 9514582896
- ISBN-13
- 9789514582899
- Pages
- 88
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1999
- Publisher
- Department of Teacher Education, University of Helsinki
- Authors
- Kirsi Tirri, Seppo Tella
Description
The purpose of this document is to analyze some of the major developments and research findings of the European Observatory of Innovations in Education and Training (1994-1998). The Observatory was a consortium of 13 member countries of the European Union serving as a European network of researchers and educators in the field of comparative education. The Observatory formulated several major tasks that guided its work from 1994 to 1998: (1) gathering and analyzing information about innovation and the conditions of change; (2) identifying key ways of innovation dissemination; (3) networking innovators and facilitating innovations at the European level; (4) clarifying national innovation policies; and (5) sharing and distributing conceptual information and knowledge about educational innovations. Within the Observatory, an educational innovation was analyzed as a novelty, a product, a change, an action, a process, and an intention. Innovation was defined as a collective creation of original solutions, responding to needs. The research done in the Observatory revealed profound differences in the use and understanding of the notion of innovation in different countries. Innovation was often replaced by a close synonym, such as "change, ""development," or "reform," to reflect different historical, sociological, or political patterns of thought implemented in different European countries. (Contains 4 tables, 86 references, and 200 endnotes.) (Author/SLD).
