A workshop on Education for Innovation in Asia: theory, evidence and practice was co-organised with Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) and the Ministry of Education of Singapore (Singapore, 15-16 January 2013). It brought together 30 education decision-makers from 12 countries to discuss Asian educational initiatives aiming to foster pupils’ creativity and critical thinking. The summary report of the workshop, a related blog post and participants’ presentations are available on the workshop website. Here are some highlights of the discussion:

·         Innovation is high on the agenda of educational systems across the Asia-Pacific region. Most countries are incorporating skills in thinking and creativity as well as character as core components of their curricula.

·         Government-led and teacher-centred approaches prevail in the Asian context. But NGOs, independent initiatives and the private sector also play an important role.

·         The weakness of existing evidence about fostering creativity, traditional mindsetsamong involved actors, and the absence of a shared terminology and understanding of creativity limit the implementation of this agenda.

·         The applicability in the Asian context of a new framework and tool for formative assessment of student creativity was also discussed (see working paper).

·         Please share with us examples of innovative educational initiatives that aim to promote students’ creativity in school in your region.

·         CERI has released its new publication Trends Shaping Education, a robust, non-specialist source to inform strategic thinking and stimulate reflection on the challenges facing education. It analyses 70 different trends based on high-quality international data.

The Innovation Strategy for Education and Training of the OECD Centre of Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) explores new approaches to equip people with innovation skills and to support radical innovation and continuous improvement in education systems. It includes two strands:

·         Education and skills for innovation

·         Innovation and improvement in education

The project has contributed to the OECD Innovation Strategy (2010), a major policy initiative offering a cross-government approach to help countries capture the economic and social benefits of innovation. It also feeds the OECD Skills Strategy (2012), a peer-learning initiative towards improving the supply of, anticipating the demand for, and optimising the use of skills in the workforce to promote economic growth and social inclusion.

www.oecd.org/edu/innovation / Contact : [email protected]

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