Watch now: Fearless Conversation on innovation in education

We need to completely rethink schooling and free students to learn for the jobs of tomorrow, industry leaders say.

Traditional education agendas are affecting innovation in schools and universities and leaving students unequipped for the challenges of Industry 4.0, a leading educator says.

Dr Andrew Bills, lecturer in educational leadership and management at Flinders University, says the “neoliberal education agenda” is “putting public education in shackles”.

“The freedom to innovate, particularly in school communities most challenged by disadvantage, is being made more difficult by the policy environment that is standardising how we do schooling,” he said.

“I’d say that’s a far cry from the kinds of innovation we need as we are entering the fourth Industrial Revolution.”

Mr Bills says the focus on a “NAPLAN-centric measure of school quality” does not align with the digital age and the subsequent demand for the skills and capabilities young people require to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

“I think we need to understand that under the previous regime the policy environment has not been conducive for innovation,” he said.

Mr Bills was speaking during this month’s Flinders University and The Advertiser Fearless Conversations forum, focusing on innovative education and pedagogy. It is the sixth in the 2022 series, which brings together leading voices in roundtable discussions about the big issues facing the state.

Flinders University Fearless Conversations panellists, left to right: Professor Martin Westwell, Sarah Walsh, Dr Andrew Bills and Joss Rankin. Picture: Dean Martin

Hosted by Flinders University’s Sarah Walsh, the hour-long conversation also involved Department for Education chief executive Martin Westwell and Joss Rankin, senior lecturer at Flinders University’s College of Education, Psychology and Social Work.

Mr Westwell, who previously held the position of chief executive of the SACE Board for four years prior to taking up his role at the Department for Education in April this year, called for the “complex system” of education to be both “tight and flexible”.

“I think there’s something in holding tight to our principles (of) learning entitlement but … flexibility on how that’s enacted,” he said.

Mr Rankin advocated flexibility in using the lessons learned from Covid, when teachers were encouraged to hold classes outdoors where possible, to initiate a new, “brave” pedagogical concept.

“Being outside and allowing the environment to present the stimulus (allows the student) to demonstrate their understanding,” he said. “It also presents that reflection of saying, ‘Let’s be brave, let’s be innovative in our pedagogical approaches’.”

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