School Factors Contributing to the Sustainable Implementation of Innovations

• In Event: Toward Sustainable Innovations in Education

Abstract

Objectives

This research paper seeks to understand what school-level factors stimulate or hinder the sustainable implementation of (evidence-based) innovations. Outcomes may support schools in sustaining the implementation of innovations.

Perspective

Innovating is essential for the functioning of a school and is seen as a precondition for long-term success. However, schools differ in the extent to which they can implement and institutionalize innovations. The gap between the generation of evidence-based innovations outside schools and the sustainable implementation of these innovations into practice is seen as one of the main challenges that schools face today (Durlak & Dupre, 2008). Very few innovations reach the sustainability phase, the phase of institutionalization where the innovation becomes a routine and an integral part of daily practice within the school (Hargreaves & Goodson, 2006).

We investigated the sustainable implementation of a new, evidence-based digital learning intervention to prevent reading difficulties for young children in the Netherlands. The digital learning intervention is used by students who are at risk for developing reading difficulties. It focuses on pupils in the age of five until eight years old and supports them in becoming better readers. The pupils are guided by tutors when they are at school and some parents also practice at home. The digital learning intervention is implemented in around 80% of elementary schools in the Netherlands.

Method

A survey was conducted among 535 educational professionals in 58 elementary schools in the Netherlands. Multilevel analyses of the survey data are used to examine the relationship between sustainability of innovations and school-level factors. The sustainability of innovations was measured by an adapted version of a validated scale (Mcintoch et al., 2012) consisting of two main school-level categories, namely the extent to which: (1) an innovation is seen as a priority in school, and (2) a team uses data. School level factors were measured by adapted versions of validated scales concerning the social capital of the school (Leana & Pill, 2010), dimensions of transformational leadership (Geijsel et al., 2003), the absorptive capacity of the school (Flatten et al., 2010), and openness to change (Mitchell & Shoho, 2017).


Preliminary results

Preliminary results show a positive correlation relationship between categories of sustainable innovations and social capital of a school, the absorptive capacity and transformational leadership. The extent to which a school is open to innovations is only positively related to the extent to which the innovation is seen as a priority in the school. Currently, multilevel analyses are used to further explore the different relationships.

Significance of the work

According to recent research, the gap between the discovery of an effective intervention and sustainable implementation in practice is partly due to a failure to understand organizational factors that affect sustainable implementation of innovative interventions (Allen et al., 2017). This study contributes with insights in these organizational factors.

Authors

• Bieke Schreurs, University of Amsterdam

• Frank Cornelissen, University of Amsterdam