The Innovation Discourse, and Teacher Practice in an Aid receiving nation.

• In Event: The Discourse of Education Innovation, Global Learning and Teaching, and ICTs

Proposal

This paper critically examines the discourse of innovation, as promoted by foreign aid agencies, in the Jamaican education sector. It explores the manifestations of both the process and product of innovation in the sector and uncovers the potential impact these manifestations could have on the lives and work of teachers. The paper argues that the rhetoric of innovation having universal value or being universally good ought to be critically examined, particularly in small island developing states-[SIDS] where foreign aid funds a significant portion of the education budget, thereby influencing education reformation projects. These manifestations may not necessarily align with the local-cultural needs of the island’s institutions and the realities of the social actors (such as teachers) working within the education sector. The potential mismatch could lead to a disconnect between the work of teachers and that of ministerial leaders, thereby contributing to teachers’ challenges and potentially hindering progress toward reforming the island's education sector.

The term innovation is complex and arguably ambiguous (Joly, 2019). The concept consists of multiple dimensions spanning various disciplines and is associated with the novel or creative use of resources to enhance the efficiency of a product, system, or service (Fragerberg, 2006). On a broader scale, innovation is associated with economic progress. It is promoted globally as the means and the product of economic development, essentially being the necessary instrument for the “survival” of economies and society (Joly, 2019). To many, including International Organizations and aid agencies, even with the weight of its ambiguity, innovation is popularly thought of as “instrumental to man’s needs or goals- moral, political and material” (Benoit, 2015, p.5). It is an unquestionable good having universal value in (all) nations (Benoit, 2015, p.2). In the Reform on Education Report done by the Jamaica Task Force on Education, innovation is said to be both the means through which citizens' empowerment is achieved and the product of citizens’ empowerment (The Jamaica Education Transformation Commission, 2021). It is an unquestionable good, often associated with “Science,” “technology,” and “digital transformations” - the panacea to “address the multifaceted challenges plaguing Jamaica’s education system” (McEwan, 2024).

This paper, however, locally situates and explores the meanings invoked by the term and examines their unquestionable/universal goodness. It challenges the narrow and often paralyzing assumptions that lender agencies make about innovation and offers a critical perspective on its discourse (in Jamaica) at a time when Jamaica’s education system and its teachers are heavily criticized for being insufficiently innovative. It recognizes the term “innovation” as a discursive practice promoted by aid agencies, with its own set of rules that have the ability to promulgate truths and falsehoods about the education sector and actors within it. Additionally, it implicates the discourse as epistemically violent, potentially rendering Jamaica’s education system as one“… not fit for Caribbean social change and development” (Hicking-Hudson, 2004 as cited in Brissett & jules, 2023). Finally, the paper underscores the need for teachers and, in this context, those from the SIDS of Jamaica, to be “experts in their own [profession] who rightly should be the authority on defining and identifying innovation and innovative solutions to problems that affect their day-to-day lives and work” (Welton and Mansfield, 2020, as cited by Hara and Good, 2023, p. 9).

While a wealth of research examines the discourse on innovation, its impact, and implications, few scholars explore the discourse within education sectors. Even fewer studies have investigated the discourse and representations of innovations in the education sectors of SIDS, its association with foreign aid, and the impact the discourse has on the lives and work of teachers in these education sectors. This paper, therefore, aims to shed light on an under-researched area and potentially work to inform policymakers and ministerial leaders in education, about the importance of not only critically examining the relevance of global discourses and policies/mandates in their local contexts but also to trust teachers as experts in their field.

Author

• Shari-Lee Calese Carter, New York University