Kako unaprediti proces inoviranja školske prakse

Abstract

There is no discussion anymore about whether changes are needed in the field of education, but what kinds of changes are necessary and how they can be sustained in the future. Experts point out that motivation is one of the most important factors that influences the application, sustainability and expansion of innovations over a longer period. The theory of self-determination suggests that basic human needs need to be addressed while innovating school practice and that certain incentives develop internal motivation and/or autonomous forms of motivation. The aim of this case study was to identify the key incentives for developing and maintaining motivation and improving the knowledge and skills of teachers and researchers in the process of innovating school practice. The data were collected by using a structured interview with sixteen researchers who previously, during one school year, had participated in the innovating practice in an experimental school. An inductive-thematic approach was used in coding and analyzing the data and the findings were interpreted in the context of the theory of self-determination. Three topics are predominant in the participants' narratives: (1) implementation of external and individual incentives in the course of innovation projects; (2) focusing on the preparation and realisation of innovation projects; (3) educational actors' development and professional learning in the course of the project realisation. The paper concludes with the confirmation of the theoretical assumption that the educational actors' needs for more autonomy, competence and cooperation in the process of innovating school practice have to be addressed. The paper also offers several suggestions for increasing the motivation of educational actors for the preparation and realisation of innovation projects, as well as for sustaining innovations in school practice.