The Opinions of Teachers About the Innovation Level of Their Schools

Hüseyin Aslan,Fatma Kesik,Cevat Elma

doi:10.11114/jets.v6i6.3072

Abstract

This study aims to determine the opinions of teachers about the innovation level of their schools. The sample of this research includes 471 teachers working in primary and secondary schools in Sinop, a city in Turkey. “Innovative School Scale” developed by Aslan and Kesik (2017) was used in order to collect data in this study. Percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, T-test and one-way ANOVA were performed to determine teachers' opinions about the innovation level of their schools according to the demographic variables. The findings show that the opinions of teachers about the innovation level of their schools are quite high with a level of “often” in the dimensions of innovative atmosphere, administrative support and the overall scale and with a level of “sometimes” in the organizational impediments. While the teachers’ opinions indicate no significant differences regarding their genders, they show significant differences regarding their subject areas, years of teaching experience and teaching level of school. According to findings, branch teachers, teachers working in secondary schools and teachers having 21 or more years of teaching experience were found to have a higher level of opinions about the innovation level of their schools. The findings and suggestions obtained by the results are expected to contribute to the discussions and literature about increasing innovation level of schools.

Highlights

Innovation which is frequently used with the concepts of change and creativity is defined as “the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization” (Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby & Herron 1996: 2) and “a process of developing and implementing a new idea” (Van de Ven & Angle, 1989: 12)
As a result of this study aiming to identify the opinions of teachers about the innovation level of their schools, it was determined that teachers often found their schools’ atmosphere innovative and they were often supported by the administration they sometimes had problems to overcome organizational impediments towards innovation
It has been identified in various studies that an innovative climate has utmost importance in the realization of an innovation (Ekvall, 1996; Mclean, 2005; Panuwatwanich, Stewart & Mohamed 2008)

Summary

Introduction

Innovation which is frequently used with the concepts of change and creativity is defined as “the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization” (Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby & Herron 1996: 2) and “a process of developing and implementing a new idea” (Van de Ven & Angle, 1989: 12). In today’s world which the change is unavoidable, the subject of innovation has been a matter of research for a long time (Damanpour & Evan, 1984; Van de Ven & Rogers, 1988; Anderson & King, 1993; Amabile et al, 1996; Montes, Moreno & Fernandez, 2004; Scot, Bruce & Reginald 2005; Mclean, 2005; Moolenaar, Daly & Sleegers, 2010). Within a context of change and innovation in the field of education, the effectiveness of schools can be provided with a creative environment encouraging teachers to take risks, improve their professionalism, have responsibility and use initiative instead of a traditional hierarchical model (Edwards, Green & Lyons, 2002)

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Conclusion