Tension as an enabling characteristic of innovating in schools

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to argue that school innovation is a complex processrnrequiring a detailed accounting of the relational activity characterising everyday innovating activity.rnIt is further proposed that complex accounts of innovation practice that describe social factors only arerninsufficient.rnDesign/methodology/approach - Using a case study methodology, a focus on ideas of resistancernand tension is used to explore the character of actual innovating experiences. Underpinned byrnassumptions of relationality and indicative of a poststructuralist and postmodern perspective,rnActor-Network Theory is applied as an analytical tool to investigate the sociomaterial character ofrneveryday enactments of innovation practice in four independent boys' schools in Australia.rnFindings - Four data stories describe multiple patterns of innovating activity that cannot accuratelyrnbe accounted for in terms of a general notion of resistance. The idea that tension enables innovationrnpractice is proposed.rnResearch limitations/implications - Approaches to school innovation that assume differencernshould be smoothed out or there is a risk of obstructing its practical accomplishment.rnPractical implications - This paper provides a case for school leaders to expect and cultivaternconditions that enable innovative tension and the co-presence of multiple patterns of innovatingrnactivity.rnOriginality/value - In addition to critically viewing managerial notions of school innovation, thisrnpaper draws on the cross-disciplinary research to include materiality as an active agent shaping, asrnopposed to providing a context for, innovating in schools.