EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION: SOME EXPERIENCES FROM SPANISH SCHOOLS

In today’s schooling environment, supporting sustainable and innovative schools requires understanding the short and long term factors that affect the school and the education context. The Q4I (Quality for Innovation in European Schools) project -supported from the European Commission, started in December 2012 and adopted during 2013 by 25 schools of five different European countries- aims to develop, test and mainstream a quality development approach for schools that includes a strong commitment to innovation and that is based on the participation of all key stakeholders: students, teachers and parents, employers and representatives of local community.

The "Q4I Model", designed during the last year in this context, is based on 4 "engines of change", that should be embedded in schools development plans:
• Key competences for lifelong learning should become a pillar of school education achievements, in particular the learning to learn competence.
• The use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) to support learning processes and to integrate the informal learning of digital natives should become an integral part of school education.
• Creativity and innovation attitudes and skills are not an optional element of school education.
• Inter-cultural learning skills are a key requirement of future citizens, workers, entrepreneurs.

This model is structured around 6 operational areas (corresponding to the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) macro criteria):
• Strategy Development
• Leadership
• Community involvement
• Innovation Process
• Key Performance Indicators
• Assessment, Monitoring and Improvement

Areas and engines of change are interconnected within the model. The core of the model is the Innovation Process (where the four engines are placed), enabled by Strategy Development through Leadership and Community Involvement, measured by Key Performance Indicators and monitored by Assessment, Monitoring and Improvement.

The present paper describes the experience of Spanish Schools through an internal process of self-assessment and further identification of improvements and best practices in the different areas and engines of change.