Oceans of Innovation. The Atlantic, the Pacific, Global Leadership and the Future of Education

Abstract

Michael Barber, Professor, chief education advisor at Pearson, London, UK.
Email: krdonnelly@pearson.com Address: Institute for Public Policy Research, 4th Floor, 14 Buckingham Street, London WC2N 6DF, UK.

Katelyn Donnelly, executive director in the administration of the chief education advisor at Pearson, London, UK.
Email: krdonnelly@pearson.com Address: Institute for Public Policy Research, 4th Floor, 14 Buckingham Street, London WC2N 6DF, UK.

Saad Rizvi, executive director in the administration of the chief education advisor at Pearson, London, UK.
Email: krdonnelly@pearson.com Address: Institute for Public Policy Research, 4th Floor, 14 Buckingham Street, London WC2N 6DF, UK.

This essay assumes the near certainty that the Pacific region will take primary leadership of the global economy in the near future and explores the implications for their education systems. It explores the historic insights that can be taken from the Atlantic’s rise to global leadership and outlines the economic transformation over the last 50 years that has shifted leadership from the Atlantic to Pacific Asia.

On this foundation, the authors lay out a new model for fostering innovation among individuals, teams, organizations and society as a whole. Lessons about creativity and innovation have major implications for public policy. Education—deeper, broader and more universal—has a significant part to play in enabling humanity to succeed in the next half century.

The authors outline the key characteristics of Pacific Asian systems which contribute to performance of their educational systems.

Despite the rooted nature of educational progress in the region, the leaders should not leave the educational systems well alone. The paper sketches out what features the education systems require to enable successful global leadership and innovation in the decades ahead. The authors recommend a combination of best practices in coherent reform of education systems together with the latest thinking on unlocking systemic innovation to produce the ‘whole-system revolution’ that will be required to inspire a generation and produce global leaders who are able to rise to the challenges of the 21st century.