Change and Innovation as Viewed by Teachers From Different Generations: Similarity and Diversity

Introduction

There has been a growing interest in teacher quality in recent decades (Akiba & LeTendre, 2017), as it is expected to help ensure an inclusive and equitable quality education (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2016, p. 54). It is also considered crucial for improving student learning and achievement (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2022). Accordingly, improving the quality of teachers has been an important concern in education for years (Parise & Spillane, 2010).

There are many ways of defining a quality teacher; various efforts have been made to determine what good teachers have in common (Schweisfurth, 2022). There is evidence of common traits among some of the top-performing educational systems, which has led to the tenet that a teacher’s personal qualities matter (Darling-Hammond, 2017). However, attempts to identify which features quality teachers should share must also respect their diversity (Paine et al., 2006). Growing age and generational diversity is a major workforce trend that has attracted mounting attention (Kunze et al., 2021). In fact, there is an increasingly age-diverse teaching workforce and a rising proportion of teachers approaching retirement in many countries (OECD, 2014, 2021).

Although education is often associated with conservatism and teachers are sometimes presented as being reluctant to change, educational change and innovation can improve the quality and equity of education provision and, ultimately, learning outcomes, particularly in the face of broader rapid changes required by societal needs (OECD, 2016). Teachers are thus expected to make changes and even to innovate in both their theoretical approaches and their practice (Serdyukov, 2017). Accordingly, change and innovation are critical to teachers’ professionalisation and quality (Toledo-Figueroa et al., 2017). Teacher change has strong parallels with teacher innovation (Thurlings et al., 2015, p. 448). Change has been defined as alteration or transformation of a current situation (e.g. in thinking and action) over time, while innovation has been described as a means of enabling such transformation through the introduction and use of something new (such as ideas, knowledge, resources, processes or results) which is intended to bring improvement (Moreira et al., 2016; OECD, 2016). Change does not necessarily entail the application of something new leading to improvements (OECD, 2016). Change and novelty often demand adaptability or adjustment to changing and new situations (Collie et al., 2020). In addition, innovativeness has been conceptualised as teacher receptivity, openness and willingness to adopt change and innovation; it has therefore been considered to be a prerequisite for change and innovation (Buske, 2018; Nguyen et al., 2021).

Teachers are diverse in different ways. Variation can be found in teacher change and innovativeness. In particular, differences in these aspects can be identified as teachers age, throughout their teaching careers, and across generations. For instance, there is evidence that mid- to late-career teachers’ resistance to change is related not only to age and career stage, but also to what teachers experience generationally (Goodson et al., 2006). However, there is a paucity of research on these differences in teacher change, innovation and innovativeness, as well as on how these areas are interconnected. This chapter is specifically focused on teacher orientation or disposition towards change and innovation. Teacher professional disposition has been defined as ‘a way of orienting oneself to the work and responsibilities of teachers’ (Diez & Murrell, 2010, p. 9). These dispositions have been conceptualised according to a perceptual approach (Wasicsko, 2007). Within this view, teachers’ perceptions are at the core of professional dispositions and consist of a set of beliefs, attitudes and values which enable them to use their knowledge and skills effectively (Wasicsko, 2007, pp. 54 and 60).