Revista de Știinţe Educaţiei (Dec 2020)
An analysis of curricular innovation in higher education: challenges and a possible solution
Abstract
Curricular innovation in university education allows teachers to make use of a wide range of changes. What do teachers mean by “curricular innovation”, how do they apply it and what are the factors that mobilize or block them in this process? These issues were analyzed based on the answers given by university teachers. Hence, we found that, although, at a theoretical level, teachers clearly formulate the needs of curricular development, at a practical/applied level, the action of curricular innovation is associated with uncertain objectives. A balance regarding variety/freedom of change in education would stimulate a more efficient innovation process (because excessive variety causes uncertainty and hinders action). Following the analysis of the teachers' answers, we found that they would be helped by the promotion of (only) successful innovative models, in which the possible application variants (and the results obtained depending on the local specifics, domain specifics, etc.) are specified. We believe that in this way, teachers will take be more active with respect to curricular innovation.
