Innovation and Leadership in Teaching Profession from the Perspective of the Design: Towards a Real-world Teaching Approach. A reskilling revolution

Reskilling and upskilling human capital is the main socio-economic strategy for leaders across the world in our time. Main international reports for policy-making call for a revolution in the matter. This paper suggests a required fundamental revolution for teacher profession to properly meet the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Prevalent trend in teacher professionalism follows a practice-focus approach. There is also a growing tendency that emphasises the role of theory and universities. Thus, the endlessly conflicting divide between theory and practice in this profession. The paper takes a different view. The kind of knowledge that matters to learning, teaching and curriculum in the 21st Century Education framework refers to the real world, which is global in perspective and constantly changing. Thus, at root, the teacher profession should be neither school-based nor university-based but, essentially and fundamentally, real-world-based. This view puts forward a different conception of teacher professionalism, which emphasizes innovation and leadership. To articulate it, the paper analyses first prevalent research approaches of teacher professionalism, and it shows that they hold methodological restrictions when it comes to innovation and leadership. Second, it elaborates a methodological section where it considers the main alternative methodological view of research design in education. The analysis shows its shortcomings and methodological restrictions. It suggests next that the perspective of the science of design along with the rationality of action (SCD&RAC) offers a more consistent basis for innovation and leadership in the teacher profession. This perspective is completely new and distinctive in the field of education. Under this methodological framework, teachers can really and actually become ‘leaders and agents for change’. Thus, the second part of the paper devotes to the implications of this perspective to the teacher profession. It argues that conceiving teachers as leaders unavoidable implies the reinforcement of the following dimensions: not only (1) pedagogical practices, but also (2) academic and research education and particularly (3) new forms of collaboration to bring teachers into the ‘decision-making-process’ of policy, research and practice.