Educational innovation studies as a complex system

Abstract

Educational innovations are defined as a complex, self-renewing systemic formation, dependent on changing social and educational priorities. The system of educational innovations has been developed taking into account the methodological and historical bases of its formation, defining the object and subject, classifications of innovations in education, criteria for selection and implementation of innovative experience, quality of innovative activities. Based on the analysis of scientific and theoretical approaches, the object of pedagogical innovation studies is the innovation process, conditions, methods and results of its implementation, the subject is the relationship between the efficiency of innovation processes and its determining factors, as well as ways of influencing these factors in order to increase the effectiveness of changes. The conceptual and categorical apparatus of educational innovations has been defined. The paper demonstrates diverse scientific views in the interpretation of its essence leading to the coexistence of different approaches in typologization and classification of pedagogical innovations. The scope, innovative potential, and scale of transformations are considered the main peculiarities of innovations. The empirical part presents the results of the scientific contextual Master’s project “Innovative Experimental Educational Systems” implemented at the National Pedagogical Dragomanov University (Kyiv, Ukraine). The “quality of innovation activities” is considered a promising trend in the further study of educational innovation problems. Pedagogical universities are defined as the centres of forming students” ability to analyse, summarize, select innovative pedagogical experience, design and persistently introduce it into educational practice.