Characterising innovative primary schools and their teachers in Spain

Abstract

This study sought to gain insight into the characteristic features defining innovative schools and teachers in Spain. Its design was descriptive-interpretative/ex-post-facto targeting primary schools in a large province in north-eastern mainland Spain (León). Data were collected including a quantitative approach based on data from a questionnaire completed by 86 teachers selected through stratified random sampling. Our findings point to a large percentage of teachers carrying out educational innovations, especially in state schools. Through logistic regression, it emerged that teachers older than 50 years were more likely to be innovative compared to their younger colleagues. The main difference between innovators and non-innovators was that the latter had been working for less than a year at the school. Despite our representative sample of teachers, other studies have attributed innovations to younger teachers. Most innovations were implemented in state schools though state-funded private schools also instigated innovations though in a more structured manner. Our results suggest that for effective long-lasting innovations, schools need to have a fairly stable core of teaching staff.