This is the first in a series of blogs looking at how practice in other sectors can provide insights which could be applied within education to improve outcomes.
The practice
3M (the maker of Post It® notes and Scotchgard™) attributes much of its success to high levels of internal networking, listening to customers and “finding the smokestacks” – essentially linking HR philosophy with curiosity and innovation.
Several of their most successful household products were the results of ‘failures’ in their research processes. For example, 3M laboratories was seeking to create a super strong adhesive but researchers actually succeeded in developing one weaker than their existing products – one that stuck to objects but could easily be lifted off. One day a 3M scientist was marking his place in his hymnbook at church but the bits of paper he was using kept falling out. He recalled attending a presentation from colleagues describing the ‘failed’ weaker adhesive technology.
An accidental spillage in a 3M laboratory during a fluorochemical polymer experiment resulted in a researcher getting some mixture on her tennis shoes which she was unable to remove with water, alcohol rubs, soap or other solvents. She surmised that it had the potential to act as a stain protection barrier for textiles. The rest is history.
Arguably 3M’s most famous management principle is the ‘15% rule’. Any employee is allowed to use 15% of their working day to develop their own ideas with the ultimate challenge of selling it or ceasing development.
The insight
Listening to customers, allowing people to pursue their own passions and providing a framework which can respond flexibly to the outcomes achieved (especially failures) will deliver superior success in the long term.
The educational applicability
Reflective questions for practitioners;
- What if schools dedicated 15% of their curriculum time to allowing learners free reign to pursue their passions?
- What if the process of their research and activities made learners more curious about new content, knowledge or skills they hadn’t even thought about or considered before?
- What if there were mechanisms, perhaps supported by technology, which enabled learners to share and discuss their findings, including what didn’t work, with teachers and peers?
- What if teachers were able to support learners to engage more widely with the formal curriculum and succeed as a result of their new found curiosity and engagement?
Potential starting points for practitioners;
- Look at creating time and space for learners to engage in enquiry based learning as a way to connect their interests and passions to the formal curriculum. See Futurelab’s work on Enquiring Minds http://www.enquiringminds.org.uk/ which includes a handbook and lots of practical activities to get you started.
- Ensure that you have, in the words of the Curriculum Foundation, an “‘irresistible curriculum that engages all learners, challenges them intellectually, nourishes them spiritually, encourages their creativity and develops them as well rounded human beings ready to take their place in society”.See http://worldclasscurriculum.org/ for components of a world class curriculum.