There is considerable discussion in the literature on the need to move towards more innovative models of teaching and learning particularly at second level and the difficulty of doing so (Voogt & Pelgrum, 2005; Dede, 2010, inter alia). Much of this discussion is positioned within the framework of 21st century learning.  The 21C agenda is not without its critics and from a practitioner's’ perspective is often argued to lack exemplars of how it can be implemented within the confines of a mainstream schools (Bocconi et al 2012).

Recent work from the IPTS SCALE CCR Project, 2011-14 (see http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/SCALECCR.html) provides a very comprehensive model for mapping out the elements of  Innovative Pedagogy, and better understanding the institutional and practice arrangements that best support this type of activity. The project involved over three hundred key policy actors and stakeholders in a range of diverse collaborative policy activities with a view to informing education policy thinking on innovative, technology-enhanced teaching across EU member sites. It therefore provided an exceptionally valuable point of entry to guide research into how innovative pedagogy is understood and may be fostered.  This paper uses that framework to analyse a particular model of 21C teaching & learning - Bridge21 (Lawlor et al. 2010)   which is currently being used by a number of secondary schools in Ireland within the context of ongoing reform of the Irish Secondary school curriculum (Conneely et al 2015, Johnston et. al. 2014) .

Bridge21  is designed to leverage the potential of technology-mediated learning within a collaborative team-based paradigm, where teachers orchestrate and scaffold learning activities.  Teamwork is the most distinguishing aspect of Bridge21 pedagogy and it follows the structured Patrol System model of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement. Elements of  project and inquiry based learning are also used and the role of the teacher is that of an orchestrator of learning.   Learning activities follow a template structure which is influenced by practices from the field of Design Thinking.

Around this framework, a powerful alternative pedagogy has been imagined, developed, and is being tested & refined. This work has progressed from a single out-of-school HE access project to a full-scale ‘mainstream’ pilot, drawing in more than 20 schools of various ethos and organisational type across the east of Ireland.

This presentation  is organised in two parts. First, it offers an overview of the  IPTS framework and explores in particular the way this framework addresses creativity, innovative teaching  & learning, institutional arrangements in support of change, technology as mediator of novel paradigms, and participant roles. Second, the experiences of schools adapting the Bridge21 model for use with the mainstream curriculum is stacked against the ITPS framework in order to provide an illustrative case analysis of how Bridge 21’s novel pedagogical model is faring in the context of ongoing rethinking of the post-primary schooling system in Ireland.

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