General description:

In 2005 the regulation for Danish high schools changed due educational reform. Since then, it has been a requirement for Danish high schools, to develop the student’s innovative skills. Even though, most high schools ignore the law, due to difficulties defining and understanding innovation and innovative skills in the educational context.

Over the last couple of years, several high schools in the region of the capital, Copenhagen, has developed and build new classrooms, without the usual classroom setting. A single room on each high school has now become the title of being innovative. This special innovative room contains less chairs and tables, and instead ‘fatboys’, swings, LEGO, fake palm trees and other furniture odd to the educational context are places in the innovative room.

The innovative classroom has become a physical framing to the curriculum for developing innovative skills, in the Danish high schools, and as a room, innovation in education has become visible and something we can walk into.

Unfortunately these rooms are only used once in a while, and only by a small number of teachers.

Research question:

What happens when innovation in the educational context is defined as a room?

Does an innovative room develop the student’s innovative skills and is it possible to transfer “the innovative” from the innovative classrooms to every other classroom and to the educational system in general, to fulfil the regulations requirement about students innovative skills.

Theoretical framework:

To understand the foundation to develop curriculum innovations (and thereby the students innovative skills) in Danish high schools, I have constructed a theoretical framework for the educational institution – the Danish high school inspired by Erving Goffman. Through his understanding of students and teacher, career, and the order behind interaction and relation, I seek to frame my research for the educational practice in the innovative room.

To analyse the new innovative classrooms, and the opportunities the room offer, I’ve done a theoretical framework inspired by different Danish researchers in the ‘rooms for learning’ area (Gitz-Johansen, Kirkeby og Kampmann:2005, Conninck-Smith:2011).

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