As part of the Alliance 21 project, the theme of Education and Innovation will explore shared policy interests between Australia and the United States.
Under innovation, the position papers will cover topics such as how innovation drives productivity through an economy and what policies are needed to promote innovation across the economy.
The education component will focus on improving learning and teaching in schools, practical approaches to school improvement, teacher performance development, and using student assessment to improve student performance. In higher education, it will focus on the need to adapt to global competition for students and research status, and innovation in higher education delivery and organisation.
The overlap within the education and innovation themes offers the opportunity to share ideas between school education, higher education and innovation, and to consider the impact of school education and higher education on innovation and productivity.
The findings from these papers will contribute to the Alliance 21 Report, which the project’s co-directors, Geoffrey Garrett and Robert Hill, will present to the Commonwealth Government at a final conference in Washington DC in the first half of 2014.
The first workshop under the Education and Innovation theme took place at the Embassy of Australia in Washington DC.
Led by Professor John Daley, CEO, Grattan Institute, the workshop was conducted as a roundtable discussion of the draft papers. Each author produced a paper that will inform the summary paper for the group, to be prepared by the group convenor, John Daley. This paper will contribute to the Alliance 21 Report to be presented to the Commonwealth Government at a final conference in Washington DC in 2014.
The authors who attended this workshop are: John Daley, Ben Jensen, Andrew Norton, Sean Gallagher, Jonathan West, Alex Tabarrok, Lynn Olson, Paul Peterson, Clive Belfield, Ben Wildavsky and Richard Garrett. The diversity of the group ensured a range of viewpoints were brought to the table and that the overlap within the education and innovation themes was fully explored. This was a unique opportunity to share ideas between school education, higher education and innovation, and to consider the impact of school education and higher education on innovation and productivity.
The final paper will be produced following a conference to be held in Melbourne in March 2013. Leading thinkers from Australia and the US will come to Melbourne to discuss how education and innovation drive economic prosperity.
