Educational innovation in Cantabria: Quality, equity and openness to the community

Resumen

The Government of Cantabria 2007-2011 Action Plan encourages equal opportunity, equity and opening schools to the community. The plan is divided into fourteen specific objectives designed to achieve higher ratings of suitability, improve the image of teaching staff, promote multilingual competence, integrate ICTs into the curriculum, and modernise the management of the Public Administration and the schools within the Autonomous Community.
The purpose of this article is to describe and analyse the policies that support innovation in the schools in the Autonomous Community of Cantabria. The method of research was a mixed (quantitative and qualitative) study, and data was collected by means of questionnaires, discussion groups and case studies. The sample population included 45 schools providing compulsory education.
The results of the research showed that the teaching staff is well informed about the general guidelines governing the region’s innovation policy, satisfied with the work carried out in the past legislature, and does not always agree with the Administration’s criteria for selecting projects or with the help they receive for developing the projects. The innovative schools in Cantabria are characterized by their dedication to the project; the greater number of processes of group reflection, more productive working time, and a higher degree of satisfaction among the teaching staff with the support they receive.