Social Innovation as an Effective Response to Modern Challenges in Education

• Main Authors: Schröder Antonius, Shabunova Alexandra A., Popov Andrey V., Solov’eva Tat’yana S., Golovchin Maksim A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, Vologda Research Center 2017-11-01
• Series: Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast
• Subjects: education system; globalization; inequality; social innovation; social entrepreneurship; governance
• Online Access: http://esc.vscc.ac.ru/article/2384/full?_lang=en

The system of education is an engine of progress in the modern world. On the one hand, it shapes human capital thus contributing to social development and improving the competitiveness of economies; on the other hand, it is a kind of mechanism that helps adapt to changes in the global labor market. At the same time, educational systems all over the world are continuously faced with certain challenges and problems associated with the development of globalization, informatization, integration, knowledge economy, etc. Social innovations are one of the effective tools to address these challenges. The article brings to the fore the issues associated with the development of social innovation in the system of education. The goal of the work is to highlight specific characteristics of social innovation in education, to analyze the current state of social innovation in Russia on the example of the system of education, to highlight drivers of and barriers to the development of social innovation in Russian education under the research project “Social Innovation: Driving Force of Social Change” (SI-DRIVE) of the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union, one of the participants of which was Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The paper emphasizes the implementation and promotion of social innovation in the Russian education system. According to the results of case studies, major factors that hinder the development of social innovation in education include lack of financing, and various administrative and regulatory barriers. We provide examples of successful projects showing that the main drivers of social initiatives include charismatic leadership, governmental support, strong demand, and development of partnership networks. In conclusion, we give recommendations aimed to provide comprehensive assistance to the development of social innovation in the Russian education system