Caio Dib: ‘What is an innovative school to you?’

What is an innovative school to you? There is still a consolidated imaginary of a space full of technology and, often, with expressive colors and furniture different from traditional school desks. But we believe innovation goes far beyond this view.

To innovate is to solve problems with creativity and using the available resources, whether technological and “modern” or not. Indeed, innovative educational initiatives happened long before the rise of technology. One of the most interesting examples of this is the Japanese educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (pictured). In the early 1900s, he began applying concepts such as education for happiness, education for a creative life and the importance of developing global citizenship with his classes. “Instead of encouraging students to appropriate the intellectual treasures discovered by others, we should enable them to carry out for themselves the process of discovery and invention,” the educator argued (our translation).

These ideas, disruptive for the time, got him punished and forced him to leave his teaching post. But that did not make him give up the way he believed education should be. Years later, he created the organization Soka Gakkai, which today has schools spread across several parts of the world.

Today, the Soka schools do use technology and take advantage of resources such as school desks on wheels to change the classroom layout depending on each lesson’s goal. However, technology is still not the main star. At every age, students have specific subjects and moments to develop other competencies:

Elementary School — Early Years

The “Habits of Mind” subject develops students’ self-esteem and capacity for positive thinking.

Elementary School — Later Years

Students study guided by educators and supported by peers during “Study Skills.”

Full-time High School

Integrates several subjects. Global Politics, Business Management, Environmental Systems and Societies, Theory of Knowledge and International Proficiency in Portuguese Language and Literature are on the list. All are taught in English. Soka education focuses mainly on forming a global citizen and spreading a culture of peace.

What the Soka school teaches us is that we need to go beyond technology to innovate. Being based on humanized relationships can be more revolutionary for a world with more citizens who transform their realities.