An Ecological Model for Scaling and Translation: Maximizing the impact of Research and Development Interventions

Abstract

Scaling and translation constitutes essential challenges for educational fields. Gold standards are not possible in education because student-centered processes assume variability in different situations rather than adopting a ‘one-size fits all’ form of instruction. This paper proposes a more nuanced ecological model to describe the scaling efforts of educational innovation within the Singapore context. In this model, innovations “flourish” under different conditions with various structural supports depending on their complexity. The spreading of educational innovations from a centralized agency would be limited. Instead, teacher/researcher-led and school-led innovations would be encouraged and supported throughout the system. By going through multiple local instantiations of innovations, efficiency and cost effectively issues are addressed and teacher agency is nurtured through professional learning communities and communities of practice. System-wide baseline data is encouraged to keep tab of the growth and spread of innovations, identify gaps, and recognize areas where nudging and further supports are needed.