Managing Innovation in Language Education: Acourse for ELT Change Agents

As a steady stream of recent papers indicates, ELT curriculum reform projects are not always as successful as they might be. One overall reason for this situation appears to be a failure to adequately take into account concepts and practices from the world of innovation management. This paper describes an attempt to contribute towards ameliorating this problem by detailing the content, activities, learning processes and outcomes of a short in-service training course on managing innovation in language education, delivered ‘on-site’ to a cross-section of change agents involved in a major educational reform initiative currently being undertaken in the Philippines. Data from the course are used to throw light on its value as an innovation management awareness-raising vehicle. Although illustrated in terms of a particular innovation context, the course is felt to be also of potential relevance to similar situations elsewhere