DESIGN THINKING AS THE ENVIRONMENT FOR DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

Schools in particular, and education in general (understood as a certain idea and practice, and a set of processes leading to the intended results) face many contemporary challenges; resulting especially from the turbulence of the environment. It requires schools to be open to innovations, including disruptive innovations that can radically change the rules of the game and the accepted social practices adopted so far in the given area of interest. The subject of this paper is design thinking as an approach to creative thinking and practice adapted from the work of the best designers. This is a methodology of solving open, complex and ambiguous user problems and thus creating the conditions for the development of innovative solutions. Design thinking as a method based on the human-centered, exploratory and iterative potential of attitudes towards design practice and reality itself holds a number of attractive qualities for innovation. Design thinking understood as an environment is not a physical space, but rather a bunch of attitudes and processes that can gradually change schools and lead to breakthrough changes in an evolutionary way. Teachers as triggers of change play the crucial role in such an environment. Focusing on the role of design thinking in enhancing innovation three research questions are raised: What do teachers know about design thinking or other creative methods of work? How do they use them in the classroom and other forms of work (especially based on cooperation)? What is their attitude to such methods and their role in enhancing innovation in education? Paper presents results of pilot research carried out with participation of teachers from chosen Polish schools of different type. The results present teachers' awareness, practices and attitudes towards design thinking (or similar methods of work) as a way of enhancing innovation in education. Analysis and conclusions from the study is the basis for recommendations for educational management practice and management science development. It not only shows what is necessary step to stimulate innovation in education but also defines more general rules and practical directives for schools that may be empirically tested.