Education and innovation for the digital and green transitions: How higher education can support teachers and school leaders

Cultivating the next generation of green and digital innovators

“…High quality higher education can bring potential innovators closer to the frontier of knowledge, but, as noted, propensity to innovate is also associated with a range of different cross-cutting attitudes, values and personality traits. HEIs are increasingly expected to deepen these cross-cutting competencies, building on foundations developed earlier in the education lifecycle (OECD, 2023 [22]). They have a range of potential approaches available to develop such competenciesthrough their traditional educational activities, through whole-of-institution strategic efforts to deepen their entrepreneurial capacities (OECD, 2022 [23]) and through their "third mission" responsibilities (Compagnucci and Spigarelli, 2020 [24]).…”

“…Learners may be less inclined to study STEM subjects in higher education because of failures at school level to build adequate foundational proficiency and positive attitudes towards careers in science and technology (OECD, 2023 [22]). This can result in reluctance to engage with science and technology subjects due to their perceived difficulty.…”

“…Policy makers and practitioners may need to take further action to increase students' motivation to engage in education that builds competencies for green and digital innovation. This process starts with building stronger foundations at school level, where HEIs play a pivotal role in developing secondary school curricula and training teachers and school leaders (OECD, 2023 [22]; OECD, 2023 [72]), but also entails creating more engaging learning experiences within higher education programmes.…”