Social innovation (SI) is no longer on the margins. In Europe, as in the rest of the world, it has become an inevitable mechanism for tackling complex and multifaceted social problems, including youth unemployment and migration, the green transition, and the solidarity economy, among many others. Social innovations exist, then, and more specifically, how are education systems able to enable them?
Social innovation involves inventing new solutions to address social issues. Through community homes, employment-based economic systems, or internet-based systems that fuel civic action, social innovations aim to generate value for both people and the planet, not just the marketplace.
Good ideas, however, don’t come into being on their own. Education is where they are sought.
From Theory to Practice: How Higher Education Drives Social Change
European vocational education and training (VET) and higher education institutions (HEIs) are currently rising to the challenge. They’re not content with educating students solely for the labour market—they’re educating changemakers. Changemakers need more than just know-how; they also need to be able to think systemically, collaborate across sectors, and co-design solutions with communities.
Within our ESIC project, we have been investigating how VETs and HEIs in Europe are responding to the training of social innovation in the social economy context. Through a comprehensive number of interviews with educators, policymakers, and practitioners across our consortium member countries, we have constructed a rich portrait of approaches and challenges in SI education today.
What we’re seeing is encouraging: a move towards experiential, participatory, and multidisciplinary learning. Teachers are experimenting with service-learning, project-based problem-solving with real-world ties, co-design sprints, and web platforms that provide students with tangible engagement in social reality and stakeholders’ involvement. These education reforms form part of a broader re-examination of education, not just of what it does, but also of empowerment and stakeholder engagement.
The Role of Collaboration
One of the themes that has emerged most robustly from our research is that social innovation does not occur in isolation. Cross-sector partnerships are called for. For this reason, SI education increasingly involves third parties—civil society organisations, public authorities, social entrepreneurs, and communities themselves.
When learning occurs with real stakeholders in the real world, it not only teaches students about social issues but also prepares them to solve and address them. It creates hands-on abilities, empathy, and agency. It also renders innovation more authentic, collaborative, and comprehensive.
Challenges Ahead
Where some have attempted, much remains to be done. Few VETs and HEIs have plans for SI teaching. Staff may be untrained and unresourced. Curricula are in silos. And though digital technologies bring enormous new possibilities, new forms of pedagogic design and collaboration are needed.
In addition, the lack of mutual definitions and templates for SI pedagogy means a patchwork view. There is no silver bullet, our inquiry reveals, but there are shared principles and competencies that we need to support SI teaching within various contexts.
What’s Next? Toward a European SI Curriculum
Through ESIC, we’re not only learning from such trends but also co-creating solutions to address them. Our primary deliverable is a European social innovation curriculum and coordinated skills sectoral strategy (soon available online here). This will allow VETs and HEIs to coordinate efforts, build capacity, and provide inclusive and accessible entry points for students to gain access to SI for EQF levels.
Our purpose is to attract the next generation of social innovators—those individuals who can navigate complex systems, foster collaboration, and experiment with solutions that address real social needs. In government and grassroots organisations, they are needed now more than ever.
Why Social Innovations Matter
Because the world is changing, and not always for the better. However, by adopting the proper attitudes, competencies, and partnerships, we can foster change that is fair, equitable, and sustainable. That’s why social innovations matter. That’s why social innovation education is the most potent tool we have.