Out-of-the-box approaches mould innovative students

I REFER to Muhamad Amiral Sadikin Md Afendi’s letter “Moulding innovative mindsets” ( The Star, Sept 3).

Israel’s teaching skills for innovation may be instructive, the country being very successful in this domain. And what Israel has done is a paradox: Although Israeli children lag behind in standardised tests, coming in at the bottom 40% in Maths and Science in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), the country is No. 2 in innovation as reported in the World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report 2014.

I do not think this means that high Pisa scores are irrelevant. It does prove, however, that high Pisa scores may not be enough to produce innovators. What it takes to excel in standardised tests and becoming an innovator is different. Neither the Israeli education system nor culture is good at the former. Instead, it is highly tolerant of out-of-the-box thinking and accommodating of informal educational programmes and approaches.

Israelis also look at failures as more important than success. “If you can solve 20 questions easily, I, as an educator, have wasted your time. You have learned nothing,” said Adi Sharabani, founder of Skycure, a mobile threat defence solution, who teaches gifted children. So, making students search for the answers and not finding them is also to be given credit. And challenging them to the point of failure will prepare them better for start-up careers.