Creative Destruction or Idiot Winds: Schumpeterian Theory Meets the Educational Sector in Developing Countries

The basic theoretical and practical issue facing the RISE initiative is to imagine and test a national level educational policy intervention that can produce steady productivity gains in the educational sectors of developing countries. (RISE, Website) That goal is very ambitious - one that extends over many billions of individual learners, tens of millions of educational providers, and draws on assets and capacities from all three sectors of a society – the government sector, the voluntary sector, and the commercial sector. It is also a goal that is animated and guided by many different social purposes, measured in many different ways. And while the urgency of achieving the varied goals is present and compelling now, it will take many years and much trial and error to achieve them. The important question is how we can best continue to make progress, and accelerate the rate of learning.