Lumiar Schools regard and define themselves as Innovative Schools.

The expression “Innovative School” requires clarification. The fact that a Lumiar School regards and defines itself as “school” (and not as any other type of institution), a certain degree of institutional nature is definitely assigned to it: Lumiar Schools regard and define themselves as formal learning environments, governed by a specific pedagogical concept. This not only means that it has students who look for it  in order to learn but also that the schools have a clear proposal of what these student can and should learn in formally structured learning situations, while in their premises, and that they assumes the responsibility of making these students learn.

 (There is no doubt that the students, even when they are at school, also learn a lot in non-formal learning situations, simply by being close to one another, by being around educators, masters and school managers, by being in contact with pedagogical resources made available to them by the school such as books, computers, Internet, etc.).

If being a school constitutes what a Lumiar School shares with other similar institutions, being innovative shows its “specific difference”, in a nutshell, that which makes it different from other schools.

The choice of the term “innovation” in this context is extremely meaningful.  

Lumiar Schools DO NOT regard or define themselves as part of a movement of (another) school or educational reform. A reform is a change process which, generally speaking, attempts to change an institution either by increments (adding components, aspects or functions to it such as, for example, when one tries to introduce digital technology at school) or by means of replacement (replacing the present components of the school institution with others such as the curriculum, the methodology or the evaluation means/method or even the management style). Reforms, therefore, are usually incremental or partial – and they would hardly move beyond the current form of the institution – i.e., beyond the educational paradigm adopted by the school.  

Lumiar Schools regard and define themselves as part of a movement of school transformation. Transforming, in this case, means going beyond the current form, shifting the paradigm (without, however, losing its essential nature of a formal leaning environment). The paradigm shift takes place as they move towards systemic changes, that is, those which are not partial (impacting only one of the components of the school institution) and transforming, that is, they are not incremental (adding new components to a new structure which is not proper/adequate to absorb it or cannot do it.)

Why did Lumiar Schools choose this radical alternative to transform and, therefore, reinvent school instead of embracing a less incisive school reform alternative?

Education, in which we include schooling, does not take place in a vacuum: it is carried out in a socio-historical context – including cultural, political, economic and technological elements (whose importance does not necessarily follow this order). When this context changes, it is inevitable that education, schooling in particular, should also undergo changes (despite the resistance of its main agents, the education professionals). When this context changes dramatically, education transformation and school reinvention become inevitable.
Setting education temporarily aside, following are two examples from other areas.

Ever since ancient times, men on horseback were the only means to convey messages between senders and receivers in distant places. About 150 years ago, in the second half of the XIX Century, a professional system to send messages was created in the United States: the Pony Express. Using shorter routes than a stagecoach could (because a stagecoach needed to travel along a road), and using mounted riders who were strictly selected, the Pony Express accomplished the remarkable feat of delivering a message from one coast of the United States to the other in only ten days (nearly as fast as the Brazilian mail services could some years ago). Nevertheless, the context changed: telegraph and railroads spread throughout the United States, connecting the east and west, north and south. In such a context, even with incremental or partial changes in the Pony Express, the then current message delivery system would not suffice: it was no use hiring men who knew even shorter routes and horses that could ride faster or endure longer periods running. The model was doomed: it had to be transformed into something different that would use the telegraph and the railroads. This is what happened. Any changes whose outcome was anything less than that, would be doomed to fail. Today, the Pony Express importance is merely historical.

Another similar example was the Clipper sailboat as a means of transportation (not as a sport). Nothing as efficient (or as beautiful!) had been invented so far. For some time, Clipper was being improved with partial and incremental modifications so as to gain speed and efficiency. However, this model presented a shortcoming impossible to be overcome: it was impossible to sail it when there was no wind. Therefore, its use was limited. When the steamboat was developed, the model had to give way.  Partial and incremental changes were not enough to maintain Clipper competitive as a means of transportation: only a radical change to the model, that would transform it, reinvent the means of sea transportation would be able to be successful. And that is exactly what happened.