Design Thinking, Leadership, and the Grammar of Schooling: Implications for Educational Change

• In Event: 63.061 - Changing the Grammar of Schooling? An Examination of Reform

Abstract

Objectives

Policymakers and educators across the globe aim to reform education in ways that help students respond to the demands of the 21st century. Recently, educators in countries as far ranging as the U.S., Singapore, and Denmark are utilizing Design Thinking (DT), an instructional approach to increase student engagement, motivate innovative and critical thinking, and teach students to problem solve (Koh, Chai, Wong, & Hong, 2015). Instruction in a school oriented around DT could look fundamentally different than a typical school. For this reason, school leaders play a critical role in confronting traditional notions of schooling, navigating the shift to new ways of schooling, and sustaining change over time.

Perspective

This paper takes up the essential question of how school leaders confront the seemingly intractable institutional norms and structures of schooling and launch and sustain innovations. The “grammar of schooling,” the long-standing beliefs held by parents and educators often pose challenges to innovation (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). Such challenges are examined as part of a complex dynamic that involves how structural and cultural features of the school, in interaction with teachers, affect school change. We adopt a constructivist view to explain the critical role school leaders play in efforts to restructure and reculture schools (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). Constructivist theory emphasizes the phenomenon being studied through the gathering and analysis of data, taking into consideration the systemic aspects of social contexts (Charmaz, 2006).

Data Sources and Methods

This in-depth qualitative case study focuses on a public middle school and the actions and dispositions of a school leader who placed DT at the core of his theory of action. Case-study methodology was an ideal method for this study as the context and the phenomenon are deeply intertwined (Yin, 2018). A total of 22 teacher interviews, 3 principal interviews, and 9 student focus groups were conducted over a period of 14 months; all were taped, transcribed verbatim. Twelve formal classroom observations were conducted. Interviews and observation data were coded using a priori codes informed by the conceptual framework and codes that emerged in the course of analysis.

Results

An analysis of data reveals how school leadership successfully challenged traditional ways of schooling through supporting the agency of teachers in the creation of new structures and cultures and cultivating community support. Design lab elective classes connected teachers’ passions and strengths to school goals, and engendered motivation, trust, and commitment. Teachers pushed traditional boundaries by developing classroom cultures supporting creativity and problem solving, rather than direct instruction, and were protected while experimenting. School leadership found creative ways to push back on external forces (e.g., district, parents) in order to maintain their commitment to innovation while preparing students for traditional high school settings. These efforts have been successful, as once under-enrolled 4 years ago, the school has a waiting list of 700 students.

Significance

As policymakers and educators attempt to introduce design thinking and other progressive educational reforms, understanding how school leaders confront the grammar of schooling and sustaining educational change more generally is critical.

Authors

• Lea A. Hubbard, University of San Diego

• Amanda L. Datnow, University of California - San Diego