Design Thinking: A Tool to Interrogate School Leadership Practices in Oman and Kuwait

• In Event: Interrogating the Truth in Educational Research in the Arab World: Perspectives From an Underrepresented Context

Abstract

Purposes
In this study, we use design thinking to examine school leadership practices in two Arab countries; Oman and Kuwait. Design thinking (DT) is, at its basic definition, a problem-solving method to find creative and innovative solutions, with people and for people (den Dekker, 2020). In this study it is used as a framework to uncover the underlying truth of school leadership practices, especially during times of crisis such as the COVID-19pandemic. It is used as a post-truth tool to uncover the epistemic performance of school principals, thus providing evidence about the decision-making process.
Theoretical Framework
Two theoretical strands are used to approximate such an understanding. First, we are informed by the DT literature, especially the DT processes from the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design or alternatively referred to as the d.school at the Stanford University (Plattner, n.d.; Krohn & Meinel, 2022). This includes five main phases: empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping and testing. Second, we also used Gallagher and Thordarson’s (2018) conceptualization of “design-inspired leadership”, which conceptualizes DT to be more than just a work process. It frames it as a mindset that principals adopt to understand and address school problems, through which their roles change to be opportunity seekers, experience architects, rule breakers, producers and storytellers.
Methodology
We used a qualitative phenomenological research approach as the overarching research design. We conducted seven in-depth, semi-structured, focus-group interviews with the school leadership teams from public and private schools in Oman and Kuwait. A qualitative framework analysis (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994) was used to uncover the different themes within the seven DT processes using Nvivo qualitative analysis software.
Findings and Significance
Our findings, so far, show that school leadership practices can be categorized into the different DT processes. In fact, these processes were iterative, with school leadership teams going back and forth between them. Additionally, we found collective reflection and knowledge team development through regular meetings and employment of social media groups to keep the feedback loop going. We expect more patterns and results to emerge, especially in relation to the role of the design-inspired leadership. For example, some leadership teams reported taking matters in their own hands and took initiatives to provide education before the formal processes were announced in their countries. This shows opportunity seeking as well as rule breaking. We hope this study will add to the epistemic cognition (Greene et al, 2016) of school leaders; in other words, it could help us to understand their ways of knowing about what they know and how they know it in order to make the everyday school decisions, as well as their perception and understanding of those around them.
References
Gallagher, A., & Thordarson, K. (2018). Design thinking for school leaders: Five roles and mindsets that ignite positive change. ASCD.
Plattner, H. (n.d.). An introduction to design thinking process guide. Institute of Design at Stanford.

Author

• Aisha Salim Ali Al-Harthi, Sultan Qaboos University
  Presenting Author