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

Item

Title

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

Abstract/Description

A growing number of schools across the globe have implemented design thinking (DT) as an instructional approach to increase student engagement, motivate creative thinking, and teach students to problem solve. Although offering significant opportunity to students, implementing DT can involve pushing against the traditional “grammar of schooling.” Drawing on in-depth qualitative case study data, we present findings on a previously low-performing, underenrolled middle school that underwent a dramatic shift when becoming a magnet school focused on DT. We explain the intentional leadership actions that facilitated structural and cultural changes, including building a collaborative leadership structure. Interactions between the principal and the teachers led to the emergence of practices that supported innovation schoolwide. At the same time, internal and external challenges rooted in the grammar of schooling arose, requiring educators to respond to sustain the momentum for change. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Author/creator

Hubbard, Lea

Datnow, Amanda

Date

2020

In publication

American Journal of Education

Volume

126

Issue

4

Pages

499-518

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Theoretical

en Empirical

Open access/full-text available

en No

Peer reviewed

en Yes

ISSN

0195-6744

DOI

10.1086/709510

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (University of Chicago Press Journals)

Article on Author's Profile (ResearchGate)

Citation

Hubbard, L., & Datnow, A. (2020). Design Thinking, Leadership, and the Grammar of Schooling: Implications for Educational Change. American Journal of Education, 126(4), 499–518. https://doi.org/10.1086/709510

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