Supports and obstacles to school reform in the 21st century: strategies for educational change

This manuscript-style thesis compiles four papers centred around observing and analyzing reform initiatives in eastern Canada.Three of these papers focus on NEXTschool, an attempt to facilitate systemic change in English-language secondary schools in Qubec.NEXTschool aims to increase student engagement and adapt educational structures to align with 21 st century learning aims.The fourth paper looks at a similar attempt at reform that proved unsuccessful, considering why change was not achieved in this case.All four papers look at reforms that are being facilitated with design thinking, an approach that aims to disperse control for the change amongst teachers, administrators, and other educational partners in their local contexts.This approach intends to build momentum, support, and ensure that reform attempts are suitably adapted for different school contexts.These four papers explore the nuances of educational change and the supports or barriers that are important to consider when facilitating school reforms.This thesis is particularly focused around reforms that-like NEXTschool-aim towards interdisciplinarity, reimagining the disciplinary divisions of classes.There is also a focus on the way digital technologies are discussed and used in schools and how this may be changing as schools adapt to 21 st century demands.The four papers that compose this manuscript (i) define and clarify the concepts of educational reform and interdisciplinarity, (ii) unpack and analyze the authors' experiences participating in the design year of NEXTschool (2017-2018), (iii) consider how digital technologies were discussed by educators participating in the NEXTschool Summer Institute (Summer 2018), and (iv) look at the barriers faced at a school exploring a similar design process as part of a different reform initiative.Major themes or concepts that come up across all four iii papers include educational change or reform, autonomy, power dynamics, design thinking, and 21 st century learning goals.Cette thse de style manuscrit rassemble quatre articles centrs sur l'observation et l'analyse des initiatives de rforme dans l'est du Canada.Trois de ces articles traitent de NEXTschool, une tentative visant faciliter un changement systmique dans les coles secondaires anglophones du Qubec.NEXTschool vise accrotre l'engagement des lves et adapter les structures ducatives aux objectifs d'apprentissage du 21e sicle.Le quatrime document examine une tentative de rforme similaire qui s'est avre infructueuse, en considrant pourquoi le changement n'a pas t ralis dans ce cas.Les quatre documents traitent des rformes facilites par la conception, une approche visant disperser le contrle du changement parmi les enseignants, les administrateurs et les autres partenaires de l'ducation dans leurs contextes locaux.Cette approche vise crer une dynamique, soutenir et garantir que les tentatives de rforme soient adaptes aux diffrents contextes scolaires.Ces quatre articles explorent les nuances du changement ducatif et les appuis ou obstacles qu'il est important de prendre en compte lors de la facilitation des rformes scolaires.Cette thse est particulirement axe sur les rformes qui -comme NEXTschool -visent l'interdisciplinarit, rinventant les divisions disciplinaires des classes.L'accent est galement mis sur la manire dont les technologies numriques sont discutes et utilises dans les coles et sur leur volution possible mesure que les coles s'adaptent aux demandes du 21e sicle.Les quatre articles qui composent ce manuscrit (i) dfinissent et clarifient les concepts de rforme de l'ducation et d'interdisciplinarit, (ii) dcrivent et analysent les expriences des auteurs participant l'anne de conception de NEXTschool (2017-2018), (iii) examinent I would not have had the material, directions, language, or understandings necessary to complete this research and these papers.Secondly, thank you to my mom, who is still willing to proofread my papers when I ask her.My mom is a high school teacher who went back to graduate school partway through her career, so thanks mom also for modeling a life that seems worth living.Finally, I want to thank my late grandmother Eva Margolus for the financial resources to complete this degree.My grandmother wanted to take her higher education further but was advised against it as a woman studying in Canada in the 40's.I would like to think that, in a small way, this degree and research honours her unrealized aspirations.This thesis was a collaborative effort in many ways.I would like to recognize that I am able to be a student at McGill and living in Canada because of the history of indigenous displacement and genocide.The colonial projects of Canada and McGill University exist at the expense of many communities, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations who are the traditional stewards of the territory in which I learn and live.I have tried to include indigenous epistemologies in my research and writings but I am not doing enough.

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