A Networked Approach for Curricula Implementation in Support of Inclusive Education Reform
The Maritime Province Department of Education (MPDOE; a pseudonym) has long struggled to address issues of systemic racism that have significantly impacted the academic success and well-being of Indigenous and African Canadian students. When the MPDOE embarked upon its recent inclusive education reform journey, it did so through a series of studies that resulted in a comprehensive reform initiative to address the learning needs of historically marginalized and racialized students. The main thrust of the reform goals focused on curricula to support culturally responsive approaches to learning and the reconfiguring of governance to a more responsive, networked model. Though there is consensus regarding the need for network governance to advance the reform goal of curricula implementation, the legacy of past practices and problematic relationships among the MPDOE, school regions, and historically marginalized communities must be addressed to move forward with this change. The Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores a solution to this problem of practice (PoP) that proposes a focus on social justice-oriented networked leadership models and intergroup and social learning processes for the development of a network team capable of actioning the curricula implementation reform goal. Explored through a reconceptualized critical paradigm that centres Indigenous and African Canadian perspectives, the development of critical consciousness for network team members to action change further undergirds the solution. As a change facilitator and leader at the MPDOE, the support for the development of a network team tasked with planning curricula implementation will be explored through inclusive, distributed, and systems leadership approaches to guide a reimagining of workplace culture and learning at the MPDOE.
inclusive education, curricula implementation, networked governance
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