Paul Syme, EdD

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Educator · Researcher · Leadership Facilitator · Artist

Dr. Paul Syme is an educator, researcher, artist, and leadership facilitator working from Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia. His work focuses on imaginative leadership, research literacy, professional learning, and the human conditions that help people navigate uncertainty and create meaningful change.

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Paul brings experience across K–12 education, higher education, system leadership, professional learning, arts education, and organizational change. His current work connects educational leadership, creativity, inquiry, and practical approaches to adaptive leadership.

 

Current Appointment

Assistant Professor, Leadership and Administration
Faculty of Education
St. Francis Xavier University
Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada

 

Education

Doctor of Education, Educational Research and Leadership
University of Calgary
Dissertation: What are imaginative capabilities and how do they develop? A grounded theoretical approach to understanding imaginative leadership.

 

Master of Arts, Art Education
NSCAD University

 

Nova Scotia Teacher Certification

 

Areas of Work

Paul’s academic and professional work centres on:

• Imaginative leadership

• Educational leadership and administration

• Research literacy for educators

• Professional learning and teacher development

• Curriculum writing (Nova Scotia Visual Arts and Design)

• Creativity, play, and adaptive practice

• Human-centred approaches to innovation and technology

• Arts-informed and practice-based ways of knowing

• Collaborative inquiry and professional judgment

A recurring question in his work is:

How do educators and leaders imagine, test, adapt, and act when the next path is not yet clear?

 

Research

Paul’s doctoral research examined how innovative educational leaders develop and deploy imaginative capabilities to enact novel and lasting change. Using a grounded theory approach, the study explored how leaders notice patterns, work with uncertainty, test ideas, and bring others into change efforts when familiar approaches are no longer sufficient.

This research informs his teaching, writing, facilitation, and consulting work with educators and leadership teams.

 

Academic and Teaching Experience

Paul has taught and supported learning in public schools, universities, professional learning networks, and leadership programs.

Selected teaching and facilitation areas include:

• Educational leadership and administration

• Critical research literacy

• Creativity and sustainability

• Business education methods

• Management theory

• Digital literacy and learning

• Visual arts and design education

• Professional learning and reflective practice

Selected institutions and contexts include:

• St. Francis Xavier University

• Acadia University

• Mount Saint Vincent University

• Cape Breton University

• University of Calgary

• Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education

• Nova Scotia Teachers' Union professional learning contexts

 

Professional Leadership Experience

Paul’s career has moved between classroom teaching, system leadership, professional learning, research, and creative practice.

Selected roles include:

• Assistant Professor, Leadership and Administration, St. Francis Xavier University

• Visual arts and design curriculum lead, Nova Scotia public schools

• Regional Arts Education Consultant, Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education

• Executive Staff Officer, Professional Learning, Nova Scotia Teachers Union

• University instructor and course developer

• National and provincial leadership roles in education and professional associations

 

Speaking, Workshops, and Consulting

Through Syme Creative, Paul works with schools, universities, public organizations, and leadership teams interested in imagination, inquiry, leadership, and change.

His sessions often focus on helping participants:

• Make sense of complex professional challenges

• Examine conventions that fall short of their intentions

• Use inquiry to better understand persistent problems

• Design small, safe-to-try experiments

• Strengthen collaboration and professional judgment

• Reconnect leadership with creativity, play, and human possibility

Selected topics include:

When the Map Runs Out
Imaginative practices for leading through uncertainty.

Imaginative Leadership
How leaders notice, experiment, adapt, and bring others into the work.

Research as Professional Practice
How educators can use inquiry to better understand and improve their work with learning communities.

Humans Before Technology
A practical question for human-centred innovation: What human need or capacity is this meant to serve?

 

Scholarship and Professional Contributions

Paul’s scholarly and professional work draws from educational leadership, creativity research, arts education, professional learning, and grounded theory.

Selected areas of contribution include:

• Doctoral research on imaginative leadership and innovation

• Conference presentations on educational leadership, creativity, and AI

• Professional writing on leadership, imagination, and educational change

• Development of practical tools for leaders and teams

• Public scholarship exploring alternative currents in education

 

Creative Practice

Paul is also a visual artist and performer. His creative practice informs how he understands attention, improvisation, risk, collaboration, and the discipline of making something meaningful from uncertainty.

His work as an artist is not separate from his work in leadership and education. It shapes how he thinks, teaches, and facilitates.

 

What Participants Notice

“Engaging, thought-provoking and change-inspiring. Paul transforms the traditional classroom into a space where individuals come together to create a shared vision for the future.”

“The classes provided me with exactly what I needed to improve my skills as an educator: asking the right questions, looking at directives critically and constructively, and finding original ways to solve problems.”

 

Land Acknowledgement

Paul lives, teaches, and works in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaw people. He is grateful to live, teach, and learn in this place.​​