Director of Instruction, Building Professional Capacity
Surrey School District #36

Canada: British Columbia Hub | NORTH AMERICA

Kristi Blakeway, Ed.D. is a Director of Instruction with Surrey Schools. Her portfolio includes Building Professional Capacity with staff and amplifying Student Voice. Prior to joining Surrey Schools, Kristi worked as a teacher, school counselor, vice principal and principal at the elementary and secondary level.

As a Métis citizen, Kristi looks to embed Indigenous ways of knowing within her leadership. Kristi is passionate about social emotional learning (SEL), leadership development, professional learning, mentorship, and student voice. She believes that students are our greatest teachers, and that we can learn and grow by leaning in and listening to all voices.

After completing the level one training, Kristi worked to embed compassionate systems awareness into her personal and professional practice. She has used compassionate systems tools in her work as a school leader, and as a leadership approach within her academic work towards a Doctor of Education with Western University. Her research uses compassionate systems leadership to decolonize approaches to student behaviour and strengthen school communities through a lens of equity and wellbeing. She believes every student and staff member has as story worth hearing and looks to support school leaders in their work creating compassionate school communities where every child belongs. Kristi is excited to continue her journey in compassionate systems awareness, embedding the knowledge and tools into her leadership.

Kristi enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and two teenage sons. She lives on the BC Westcoast, on the shared, traditional and unceded territories of the Katzie First Nation and Kwantlen First Nation.