SchoolLeadershipandInclusion

TeamESE/IPSSpeaker:JoséMiguelFreitas

Summary• Keyconcepts

•  Inclusion•  Schoolorganiza?on•  SchoolLeadership

• Emergingac1ondimensionsoftheleadershipprac1ces•  SeBng direc?on•  Professionaldevelopment•  Redesigningtheorganiza?on•  Monitoringtheteachingandlearningprograms

•  FinalRemarks

Popula?onbetween18-24thathavenotfinishedhighschoollevelandisnotregisteredineduca?onandtrainingprogramsinEU-28,in2015(%)

Introduc?on

Inclusionanddropout•  Speakingofearlyschoolleaversimpliestalkingaboutinclusion;

•  Speakingofinclusionimpliesdiscussthediversetypesofrela?onshipsbetweenwhatis“different”andwhatis“normal”;

•  Ineduca?onalseBngs thereisatendencytoconsideras"normal"studentsthatlearnandprogressthroughtheacademiccurriculumandbehaveinaexpectedwaytoachievethisgoals

•  Allstudentswhoescapethisstandardarelikelytobeconsideredand"labeled"asdifferent

•  Manyofthesestudentsareinriskofdropout

Inclusionandnormality

Inrecentyearsitwasreinforced:

• Therightofallstudentstobeincludedin“regular”classes;• Thedutyofaschooltoensurethegreatestnumberofstudentscondi?onstostaythereandrealizetheirlearningbycomple?ngtheirschooling(Ainscow,2000;Be]encourt&Pinto,2009).

Itintegratesthedimensionofequityineduca?on:• Ensuringthatpersonalandsocialcircumstancesarenotobstacletopoten?alschoollearning;

• Ensuringtheminimumstandardsofeduca?onforall(Field,

Kuczera,Pont,2007)

Therela?onshipbetweenthedifferentandnormalrelatedtotheschoolEXCLUSION SEGREGATION

INTEGRATION INCLUSION

Inclusionasaschoolmission• The idea of inclusion of children and adolescents inregularclassesisbeingmuchmoreacceptedintheorythaninprac?ce(Bunch,Lupart&Brown,1997) • Working in the implementation of inclusion requires astableframework(policiesandeduca?onalproject)under

discomfort and(Macmillan & Mayer,

pain of teachers living a greatdiscouragement in professional terms2006)

• The ideaof inclusionhas lelmany schools andeven itsall theeduca?onal systems struggling to understand

implica?onsthatresultinthedailylifeofschoolsHavetheysucceeded?

Schools:Amicrosocialsystem–levelsofac?on

Organiza?onalDimensionCentralandLocalAdministra?on

Community:rela?onshipsandservicenetworks

Ins?tu?on

VisionforinclusionSeBngDirec?onsDealwithadministra?vemeasures,supportteachers(…)

PedagogicalDimensionTeamsofteachersAssessmentcriteriaSocialinterac?onsLearningsupports (…)

ClassroomDimensionTeachingandlearningPedagogicaldifferen?a?onAssessmentprac?ces

Interac?ons(…)

Therearenotonlywallsbutpeopleininteractions

SchoolLeadership

Kindofpowerand formsofexerciseandbehaviorof individuals occupying the leading posi?on(Santos,2000)

Whatweknowaboutleadership?

Whatdoesitmean?

TOOMUCHApproachbasedinleadershipsframeworksandindividualleadersskills

TOOLITTLEApproachbased ontheprac?cesofleaderscommi]edtostudentlearningandinclusion

Leadership

Context

Agency

Vision

Interconnec?onofthefollowingdimensions

Sharedleadershipopportuni?es

Putandkeepteachingandstudentlearningatthecenterofconcerns

Understandandaccommodateschoolsofcontextvariables(macroandmicro)inworkprocesses

Leadership–vision

•  Howtodealwiththedifferencesinexpecta?ons?Ensureaccessto

allstudents

• Whatroleforstudents?Whatrules,whichrights,du?es,andresponsibili?es?

Ensureeffec?vepar?cipa?on

• Whatroleofteachingteams?• Whatsupportsforlearningdifficul?es?

Ensurelearningcondi?ons

Theschoolcanmakeadifferenceinthelivesofyoungpeople,facingthesocialand/orpsychologicalfatalism

Toconstructthisdifferenceisnecessarytocommitallmembersofthecommunityinaworkproject

Leadership:understandandaccommodatethecontext

Atthemacrolevel • Havingabroadviewofthecontextinwhichtheschoolispart-schoolssufferingexternalpressures-challenge:reconcilingtheteacherswiththelocalcommunity(Dempster,2009);

• Dealingwithlegisla?veini?a?ves-consequencesintheirschoolcommuni?es-challenge:tobalancetheinterestsofstudentsandfamilieswiththeneedsresul?ngfromrequirementsofadministra?vestructures(Leithwood,2005)

Leadership:understandandaccommodatethecontextAtthemicrolevel

• Deepunderstandingoftheschoolcontext-natureofthestudentbodyandtheirimpactonlearning(MuldfordandSillins,2003)-challenge-thesocioculturalcontextscannotbeseenasanexcuse

• Accommoda?ngschoolorganiza?onandprac?cesisessen?altoactinordertobeabletomakeadifferenceinthelivesandlearningofthesestudents-challenge:howtomaintainthebalancebetweentheneedsofyoungpeopleandtheimpactofsomeintrusivemeasuresintheeduca?onalreali?es

Leadership-theagency

Place the "change of life" in the center of the ac?onrequires a shared vision, set priori?es andworkdirec?onswithothers,includingparentsandcommunity.

• Undertake the challenges that is only possible with anorganizedcollec?veac?on•This can only exist with a par?cipa?ve leadershipframework •Theinfluenceoftheleaderinstudentlearningisonlypossibleindirectly;• Theinfluenceoftheleaderisstronginworkingcondi?ons;moderateinstudentsmo?va?onandcommitment;thelowinstudentscapacityoflearning

Leadership-asharingstructure Whentheleadershipisdistributedbystaff,parentsandstudentstheircapacityincreasestothree?meswhencomparedwithindividualleadershipsitua?ons(NCSL,2006).

Distributedleadershipinschool

•  Difficul1esinimplemen1ngthesharedleadership–  Commitmentofteachers–  centralplacementofteacherswhocannotmeantheiden?fica?onwiththeschoolproject.

–  Theboundariesbetweenindividualfreedomoftheteacherandauthorityandpowerofthedirector

•  Whatsolu1ontotheproblem?

–  Thedirectorhasthetaskofconqueringandinvolveteachersintheeduca?onalprojectthathastoschool

Theroleofleadersinpromo?nginclusion

Buildingaleadershipframework

Thedevelopmentofaprojectinordertobuildaschoolforallrequiresnewskills,resourcesandsupporttothisprocess. Theleadershipstructureisessen?altogivethissupport Thestudies oftheprac?ceofleaderswhoworkininclusiveprojectshighlighttheneedforworkinthefollowingaspects:

- seBngthedirec?on;- professionaldevelopment;- redesigningtheorganiza?on;- monitoring prac?cesofteachingandlearning

SeBngDirec?on

• Approachinginclusionasobjec?veinacomprehensiveway(notonlytoaspecificgroupbutforall)• Developaconsensusonbroadideawhatthismeansandtheimplica?onsitwillhaveinorganiza?onofschoolandprac?ceofteachers•- Iden?fypossiblewaystoachievethem•  Iden?fygoalsthataredefinedforthispath• Havehighexpecta?onsabouttheresultsofac?onstobeundertaken• Buildaproduc?verela?onshipwithfamiliesandcommunity Buildingacleareduca?onalprojectsharedbyallteachersandcommunityaroundtheinclusion

Professionaldevelopmentforchange

accountabilitycollec?veofstudentlearning

Collabora?onaroundteachingandlearning

Proficiencylevelofstudents

Empowerment

Asharedlidership

Agency

Nego?atedaccountability

Collabora?vework

Assessmentoflearning

Adapt.deGatherThurller,M.(2001)

Assumedtarget

Consistencyandauthorityofpedagogicalstructure

Monitoringofpedagogicalworkofteachers

ProfessionaldevelopmentforchangeTheprac?cesatschool

• Nego1atedaccountability,byassigningcoordina?ngeduca?onposi?onstoteacherswithbe]ertrainingandskills.• Collabora1vework,whichisrealizedintheprepara?onoftheannualplanofac?vi?esandplanningac?vi?es(eg.classX).•  Assessmentoflearning,Wetendtofindcriteriaandforms/productstobeassessedHomogeneous.• Monitoringofpedagogicalworkofteachers,throughpedagogicalsupervisionprocessesamongpeersintheclassroomandperformanceevalua?on(moreformalandexternal).

Redesigningorganiza?onUsingthefundamentalsofinclusiontosupportthenecessarychanges

•Differentpedagogicalresponsestodifferentstudents•Alterna?veorganiza?onalmodels

-Encouragethedevelopmentofacollabora?veculture-Strengthentheworkofplanningandcoordina?onamongteachers-Strengthentheroleofteachingteams

•Keepthefocusonthequalityoflearningandtrainingforci?zenship

Tensions

SeBngs OrganizedandsafeFragmented

Professionaldevelopmentforchange:prac?cesintheschoolforinclusion

•  ClassDirec?on,moredirectmonitoringofateachertotheclass.

•  Tutoring,individualizedfollow-upstudents.•  Alterna?veCurricularPaths(PCA).•  Educa?onandTrainingCourse[CEF].

Monitoringofteaching/learningprocesses

HighExpecta?on

Assessmentforlearning

Systemstosupportlearning

difficul?esSystemsofrulesbasedinvalues

Posi?vesocialinterac?ons

S?mula?ngandsafeenvironmenttolearn

Takeintoaccountandsupportthedifficul?esofteachers

Havedatatomakedecisions

FinalRemarks

•  Thedirectorsarekeyelementsintheprocessofmakingschoolsplaceswhereyoudonotgiveup

•  Olentheyhavetomakedifficultdecisionsatvariouslevels(withmanagement,withfamilies,withteachersandstudents)

•  Thereisnomagicformulaorauniquewaytopursuetheobjec?veofinclusion

•  Buttheleadersdonotevenhavetobetheonestoworkinthisperspec?ve.Thisshouldbeacollec?vework(Hargeaves&Fink,2006)

SchoolLeadershipandInclusion

AcknowledgmentsJorgePinto

Cris1naGomesdaSilvaAnaCosta