Inclusive Education Leadership in Non-Western Contexts

Abstract

Inclusive education is universally accepted as a useful policy to promote the learning of all students in one classroom. While actual teaching practices are pivotal to achieving the goal of having all students study in one classroom regardless of any difficulties and differences they may have, the ‘change agents' in schools are leaders who are expected to lead the process. Over the years, there has been discussion on the contributions of school leaders towards the successful practice of inclusive education. However, efforts towards the implementation of inclusive education in especially developing countries have stalled. Indeed, the process towards practicing inclusive education has been led by developed countries that have provided resources and a ‘policy blueprint' for developing countries. In this chapter, the authors demonstrate how ‘Western leadership' frameworks are unworkable in developing countries and recommend an alternative framework for training inclusive leaders.

Female school leadership in the United Arab Emirates: Validation of a ‘heuristic’ inclusive education leadership model

“…Moreover, school leaders are expected to interact with their employees to create clear goals for student achievement together, where the principal offers coaching and mentorship to teachers who need it (Leithwood et al., 2008). The principal's role in instructional leadership is to collaborate closely with teachers to improve the accomplishments and promote the learning of all students (Opoku et al., 2022). Furthermore, leaders may model best teaching practices to teachers by giving them one‐on‐one instruction so that they can teach all their students (Opoku et al., 2022).…”

“…The principal's role in instructional leadership is to collaborate closely with teachers to improve the accomplishments and promote the learning of all students (Opoku et al., 2022). Furthermore, leaders may model best teaching practices to teachers by giving them one‐on‐one instruction so that they can teach all their students (Opoku et al., 2022). This means that inclusive leadership training should include sessions on inclusive teaching pedagogies so that teachers have the necessary knowledge.…”

“…This framework was deemed appropriate for this study, as it considers what leaders in non‐Western societies can do to facilitate the implementation of inclusive education. Leaders are thought to play instructional, distributive and transformative roles in modern inclusive leadership discourse (Opoku et al., 2022). However, the strict application of various leadership models for inclusive education in non‐Western societies has been shown to be incompatible, leading to ineffective practices in schools (Opoku, 2022).…”

“…In the UAE, school leaders are traditionally responsible for several managerial and operational tasks that limit their time to focus on instructional tasks (Gaad, 2010). Another challenge for an effective instructional leadership approach to inclusive education is the lack of knowledge, competencies and capabilities to guide teachers to improve their instructions (Opoku, 2022; Opoku et al., 2022). These challenges are inevitable because school leaders do not have control over financial resources to organise teachers' professional development (Opoku, 2022; Poon‐McBrayer, 2017; Poon‐McBrayer & Wong, 2013).…”

“…Unfortunately, available evidence shows that some school leaders could not support the implementation of inclusive education duties because of a myriad of challenges such as negative attitudes and the inability to distribute resources (Ainscow & Sandill, 2010b; Cobb, 2015; Conrad & Brown, 2011; Opoku, 2022; Poon‐McBrayer, 2017; Poon‐McBrayer & Wong, 2013; Singal et al., 2015; Subbey, 2020). The inability of schools to perform their roles has culminated in discussions on the re‐conception of leadership for the effective implementation of inclusive education (Opoku, 2022; Opoku et al., 2022). This study contributes to this discourse by exploring a school leadership model to support the implementation of inclusive education at the early childhood education level in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…”