The issue of inclusion is high on the educational reform agenda in many countries. Set within the context of the United Nations organisation's push for ‘Education for All’, the aim is to find ways of increasing the participation and learning of pupils who are vulnerable to marginalisation within existing educational arrangements (World Education Forum, 2000). In the United States, inclusive education is generally thought of as an approach to serving children with disabilities within general education settings. Internationally, however, it is sometimes seen more broadly as a reform that supports and welcomes diversity among all learners (Ainscow, 1999). The research reported in this paper adopts this broadened formulation. It presumes that the aim of inclusive education is to eliminate social exclusion and that is a consequence of attitudes and responses to diversity in race, social class, ethnicity, religion, gender and ability (Vitello & Mithaug, 1998). Children with disabilities and others seen as having special educational needs are part of this agenda. The paper focuses specifically on the implications of these developments for leadership roles in schools. In particular, it uses evidence from case studies of leadership practice in three countries to address the question, what types of leadership practice foster inclusion in schools? The paper provides a theoretical framework that throws light on what is involved in such practices and presents illustrative examples. The aim is to provide an analysis that will be of direct relevance to practitioners, whilst at the same time adding to theory. The examples of leadership that are examined were found in schools in England, Portugal, and the United States that serve culturally and linguistically diverse groups of children, including significant numbers from low‐income families. In each of the schools, children with disabilities and others categorised as having special educational needs are taught in general education classrooms alongside their peers.

No abstract

No abstract

This paper examines the evolution of one progressively oriented, inclusive public elementary school in the USA. Ethnographic data gathered over 4 years illustrate how support for the inclusion of children classi ed for special education in general education classrooms developed alongside teachers' commitment to creating classroom communities that value racial, cultural and linguistic diversity. Its story illustrates what other researchers have found as essential ingredients for successful reform: a commitment to a central philosophy and belief system; teacher initiatives supported by the building principal; structures that support on-going change and continuous improvement. Collaboration and compromise are central to the evolution and maintenance of this school' s inclusive culture. Analysis of the ethnographic data demonstrates how a dialectical relationship between collaboration and autonomy supported teachers' ability to sustain learner-centred programmes and practices in the face of external pressures for curricular uniformity from an increasingly bureaucratized school system.

The initial intention of this case study was to document the development of social interactions between the six typical and six disabled children in an integrated preschool classroom. This was to be discovered through a qualitative analysis of videotapes taken once a month, for 9 months, during a 1-hour free-play period. What emerged, through the observation and discussion of these videotapes with the classroom team, was that structural changes in the environment of the classroom were essential for the development of positive social interactions between the children. This study, therefore, further validates the conclusions of other investigations of the social development of children in integrated preschool classrooms: the proximity of children does not assure interaction. These issues are explored and illustrations of staff behaviors that facilitated social interaction are presented.