The increase in child poverty in Spain highlights the importance of equality and inclusion of students at risk of social exclusion in the Spanish educational system. Recent research emphasises the importance of educational leadership, particularly from school principals, as a tool to improve the learning of these students. The main aim of this study is to establish the characteristics of school management in disadvantaged contexts in western Andalusia (Spain), placing special emphasis on the factors considered to hinder or aid effective leadership from principals. A mixed methodology was used in this process, surveying 282 teachers and interviewing 14 principals, and employing descriptive and contrastive statistics techniques. According to the teachers surveyed, principals tend to follow good educational leadership practices. However, the disadvantaged contexts present obstacles to their effective execution. While improvements are observed in the continuity of teaching staff, there is an urgent need to improve the qualifications of teachers working with students at risk of exclusion. In conclusion, principals need greater autonomy in relation to teachers and teaching practice.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.