“To Include us All”: A Chilean Study Case on School Inclusive Leadership

Abstract

Educational leadership can have a fundamental role in building more inclusive schools. The present study seeks to understand how practices of school inclusive leadership take place within a public Chilean school. These practices were followed from a qualitative study case approach, based on semi-structured interviews to six school leaders, and one non-participant observation of classroom interactions. Data was recorded in audio formats and translated to observation protocols or transcribed. Social theory of practice was utilized, carrying an analysis on the senses, competencies and materiality’s that are embedded. Results show these components in detail. Here, the sense around ‘including us all’ emerges, with the dilemmas that this implies; interpersonal competencies related to bonding and collaborating with others; and materiality’s that allow the encounter and practice of inclusion. These results open discussions on the desirability of the inclusive discourse, the difficulties to implement inclusive policies, the need to distribute leadership and foster teachers’ agency, and the urgency to keep problematizing (and not reducing) leadership practices in research.