This is the second blog in a two part series on inclusion. The first one can be found here. This post deals with the practical strategies for creating an inclusive school and will outline specific steps leaders can take to promote inclusion. It will focus on three key levers: leadership, culture and finally, policy.
- Leadership
Creating an inclusive school starts with strong leadership—this is the foundation upon which all other efforts rest. Without it, even the most well-intentioned initiatives will yield paltry results. An inclusive school cannot rely on the heroic efforts of a single passionate individual. Rather, the values and vision must be championed by every leader in the organisation, starting at the very top. School leaders must drive organisational change by acting as the linchpin (Fullan 2014).
Closely linked to leadership is the importance of vision. Leaders need to craft a clear, ambitious and compelling vision for inclusion with social justice at its heart. While the vision itself should be leader-driven, it must be communicated effectively so that everyone—staff, students and parents—understands and commits to it.
When considering inclusion, curriculum coordination and resourcing must be central to the leadership team’s role. Leaders must ensure that every single student can access the school’s curriculum. There has to be an opportunity for everyone to achieve a level of success. This could look like alternative curriculum pathways, different modes of assessment or clearly understood adaptive teaching methods or bespoke curricula. The best schools ensure that their curricula and teaching and learning approaches meet the needs of all learners.
Finally, leaders should embed inclusion within the school’s systems and operational procedures. For example, there must be standardised operating procedures for identifying, assessing and ensuring provision for learners with additional needs. Leaving this to ad hoc responses creates systemic inconsistencies where each case is handled differently. Whilst there should be some room for flexibility, standardised procedures should be the norm.
2. Culture and Ethos
The second important lever is culture. Leaders must be clear about the inclusive culture they wish to create. This requires dedicated time to envision desired outcomes: What does inclusion look like in practice? How does it feel for students and staff? What behaviours and practices characterise it? Every facet of the school needs consideration when defining this culture—from classroom environments to break times, lunch periods, and yes, even the bathrooms. Once the desired culture has been established, leaders must determine how to achieve it. Strategy defines the approach—the pathways to creating this culture. Tactics then establish the specific actions and initiatives. Working through this process can be transformative for senior leadership teams.
Finally, the culture must be actively communicated. There are myriad ways to do this: key staff for inclusion can contribute a weekly section to the newsletter, create podcasts exploring inclusive practices, or publicly recognise staff who have demonstrated exemplary inclusive values.
3. Policy
Finally, the third lever in activating and sustaining inclusive leadership is that of policy. Policies must reflect the inclusive aims of the organisation. Conducting a policy audit would be a good place to start. Are there practices which undermine a commitment to inclusion. Does the behaviour policy make reasonable adjustments for learners with particular types of needs? What about the graduated approach to supporting learners? Are there systemic inequities rooted in policies or lack thereof? A set of self-critical questions could be a good place to start for leadership teams. Also, inviting a critical friend to take a more objective view could be a step towards this aim.
It’s important that leaders understand the inclusion policy of the school and that this is communicated to staff so they are aware of their obligations, many of which are statutory in some countries.
It goes without saying that policy must reflect practice and vice versa. During the self evaluation process, leaders must rate themselves against how effective the practices of the organisation are when it comes to inclusion.
As I look at global trends in education, I think now is a time where inclusive leadership is of incredible importance. The recent curriculum review from the DfE (UK) has once again highlighted the chasm between the attainment of non-SEND students compared with children with SEND. There is an ever greater sense of urgency for a system that supports learners with all needs.