Forms of Leadership that Promote Inclusive Education in Cypriot Schools

Abstract

A primary goal of many educational systems in different countries of the world is the offering of equal opportunities in education. My engagement with the literature that relates to inclusive education as well as the literature that relates to educational leadership leads to the conclusion that if we are interested in moving towards more inclusive practices one of the factors that has to be studied in depth, is leadership and its role in the development of these practices. This article studies, through four cases studies of Cypriot schools, the forms of leadership that promote inclusive education and how these forms of leadership manifest in the practices, activities and behaviours of the schools’ headteachers. By studying the four schools it became apparent that the patterns of leadership that supported inclusion were not static. Leaders were trying to understand the local context and then developed their own strategies. They also supported learning in informal learning environments and took into consideration children’s voices.