Barriers and facilitators for leading the development of inclusive school cultures in Chile

Abstract

A school with inclusive orientation should have a leadership team that works to develop a culture that promotes school inclusion. This is a difficult task, due to the administrative demands and excess of responsibilities that school principals and their educational teams have. This is why, this study aims to identify the barriers and facilitators faced by leadership teams to develop an inclusive culture within schools. Within the framework of a case study with an ethnographic focus, participant observations, document analysis, interviews and focus groups were carried out during eight months in two Chilean schools that exhibit two different levels of development. The main results reveal that the barriers for leadership teams, regardless of the level of development of inclusive cultures, are related to the lack of promotion of student participation and a school leadership focus on the more bureaucratic aspects. However, the school with a higher development of inclusive culture presents less barriers and more facilitators, among which are the commitment of the leadership team to a pedagogical and inclusive focus, appreciation for diversity and promotion of teacher reflection.