The aim of the chapter is to learn how the management team promotes openness to the community and collaboration to develop an inclusive culture. This study is framed within the R+D+I project “School Management Leadership and Its Contribution to Improving Inclusion in Compulsory Education.” In a mixed research approach, the project develops and implements a tool for the evaluation of inclusive education in schools through participatory methodologies. In this chapter, the authors discuss the different ways of understanding inclusive leadership and the main elements intertwined in it, focusing later on the participation of management teams as catalysts of the educational community for the development of inclusive practices in schools. To this end, from the teachers' perspectives, they analysed the data gathered through the LEI-Q-Profesorado questionnaire. The main outcomes and conclusions indicate that the teaching staff of the schools surveyed have a positive perception of the actions taken by the management teams in the exercise of their inclusive leadership.
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Educational leadership has become a subject of interest for study due to its impact on the educational policies and practices of schools (León et al., 2018). The school management team is the main actor in running the educational affairs of schools, having the power and capacity to respond to the needs of all pupils (Ainscow & Sandill, 2010). To do so, they deploy different leadership practices which, in some cases, are part of what we understand as inclusive leadership, promoting policies of equity, equality, social justice and inclusion (Blackmore, 2006; DeMatthews, 2015; Devine, 2013; Stevenson, 2007).
The literature on educational inclusion agrees in highlighting the idea that leaders are directly involved and fundamental agents in promoting the development of inclusive practices in schools (León, 2012; León et al., 2018; Ryan, 2016; Valdés & Gómez-Hurtado, 2019). Research into inclusive management practices and diversity management by management teams has increased in recent years (Ainscow & West, 2006; Booth & Ainscow, 2015; DeMatthews, Serafini et al., 2020; DeMatthews, Billingsley et al., 2020; Fernández-Batanero & Hernández-Fernández, 2013a, 2013b; Leithwood, 2005; León et al., 2018; León, 2012; Ryan, 2016; Valdés & Gómez-Hurtado, 2019; Valdés, 2018; Yildririm, 2021), acknowledging the importance of management teams in educational change and school improvement processes (Hallinger & Heck, 2011; Seashore et al., 2010).
There are different conceptualisations for defining inclusive leadership (Valdés, 2020a). Nevertheless, we agree with Morrisey (2021) that in order to shape leadership for inclusion, different types of leadership are needed to respond to diversity and build an inclusive school. Among the formulations proposed by Valdés (2018), we highlight inclusive leadership that seeks to create communities that advocate collaboration and inclusive values by considering community involvement as an essential factor in the development of inclusive practices and culture (Ainscow & Sandill, 2010; Conrad & Brown, 2011; De Matthews & Mawhinney, 2014; Hoppey & Mcleskey, 2013; Valdés, 2020b; Stevenson, 2007).