''Spirituality? It's the core of my leadership'': Empowering leadership in an inclusive elementary school

Author(s): HanleyMaxwell, C., Capper, C. A.

Journal/Book: Educ Admin Quart. 1999; 35: 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA. Sage Publications Inc. 203-237.

Abstract: Administrative leadership is considered critical to successful implementation of inclusive schooling practices whereby students with disabilities are educated with other students. This ethnographic study of one principal was conducted over a 15-month period in a midsize midwestern city. The results: (a) a supportive environment for critique encourages teacher autonomy and risk taking while communicating trust that teachers can succeed; (b) a supportive environment is open to critique about how to reach inclusion but not about the goal itself (c) in a facilitative community, the principal and teachers ask questions and consider alternative frameworks for inclusion; (d) creating a just, democratic environment coalesces the staff and the principal models inclusive practices; and (e) principal behaviors are undergirded by a spirituality grounded in sir beliefs: valuing personal struggle, recognizing the dignify of all people, blending the personal and professional, believing people are doing their best, listening, and dreaming.

Note: Article Keyes MW, Univ Wisconsin, Milwaukee,WI 53201 USA

Keyword(s): EDUCATING STUDENTS; DISABILITIES; BUILD

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