Barry Morrissey
9 min
Inclusion for students with special educational needs (SEN) in Irish mainstream schools is a complex, often debated, and context-dependent goal. As educational leadership is recognized as the second most important factor influencing student outcomes after teaching, it is critical to identify how leaders can effectively foster inclusive environments. The author, a practicing primary school principal, argues that current one-dimensional approaches to leadership are insufficient to handle the demands of inclusive education, which requires a more nuanced, multifaceted strategy.
Drawing on a critical literature review (2000–2020), the author identifies four essential leadership typologies: distributed, teacher, managerial, and values leadership. The study synthesizes these into a new hybrid 'triadic' model. The core argument is that for meaningful inclusion, a school must integrate three interconnected pillars:
The study posits that these three pillars—teacher, managerial, and values leadership—form a 'triad' that can only function successfully within a 'distributed ecosystem.' This means leadership cannot be the sole responsibility of the principal. Instead, influence must be spread across the school, allowing teachers and other staff to exercise agency and autonomy. Without this distributed framework, the triad collapses, as individual components (like managerial tasks) may become rigid, or teachers may feel unsupported in their efforts to innovate.
This framework moves beyond traditional hierarchical school management, offering principals a conceptual tool to assess whether their school’s leadership structure truly supports inclusion. By explicitly acknowledging the necessity of both 'managerial' tasks and 'values-based' culture, it addresses the often-hidden tension between administrative efficiency and a truly inclusive, student-centered educational philosophy. It acts as a starting point for further empirical investigation into how Irish schools can better organize their leadership to support diverse learners.
Leadership for inclusion is a contested concept with competing definitions suggested by many researchers and educationalists. While broad and narrow interpretations of ‘inclusion’ exist, this article focuses solely on the inclusion of learners with special educational needs (SEN) in Irish mainstream schools. A critical literature review of various different leadership typologies, relevant to inclusive education, is presented, from a practising principal's perspective. This review is used to theorise a hybrid leadership typology, present in schools where children with SEN are included in mainstream classes. The centrepiece of this theoretical model is that any leadership approach, in an inclusive education setting, must be triadic in structure. As a construct, it must be underpinned by a triad of teacher leadership, managerial leadership and values leadership. The argument is advanced that if this triadic structure is to flourish, then a distributed leadership framework is a necessity.
Alex: Then managerial leadership must cover the less visible work that makes those teaching decisions possible. What belongs in that category?
Sam: Organising resources, responsibilities, and procedures. In the Irish context, that includes timetabling additional support, maintaining records, and liaising with external agencies. It also includes establishing arrangements for parents to be involved and organising teachers' professional development.
Alex: Values leadership sounds less concrete. How does a commitment to inclusion become a leadership activity rather than a statement of good intentions?
Sam: By shaping decisions and conduct. Leaders articulate why inclusion matters, defend it against objections, and challenge behaviour that undermines it. The literature Morrissey reviews also stresses persistence: struggling, learning, and seeking answers when an approach isn't working for a child.
Alex: So expertise, organisation, and commitment each do different work. Why does he insist they operate within distributed leadership?
Sam: Distributed leadership means leadership exercised across people, not only by the principal. Morrissey argues that teachers need room to influence school practice. Otherwise, expertise can remain disconnected from the decisions and systems that determine provision.
Alex: But a principal can assign someone a task without sharing much influence. Does the article distinguish distributing leadership from distributing a workload?
Sam: It does. Leadership can emerge through trust, expertise, and relationships, rather than being handed down from above. A teacher with relevant knowledge may bring colleagues towards a shared vision without a formal appointment. The article also acknowledges that principals can restrict others' autonomy.
Alex: How did Morrissey build the case? Is this a systematic synthesis, or a more selective argument informed by practice?
Sam: It's a critical review informed by practice. He selected literature published from 2000 to 2020. Searches combined terms for principals and school leaders with inclusion, disability, and special educational needs. He supplemented those searches through reference lists and material available through his professional work.
Alex: Once he had that literature, what makes the argument work? A list of useful leadership styles wouldn't establish that all are necessary.
Sam: His central move is to remove each component in turn. He asks what teacher and managerial leadership lack without inclusive values, then repeats that reasoning for the other combinations. It's a conceptual test of what each component contributes, not a comparison of measured school outcomes.
Alex: Start with teachers and managers working well, but no shared inclusive commitment. What does he think gets lost?
Sam: The reason for directing their work towards meaningful inclusion. Procedures and expertise alone don't ensure that attitudes support participation or that students' voices are heard. Morrissey argues that values leadership makes inclusion an intentional priority, rather than assuming it follows from competent administration.
Alex: Now remove management instead. If teachers have expertise and believe in inclusion, why can't they make it happen themselves?
Sam: Because provision requires organisational arrangements, not just pedagogical commitment. Take additional support: someone must timetable it and coordinate it with other school activities. Similarly, parental involvement needs established procedures. Those remain managerial functions even when an ordinary teacher performs them.
Alex: That's a useful distinction: management is a kind of work, not exclusively a job title. What happens if values and organisation are present, but teacher leadership is absent?
Sam: Morrissey argues that children can be placed in mainstream classrooms without genuinely participating. Teachers need professional learning, collaboration, and agency—the scope to make informed decisions. Teacher leadership connects the school's stated commitments and organisational arrangements to inclusive teaching practice.
Alex: Those are plausible dependencies. But does the review offer evidence that schools actually distribute this work, rather than simply saying they should?
Sam: It cites Fitzgerald and Radford's study of 27 Irish post-primary schools. Only two principals coordinated inclusive or special education themselves. That supports the argument that coordination often happens beyond the principal, although the example comes from a different school phase.
Alex: It doesn't tell us whether the other schools had all the proposed components, or whether their children participated more fully. How far should we trust the model?
Sam: As a theoretically argued framework, not a demonstrated recipe. Morrissey collects reasons why each component matters, drawing on scholarship, Irish policy responsibilities, and practitioner experience. He doesn't test schools with the complete model against schools missing a component.
Alex: And selection matters in a review built around an argument. What limitation does the author acknowledge there?
Sam: He acknowledges that critical reviews lack the systematicity of more structured approaches and can be vulnerable to subjectivity. His principal's perspective informs the synthesis, but isn't independent validation. He explicitly calls for empirical research to test the model.
Alex: Who should read the full article, and where should they start?
Sam: Researchers studying inclusive education or school leadership should start with Section C. Its comparisons of incomplete leadership combinations make the proposed dependencies clear. Then read the methodology to judge the review's basis, and Section B for the competing leadership ideas. Irish principals may find the organisational responsibilities especially useful.
Alex: For listeners outside that setting, what should survive after the terminology fades?
Sam: Treat this as a research framework, not proof that one model fits every school. Its claim is grounded in Irish provision for children with special educational needs. The line to remember is: inclusion needs belief, teaching expertise, and organisation working together—not just a place in the classroom.
Alex: Thanks for listening.