Including Inclusion: Exploring inclusive education for school leadership

This paper argues that the discourse around inclusive schooling is currently caught in a cycle of 'conceptual fuzziness.' While inclusive education is often framed as a human rights imperative, it is frequently treated as an extension of Special Educational Needs (SEN) policy. By focusing on diagnostics and the remediation of individual deficits, schools inadvertently reinforce the very exclusionary structures they claim to dismantle. The author posits that the current 'what works' approach to school leadership is instrumentally focused and fails to interrogate the underlying values and power structures that define who is considered 'normal' and who is deemed 'in need of inclusion.'

The paper utilizes a deconstructive, post-structuralist lens—drawing on Foucault and Derrida—to argue that the concept of 'inclusion' presupposes an 'ideal center' or a norm to which others must be brought. By failing to deconstruct this normative center, educational systems continue to privilege specific cultural and social performances while marginalizing those who diverge from them. Rather than truly integrating difference, schools often employ 'tokenistic' practices, such as multicultural festivals, that leave the core exclusionary curricula and institutional norms entirely untouched.

The author calls for a shift toward 'inclusion leadership' that moves beyond bureaucratic management. This form of leadership requires a critical, reflective mindset capable of identifying how local practices—such as ability grouping or streaming—collectively reproduce societal inequality. Instead of seeking a 'quick fix' through technical policy initiatives, school leaders must engage in a 'double reading' of their own institutions, constantly exposing the hidden patterns of privilege and the exclusionary assumptions that define their daily operations. The paper suggests that while schools cannot solve all societal ills, they remain vital spaces for public discourse where leadership can either facilitate or challenge the status quo of social reproduction.