Inclusion and Equity in Education: System and School Leadership in a Nova Scotia Context

• In Event: Promoting Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity Through System Change: Global Efforts Toward Education 2030

Abstract

Inclusion education has for many years been seen as a global goal for education systems, as a framework to “eliminate exclusionary processes from education that are a consequence of attitudes and responses to diversity in race, social class, ethnicity, religion, gender and attainment, as well as to disabilities” (Ainscow, Dyson & Weiner, 2013). An inclusive education system weaves equity into all elements and processes framed by a belief that diversity is valued and that a quality education for all students is a human right (UNESCO, 2017).

In Canada, every province includes policies in favour of inclusive education but the ways and the degree to which inclusive education is enacted and experienced by students, families, and educators vary widely between and within provinces (Loreman, 2014; Whitley et al., 2012).

In the province of Nova Scotia a transformation of inclusive education is currently underway. As defined by a recent commission (Njie, Shea, & Williams, 2018), inclusive education is regarded as consisting of the right of all students to a quality education, a student-centred, needs-based approach, a multi-tiered continuum of programs, services, and settings, positive learning environments, and core values and beliefs. Njie et al. describe obstacles to progress in inclusive education, including the inconsistent and insufficient preparation of leaders at various levels to support the sustainable implementation of the system-wide policy framework.

Developing sustainable and inclusive leadership that aligns with the goals of inclusive education (Hargreaves & Lowenhaupt, 2017) is one way to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education”. Within a Nova Scotia context, this goal is particularly relevant in light of Target 4.5 which seeks to ensure that those students who are historically marginalized (Indigenous students, African Nova Scotian students, students with disabilities, students in rural settings and in some cases, the Acadian community) have access not only to the schoolhouse doors, but to the quality education that will allow them to experience success.

The ways in which leadership at various levels can be expected and empowered to enact the new Inclusive Education policy framework is one of the areas we are exploring within a three-year developmental evaluation of Nova Scotia’s Inclusive Education Strategy. Establishing an inclusive and empowering environment for adult leaders as well as student learners is especially challenging given measures preceding the project to abolish school districts and remove principals from the teachers’ union (Glaze, 2018). These measures exist alongside prior and parallel attentions in the province to systemic change (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012; Stoll, 2010), professional learning and development (Campbell et al, 2016) collective efficacy (Donohoo, 2016), and teacher and specialist staff induction, retention and support (Strong, 2009).

This paper reports on these tensions and issues in more detail offering insights gleaned from interviews condicted with stakeholders in Fall 2019 regarding the key roles of educational leaders involved in the first stage of a three-year developmental evaluation of Nova Scotia’s Inclusive Education strategy. Results are considered in light of SDG 4 and the broader academic literature.

Authors

• Jessica Whitley, University of Ottawa

• Trista Hollweck, University of Ottawa

• Andy Hargreaves, University of Ottawa

• Michael Fairbrother, University of Ottawa