Inclusive Leadership Behavior for Interprofessional Collaboration

• In Event: Education Leadership in Times of Change

Abstract

Intensive collaboration between primary schools and childcare services is increasingly deemed necessary in order to be able to offer children alignment in pedagogical and learning pathways. However, such a collaboration has not become commonplace yet. This qualitative study sought to examine what inclusive leadership behavior (ILB) primary school leaders and childcare managers show in aiming to enhance inter-professional collaboration between educational staff and childcare staff. Data were collected through 28 semi-structured interviews with 12 school leaders, 12 childcare managers and four child center leaders. Data were analyzed by operationalizing the theoretical model of inclusive leadership by Randel et al. (2018) which distinguishes behaviors aiming to facilitate belongingness and those aiming to value uniqueness. Findings showed that leaders describe more leadership behaviors facilitating belongingness than behaviors valuing uniqueness. Also, non-positive behaviors were mentioned by most leaders. Furthermore notable differences were found in ILB between childcare managers and school leaders, e.g. more school leaders mentioned behaviors that may impede creating a sense of community whereas more childcare managers aimed to organize that information is shared between employees from both sectors. In addition to presenting the empirical findings, we will also discuss the contribution to theory development by operationalizing and refining the model of ILB for inter-professional contexts and by adding role-modelling and non-positive behaviors to the model.

Authors

• Rachel Verheijen-Tiemstra, Fontys University of Applied Science

• Marc J. Vermeulen, Tilburg University

• Rob F. Poell, Tilburg University

• Anje Ros, Fontys University of Applied Science