Meaning-Making Patterns of Inclusive Education from Chilean School Leadership
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12795/revistafuentes.2026.28418Keywords:
Case study, conceptualization, cultural diversity, educational management, inclusive education, leadership, social inclusion, social justiceAbstract
Despite the fact that inclusive education has become a central axis in the international educational agenda, its conceptualization, purposes, and domains of action remain subjects of debate. This article aims to explore and analyze the conceptions of inclusive education held by school leadership teams in institutions whose educational projects are oriented toward inclusion. Based on a multiple-case study, 43 interviews were conducted with individuals in leadership positions across six inclusion-oriented schools in Chile. The results show the coexistence of ten patterns of meaning around inclusion, which together configure an interrelated field of understandings. Within these discourses, inclusion is conceptualized as teaching for all, as the recognition of difference, or as a value-based commitment, among other overlapping patterns that intersect, dialogue with one another, and are articulated through everyday school experience. These patterns can be grouped into three interpretive frameworks: inclusion as a normative framework, inclusion as a pedagogical framework, and inclusion as a relational framework. The findings also reveal predominant notions of inclusion associated with participants’ roles and spheres of responsibility. The study argues that inclusion is a multidimensional and situated concept whose implementation requires shared agreements and a common language; in this process, school leadership teams play a central role when they enact leadership oriented toward diversity and social justice.
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