Developing inclusive schools: a systemic approach

This paper emerges from an ongoing study which involved, firstly, key informant interviews with strategic personnel within the Irish education system, such personnel representing both service providers and service users. The first part of this paper provides a brief summary of the findings of that aspect of the study in relation to the key characteristics of an inclusive school. A conceptual model of inclusion is proposed, outlining three interrelated core constructs of inclusion, namely Expertise, Structures and Processes. A second empirical aspect of the study involves working intensely with a small number of mainstream schools with a view to exploring, in conjunction with school personnel, the challenges of, and the opportunities for, developing and evaluating more inclusive practices in these schools. The methodology for this phase of the study is theoretically placed within the organizational psychology paradigm, adapting a systemic approach to school development and incorporating the concept of schools as learning organizations. The application of the organizational psychology to schools and the notion of schools as learning organizations are explored in the second part of this paper.