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A North South Dialogue on Principals’ Understanding of, Advocacy for, and Barriers Faced Achieving Inclusive Education

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Achieving Inclusive Education in the Caribbean and Beyond

Abstract

Making inclusive education equitable for all students is difficult and even more so when it must also be good quality and fit for purpose. The purpose of this qualitative research was to examine primary and secondary school principals’ perspectives of inclusive education in the Caribbean islands of St. Vincent, Barbados, and two New England schools in the U.S. The research questions were: (1) How do principals describe inclusive education and inclusive education leadership? (2) What is the principals’ main motivation for advocating effective pedagogy for all learners? and (3) What are the main challenges the principals face in pursuit of inclusive education? Findings suggest that principals described and understood inclusive education as a policy that all schools should adopt to achieve education for all but did not see a difference between this and inclusive leadership. Principals’ motivations for advocating for inclusive pedagogy were both intrinsic and extrinsic and linked to either being an “active campaigner” or “resigned advocate”’ for inclusive education. Barriers encountered toward achieving inclusion were financial, linked to teachers’ attitudes, practices, and resources. Implications are discussed further in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown, Barbados

    Stacey N. J. Blackman

  2. School of Education and Professional Studies, State University of New York at Potsdam, Potsdam, NY, USA

    Dennis A. Conrad

  3. School for International Training Graduate Institute (SIT), Brattleboro, VT, USA

    Kenneth Williams

  4. Department of Education, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT, USA

    Theresa Abodeeb-Gentile

Authors
  1. Stacey N. J. Blackman
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  2. Dennis A. Conrad
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  3. Kenneth Williams
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  4. Theresa Abodeeb-Gentile
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Correspondence to Stacey N. J. Blackman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown, Barbados

    Stacey N. J. Blackman

  2. School of Education and Professional Studies, State University of New York at Potsdam, Potsdam, NY, USA

    Dennis A. Conrad

  3. Department of Educational Foundation and Leadership School of Education, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Launcelot I. Brown

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Blackman, S.N.J., Conrad, D.A., Williams, K., Abodeeb-Gentile, T. (2019). A North South Dialogue on Principals’ Understanding of, Advocacy for, and Barriers Faced Achieving Inclusive Education. In: Blackman, S., Conrad, D., Brown, L. (eds) Achieving Inclusive Education in the Caribbean and Beyond. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15769-2_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15769-2_14

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