Lead to Include
Coming Soon
This page presents the exciting and inspiring projects that the Lead to Include team have been working on, serving as a preview to information that is yet to be available to the public! While reading this page, you will learn more about recent travels, research and innovative programs that the team is in the midst of completing. We invite you to read along, in anticipation of the amazing work regarding inclusive school leadership practices and environments that are coming soon.
New Projects and Publications
This summer we are taking the findings that have resulted from our Canadian studies over the past five years and exploring similar aspects of school leadership and inclusive education in diverse global contexts. We have launched research studies in Mauritius, St. Lucia, and Haiti in addition to the work we have been doing in Ghana, Canada, and Egypt. We regularly get asked to explore new research studies in other contexts. There are different focal elements to each of these projects.
For example, in Haiti, we are exploring how innovative approaches to inclusive education can be realized in low-resource environments. While this is the focus in Haiti, in Mauritius, we are curious about the process that a full national education system experiences in prioritizing inclusive education.
Dr. Sider is co-editing a special issue of the journal Exceptionality Education International this year which is documenting what inclusive education looks like in international and comparative contexts.
Recent Travels and International Work
This year, I’ve worked with educators in Mauritius, Ghana, Egypt, and St. Lucia. In St. Lucia, we hosted a conference with educators from six other Caribbean states so that helped scale the work that is being done there.
These trips have stimulated new research partnerships and ideas. For example, in St. Lucia we learned that the directors of special education departments within Ministries of Education in the Caribbean have rarely been able to collaborate. As a result, we are planning on hosting a conference next year to facilitate knowledge transfer and resource sharing.
Coming Soon from Related Collectives
It’s sometimes dizzying how many different projects are on the go or are developing. Some projects, such as the study of school principals in Canada and how they facilitate inclusive education, is taking a turn in a new direction. We have documented the types of training and resources that principals have access to but now we want to explore how principals can support peer learning about inclusive education.
While this project takes a new turn, other projects are just starting. For example, in Mauritius, we are exploring case studies of students with disabilities and comparing and contrasting these experiences with similar students in Canada. We are hoping that these case studies might help us equip teachers and school leaders in both contexts to better facilitate inclusive environments.
Future Research Goals for the Lead to Include Team
Probably our biggest goal is to develop a cohesive research agenda despite the many seemingly disparate projects. All of the research we engage with has three common elements: school leadership, inclusive education for students with disabilities, and comparative and international education. We need to clearly communicate how these three intersecting elements are core aspects of all our research studies.
