Abstract:

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness through the Holistic Leadership Model (HLM), consisted by pedagogical, structural, participatory, business and staff development factors, toward the inclusion and integration of refugee students. The pedagogical factor refers to the definition and of teaching objectives as well as innovations. The structural factor refers to the vision clarity, the facility management and the regulations. The participatory leadership factor is referring to the decision-making mechanisms and to promoting a collaborative climate. The business factor is about the parental involvement and the collaboration with external factors for financial autonomy.

The staff development factor refers to the evaluation of teachers, their lifetime learning and their reward as educators. Specifically, the objectives of the present study was:
i) to investigate how the school principals promoted their administration, considering HLM, within their school units,
ii) to check the difficulties and resistances, that a multicultural school unit, was required to cope along the process of inclusion and
iii) to create, a successful combination from leadership styles, regarding the entrance of refugee student. Study’s environment was an urban school in which a number of 12 refugee students, in a total student population of 150 children, in a provincial town of Thessaly, during the academic year 2020-2021. Present pilot study was based on qualitative methods.

The research process was based on two stages:
i) in a telephone interview including all the administrative staff, the school director and the three teachers (one male, two females), and
ii) the completion of a formed questionnaire (Google forms) completed by the same staff, including three main research questions-cases.

The results from the telephone research supported that the principal emphasizes the adoption and implementation of innovations, as well as the development of affiliations, for financial support and independence of the school unit. Additionally, there was a difficulty in applying differentiated instruction for the teaching process, according to the focus group. Consequently, questionnaire analysis results ended up with the most effective profile that was determined to be the pedagogical one. Furthermore, the development of cooperation between teachers and the school leadership was the most important factor that affects the school effectiveness. The business factor was the least prevalent leadership style, both for the school administration and for the group of teachers, due to the negative attitude of social community and the local businesses, as well.

Results application could contribute to a developmental strategy, toward the management of multicultural student groups, and in general to the formation of suitable and effective school leadership, regarding enhancement of the school environments with refugee children. It is crucial to mention that the Holistic Leadership Model is used for the first time, in the field of education and as a result the data compared to other research data are incomplete. The present research expects to contribute the maximum to the administrative level and educational field - through the research cases that have been conducted to the school principal and the focus group (teaching staff). In conclusion, the research process was a challenge, due to the negative attitude of Greek society towards refugee flows and due to distant learning, at the same time.

Keywords:

Educational leadership, school principal, refugee students, school context, integration, inclusion.