Abstract:

This essay aims to investigate the growing complexity of school communities, determined by an ever-increasing heterogeneity of pupils, especially those with special educational needs, and the increasingly strong incidence of migration processes, which contribute to the emergence of phenomena of educational vulnerability and explicit school dropout (ISTAT 2025). In this scenario, forms of leadership capable of orienting the school organization towards inclusion as a cultural, pedagogical and strategic principle could counteract these critical issues by promoting differences and supporting the active participation of all students.

These analyses have led to the intention to explore in this essay how school leadership styles and practices can contribute to the construction of inclusive schools.
The research is part of a theoretical framework that interprets the school as a complex organization (Weick, 1976; Brundret, Smith & Burton, 2003) and as a complex adaptive system (Gell – Mann, 2017; Aiello, Pace & Sibilio, 2023), characterized by dynamic interactions, adaptation processes and flexible process management structures.

From this perspective, the leadership of the headteacher would take on a strategic role in promoting inclusive cultures, policies and practices (Booth & Ainscow, 2014), acting as a generative element and promoter of an organizational culture (Schein, in Bonazzi 2002) oriented towards the values of equity and equal opportunities.

Research objective:
The research’s goal is to explore opinions and practices of school principals group in the Campania region and nationwide while exercising their leadership in inclusive processes, to identify how they contribute to the development of cultures, policies and practices consistent with an inclusive vision of the school as a complex organization.

Research hypothesis:
The leading idea for this research is to analyze how the actions and strategic choices of school principals have a significant impact on the development and dissemination of inclusive practices, activating collaborative processes, a shared organizational culture and project approach consistent with the principles of inclusion.

Methodology and tools:
The study will adopt a qualitative-quantitative approach, which will involve two phases.
The first will consist of preparing and conducting semi-structured interviews with a sample of school leaders, inspired by the principles of Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider & Whitney, 2001), a methodological approach developed in the field of organizational research (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987), but which has also proved effective in educational and training contexts (Chinoperekweyi, 2023). The main feature of this model focuses on organizations strengths, to promote their improvement (Capodanno & Aiello, 2023), in line with an inclusive perspective that aims to enhance the talents of each individual.
The second phase will involve the administration of the “Inclusive Leadership in Schools” (LEI-Q, Emilio Crisol Moya, Tiziana Molonia, María Jesús Caurcel Cara, 2020) questionnaires, a validated method in the Italian context, aimed at gathering teachers' opinions on the practices of school leaders in the institutions where they work, in relation to the promotion of inclusion processes.
After collecting the data, qualitative interview results will be triangulated with quantitative findings from the LEI-Q method to provide a clearer picture of inclusive leadership in the examined contexts.

Keywords:

Inclusive leadership, complex school organizations, school leaders.