Abstract:

Inequalities seem to be one of key problems that can be observed in our life. We differ from each other in many ways as psychological, physical or intellectual differences. One may argue that schools are places where we can see differences between students very clearly, and that diversity brings serious challenges to those who are responsible for management of educational processes. . Understanding diversity is the basis for equal treatment and sensitivity to these differences. Dealing with social inequalities in schools so as to reduce them seems to be the key task of educational leaders and key competence of contemporary educational leaders.

The paper presents part of results of broader research on school leaders competencies. The paper focuses on analysis of competence “Understanding diversity, sensitivity to the different needs of individual situations and opportunities for development”. This competence of headteachers was analyzed within the context of research carried out as a part of the project "Leadership and management in education-the formulation and implementation of a continuous professional development system for school headteachers ". In that research more than 2800 headteachers of different types of Polis schools (that is more than 11% of whole the group of headteachers in Poland) were asked to assess their competencies in six broad areas such as: Leadership in the school, Management of learning, Educational policy - the headteacher as a leader in the local community, Management of people, Strategic management with legal and financial issues; Management of leader’s own professional development. Results show how important competence of understanding diversity is for Polish headteachers and how they understand it.

Keywords:

Inequalities, research, leadership, competencies, diversity.