Abstract
I was approached by email, out of the blue, by Canadian primary school headteacher, Darrin Griffiths. He had written a book, he told me – after introducing himself − and he asked if he may send me a copy. Why not? I thought; this is a book on educational leadership, and I’m interested in educational leadership. Principals of Inclusion arrived in the post a week later.
The book draws on Griffiths’ critical theory-based doctoral research at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, as well as his extensive professional experience as an educator. It is an epistemological combination that works well − aimed at a readership of fellow practitioners, who are likely to find the authorial style accessible and engaging. Generally very well written, the text is marred only very occasionally by the odd sentence whose ambiguity – stemming from confusing word order − distorts the author’s intended meaning (e.g. ‘She learned the importance of fighting exclusion from her father’ [p.23], would be better as ‘She learned from her father the importance of fighting exclusion’).
The context of the narrative is clearly North American, but, consistent with its overarching theme, on the whole this manages to be a book of inclusion, in the sense that it promises to appeal to headteachers and aspiring heads on both sides of the Atlantic. Achieving such inclusivity in relation to readership is no mean feat, for all too often North American texts on education (those emanating from the United States, more so than from Canada) are off-putting to us Brits on account of both the geo-culturally restricted North American-centric bibliographic references, and the uncompromising (and often parochial) focus on specific North American policy contexts and issues that do not necessarily resonate with non-American readers. Griffiths may certainly be guilty of committing the first ‘error’, but – more importantly − he avoids the second, for the wide range of diverse, but related, issues that he examines, and the illustrative cases he presents, have global relevance and appeal.
These are issues that predictably include – but also go beyond – how school communities may be encouraged through effective leadership practice to welcome, empower and convey a shared sense of belongingness to pupils (and their families) representing all disadvantaged and disenfranchised constituencies; they encompass the motivation and biographically-determined stimuli that influence such inclusive leadership. I read with much interest the vignettes (in chapter 3) that sketch out the potted life histories or critical incidents that have shaped the perspectives and values of some of the school principals who had participated as interviewees in Griffiths’ doctoral research, and who were selected on the basis of their impressive track records as successful ‘principals of inclusion’. Particularly effective are the author’s references to the myopic ignorance of the effects and prevalence of exclusion that have resulted from his own privileged background (p. 10): ‘we make sense of our reality based on our own history and background, our circle of friends and associates, and our work history.…This is problematic, though, given that most elementary principals in North America still belong to the dominant culture.’ This candid approach to identifying the kinds of oversights and errors that Griffiths himself admits to having committed in his earlier days as a (less experienced) headteacher engage the reader and enhance the author’s central arguments and his credibility as a proponent, and expert practitioner, of inclusive educational provision. Underpinning his point that sustainability is a key component of effective inclusion policy and practice, he refers, for example, to his own earlier failures to secure sustainable inclusion policy and practice that survived his leaving a school – and then goes on to identify sustainability-focused ideas that served him well.
Forming the framework of his core ‘message’ in this book, and conveying his perspective on ‘growing inclusion’, Griffiths uses the evocative analogy (supported with images) of a tree: ‘Inclusion, like a tree, depends for its strength and health on the soil, the seed, the roots, the trunk, the branches and the leaves’ (p. 1). The soil he presents as representing the purpose of education; the seed is likened to a vision – in this context, one of inclusion within the school; the roots are equated to information sources (‘…the highways that continually support information moving back and forth between the soil and the trunk. Using my analogy, the roots supply evidence to support the “why”, the rationale for promoting inclusion in schools’ [p. 3]); the trunk – nourishing the whole tree – is used to represent the ‘why’ of inclusion; the branches are equated to strategies and practices; and the leaves to the individuals in the school. Still undecided on the merits of using this arboreal device, I at least do not consider it to detract from or undermine Griffiths’ prescriptive, experientially-based ideas for building inclusive school communities (such as working collaboratively with the school council and the parent-teachers association; making parents partners; keeping an open door policy; and inviting guest speakers to the school to help get the inclusion message across to staff).
Replete with such practical-focused ‘tips’, this book is a very useful resource for those who wish to promote and ‘grow’ inclusion in their schools – particularly with sceptical, cynical or otherwise unconverted colleagues. The suggested specific questions for staff discussion, for example, travel well across different contexts and would make an excellent basis for staff meetings, professional development focused workshops, or strategy-building away days.
Short enough to read at one sitting, interesting and informative enough to retain the reader’s engagement, and with enough novelty to avoid stating the obvious or re-inventing the wheel, Principals of Inclusion merits a place on the staffroom coffee table or the shelf in the headteacher’s office of every primary school. It is a book for the twenty-first century educational leader, facing the challenges of educating all of our children to succeed in twenty-first century society, and as such I warmly recommend it.