Distributed Leadership and Inclusive schools

Abstract

This article tries to answer the question of whether distributed leadership contributes significantly to the development of an inclusive school. For this, a systematic review of the literature has been carried out, based on the PRISMA strategy, of articles from 2011 to 2021 that describe 35 schools with distributed leadership. The findings reflect that there is a relationship between distributed leadership, promoted by the principal, and the achievement of an inclusive school. We found that elements of distributed leadership such as cooperative teamwork and decision-making lead to a focus on student-centred educational approaches, encouraging their participation, their families’ participation, and sometimes, the need to count on people outside the school itself. It is also noted that distributed leadership promotes inclusive teacher training. On the other hand, some barriers arise that hinder the participation of students and their families. It concludes with the need to train management teams in distributed leadership and promote legislative changes to favour the participation of all students without exceptions.