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Full-Text Articles in Educational Leadership

Queering Education: Creating Inclusive And Affirming Learning Environments For Sexually Diverse Students, Phillip M. Spalierno Aug 2023

Queering Education: Creating Inclusive And Affirming Learning Environments For Sexually Diverse Students, Phillip M. Spalierno

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This inquiry draws upon a variety of theoretical perspectives and leadership approaches, including critical and queer theories, and the transformative leadership approach, for the purposes of identifying an appropriate solution to creating inclusive and identity affirming learning environments for sexually diverse students. This inquiry provides insight that will help to further understand the experiences of sexually diverse students in the education system, while exploring strategies for creating learning environments that affords these students value, dignity, and respect. It is proposed that a transformative leadership approach, as it is grounded in social justice efforts, may serve to stimulate the conversation amongst …


Equity And Inclusion For Leaders In The School District: Exploring Gender, Michele Radomski Jul 2023

Equity And Inclusion For Leaders In The School District: Exploring Gender, Michele Radomski

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

There are increasing expectations that educational leaders attend to social justice. However, little attention is paid to their own experience of equity and inclusion, and there is an ongoing omission of gender from organizational discourse. This problem of practice identifies the lack of attention to the experience and implications of gender for leaders in a school district. The organizational improvement plan aims to prioritize gender on the organization’s agenda, bridge the gap between representation and equity and inclusion, and create a gender-inclusive leadership climate. Feminist frames for change establish the underlying change strategy and Lewin’s change model structures the change …


Integration And Inclusion From Self-Contained Classrooms To Improve Academic And Social Outcomes, Sean M. Robertson Aug 2022

Integration And Inclusion From Self-Contained Classrooms To Improve Academic And Social Outcomes, Sean M. Robertson

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The inclusion of students with special needs is considered a hallmark of human rights policies and practices in many education systems throughout Canada and the world. However, the question of how to successfully enact such policies and practices in the face of human resource challenges, limited budgets, and other competing interests presents many challenges for policymakers and educators. This organizational improvement plan (OIP) aims to address this challenge as lived in District School Board X (DSBX). Many organizational challenges have created a dynamic where most students with significant special needs are segregated in self-contained classrooms focused on life-skills, even though …


Building A Culture Of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion And Social Justice At A Community College, Teresa M. Kisilevich Jul 2022

Building A Culture Of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion And Social Justice At A Community College, Teresa M. Kisilevich

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Over the past number of years, it has become apparent that Canada is facing a significant skilled labour shortage. As the world emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, the pressure to train and hire skilled trades workers has only increased; in order to fill the growing labour gap, intentional measures are needed to attract and retain a more diverse group of students. This organizational improvement plan aims to capitalize on a recent strategic plan and its central commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice. Through a case study focused on balanced enrolment by gender in trades training, this document considers …


Igniting Change In Equity, Diversity And Inclusion At A Canadian Community College Coll, Jennifer Phyllis Gorman Aug 2021

Igniting Change In Equity, Diversity And Inclusion At A Canadian Community College Coll, Jennifer Phyllis Gorman

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This organizational improvement plan addresses the need to develop an equity, diversity, and inclusion strategy that will lead to systematic institutional and cultural change at Mountain College (a pseudonym). This organizational improvement plan draws upon transformational and ethical leadership principles to gain support and momentum from across all levels of the College to develop a shared vision for change and reach the new organizational state. Bolman and Deal's (2013) four frames have been used as a strategic tool to examine Mountain College and identify the actions and decisions the team can take in the organizational improvement process. Following this analysis, …


Equity, Diversity, And Inclusion In Alberta Accredited International Schools: Bridging Modern And Traditional Societal Perspectives In Educational Practice, Krista J. Schultz Aug 2021

Equity, Diversity, And Inclusion In Alberta Accredited International Schools: Bridging Modern And Traditional Societal Perspectives In Educational Practice, Krista J. Schultz

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

International schools accredited by Western-based educational paradigms encounter specific challenges within the theoretical framework of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), as perceived through the lens of social justice in education. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) considers, from the context of modern and traditional societies, the change readiness of the Alberta Accredited International Schools program (AAIS) surrounding the practice of EDI. Generalized expectations of universal application present with factors that may provide educational leaders with the framework to deliberate critical theory motivating practice. Modernist and traditionalist societal views of EDI, and the translation of pedagogical frameworks through educational reform, are considered. …


Toward A More Just And Truly International Education, Jeff Leppard Aug 2021

Toward A More Just And Truly International Education, Jeff Leppard

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

International schools have proliferated in the last 20 years. Although one might expect students who attend such schools to represent a heterogenous, diverse population, in reality, many schools have selective admissions practices, and their education has a strong western influence derived from the few Anglophone countries from which the majority of their teachers come. The problem of practice addressed is a lack of alignment between one school’s mission and values and school practices and curricula that inadvertently continue to promote exclusion and privilege. This organizational improvement plan proposes (a) creating an admissions policy and structure that ensures that the school …


Towards Intercultural Understanding And Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Building An Internationally Minded School, Meaghan Higginson Aug 2019

Towards Intercultural Understanding And Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Building An Internationally Minded School, Meaghan Higginson

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

As an International Baccalaureate school in a diverse Canadian city, Welton Academy’s (pseudonym) vision is to be a world-class, academic school with a focus on shaping students into globally minded, engaged citizens. The demographics of the school are changing, as the student body is becoming increasingly more ethnically diverse. Currently, one of the school’s strategic missions is focused on international mindedness. Although the school’s vision to promote international mindedness includes global engagement and multilingualism, the area of intercultural understanding is not identified. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores a Problem of Practice (PoP) that highlights the need to develop intercultural …


Role Of Advocacy Organizations In Promoting Inclusive Education Policies For Students With Rare Chronic Health Conditions: Insights For Education Leaders, Jennifer Flinn Jul 2016

Role Of Advocacy Organizations In Promoting Inclusive Education Policies For Students With Rare Chronic Health Conditions: Insights For Education Leaders, Jennifer Flinn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This qualitative study investigated how advocacy groups for rare chronic health conditions understood their relation to, and interaction with, educational leadership and policy. This study adopted a critical research orientation and framed inclusion as an equity and social justice issue. Semi structured interviews were conducted with advocates representing various rare chronic health conditions, and a policy review of Ontario’s inclusion policy, as well as relevant health policies were conducted. The analysis revealed that there was tension in participants’ understanding of inclusion, and participants did not always support full inclusion for students with rare chronic health conditions. There is a lack …