Dear Colleagues,

The Board of ENIRDELM and Kocaeli University are delighted to announce the forthcoming 2023 ENIRDELM Conference in Antalya, October 19^th- 22^nd, 2023.

Building on recent ENIRDELM conference topics, the theme of this year’s conference is:

Inclusive Leadership in Education

This year’s theme invites academics, practitioners, policymakers and teacher educators to reflect on and discuss the crucial role of educational leadership in promoting inclusiveness for all students, parents and school community members especially in today’s turbulent world of ongoing and rising immigration and people movement.

It is well known that education plays a vital role in building a society that is peaceful, democratic, and respectful of human rights. Since schools are bedrock of the education system, school leadership is the key factor in meeting the varied needs and increased expectations of students and parents. Pedagogical leadership, as suggested by Sergiovanni (1998), invests in capacity building by developing social and academic capital for students and intellectual and professional capital for teachers. Students lacking in social capital may generate it for themselves by turning to their subculture for support. However, they then may develop norms and codes of behavior that work against what schools try to teach.

To promote and support more socially inclusive societies, all countries need inclusive education systems (European Agency for Special Needs, 2015). These systems no doubt need school leaders who can give a clear direction to all stakeholders to ensure learners’ full participation, to take responsibility for all learners, and to value them. Ultimately, school communities can create an inclusive culture by working together and valuing diversity, with a view to guaranteeing that all learners receive a high-quality education (European Agency for Special Needs, 2019).

Inclusive leadership can be seen as a necessary approach for teachers and other staff, students, parents, and the surrounding community. For this reason, we hope that the topic we have chosen will attract the attention of teachers, counselors, educational leaders, practitioners and academics, also that participation from a wider field of study can be achieved.

Key questions for us all include:

• How can inclusive education play a role in building a society that is peaceful, democratic, and respectful of human rights?
• What is the key leadership factor in meeting the varied needs and increased expectations of students and parents in today’s world?
• What qualities are needed by school leaders in their work with people from different backgrounds and different cultures? Is it sufficient to approach them as transformational, instructional, sharing and distributive leaders?
• Do we need, in this current context, to redefine values, ethics, citizenship, and community building in terms of investing in human capital?
• What can countries do to ensure more inclusive education systems in their own contexts?
• What opportunities are there for all learners in an inclusive education system in their local community?
• In disadvantaged areas and where there is inequality for example in relation to women, the disabled, the poor, asylum seekers, victims of violence, those who cannot access education, etc, What can be done to overcome these issues?
• What are the implications for curriculum and assessment, teacher practice, pedagogy, skills, management, and supervision?

What are the implications of the questions above for:

• University/teacher educators
• Policy makers
• Educational consultants and entrepreneurs
• School Leadership development and practice
• International and national curriculum and local initiatives?

In this regard, we hope that the Conference will bring together educational professionals from a range of sectors and roles - researchers, policy makers, school leaders, curriculum developers and teachers - from all of our ENIRDELM member countries and beyond to discuss these important educational questions.

With warm wishes to all of you,
Mualla Aksu
Chairperson of ENIRDELM
On behalf of ENIRDELM Board and Kocaeli University

References:
European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2015. Agency Position on Inclusive Education Systems. https://www.european-agency.org/sites/default/files/PositionPaper-EN.pdf (Accessed December 25th, 2022).

European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2019. Inclusive School Leadership: Exploring Policies Across Europe. (E. Óskarsdóttir, V. Donnelly and M. Turner-Cmuchal, eds.). Odense, Denmark. https://www.european-agency.org/sites/default/files/sisl_synthesis_report.pdf (Accessed December 25th, 2022).

Sergiovanni, T. J. (1998) Leadership as pedagogy, capital development and school effectiveness, International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice, 1:1, 37-46, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360312980010104 (Accessed December 25th, 2022).