摘要：This article presents part of the results of a large research project on favorable conditions to academic development and achievement of students with learning difficulties in regular classes in Grades 5 and 6. More particularly, it focuses on the subjective views of three school principals who participated in this research about inclusive education or integration of students with exceptional learning needs and how these views connect with actions initiated and obstacles encountered within their schools respectively. Physical integration of students with learning challenges in the regular classroom can be expanded to full membership and programming for all students given an inclusive philosophy and practice. The principals’ discourses, recorded during individual interviews, have been analyzed in light of the most important elements within our frame of reference. Three different approaches (academic integration, social integration, and inclusion) and three distinct leadership styles (organizational, transactional, and a third leadership style based on the “reculturing” principle) have been identified and question the type of leadership that is most likely to favor necessary changes in views and practices of inclusive education within their establishments. In the belief that a school’s evolution toward a philosophy and principles of inclusion is consistent with a long process of coconstruction of meanings shared among individuals from that community, this study puts forward the idea that these principals are guided by adaptability to their environment and act according to principles that agree with their staff members. These findings provide insight into the ways that principals integrate their approaches and beliefs about including students with difficulties into their overall work as leaders and provide ideas for further study.
