Culturally inclusive leadership styles among Church primary schools : the need for change

Abstract

This dissertation aims at investigating heads of schools’ leadership styles in the Maltese primary sector of education in response to the increase in student population coming from diverse cultural backgrounds. The intent of this dissertation is to learn about the actions school leaders in Church schools take to work through the cultural diversity in their schools, as they project the way forward. It examines leadership styles and methodologies being used to adapt to changes brought by foreign students in the school. The study seeks to compare Church schools in Malta with State and Independent schools and the different realities they encounter due to multiculturalism in Malta, in order to propose changes which need to take place so that multiculturalism in Church schools is increased. This dissertation adopted a qualitative research approach. The research was carried out through semi-structured interviews with school leaders of Church, State and Independent primary schools from diverse regions across Malta. A focus group was conducted with members of the Secretariat for Catholic School Education discussing Church schools’ multicultural realities and improvements which can be further made. Results show that changes in leadership styles had to take place in order to improve the quality of our multicultural schools. The influx of multicultural students in Maltese primary schools was strongly felt by State and Independent schools but a different reality is found in Church schools where students of multicultural origin are presently minimal. Thus, changes need to be promoted in Church schools so that the multicultural student intake is supported and diversity is further appreciated. Church school leaders reported that despite the changes which need to take place externally with regards to certain policies favouring foreign student intake in Church schools, school leaders need to ensure that educators are prepared for the desired increase of foreign students in their schools. This needs to be done by adopting the appropriate leadership styles and making amends where needed.