Schools as Learning Organizations: An Interpretation from the Perspective of Inclusion
Schools as Learning Organizations: An Interpretation from the Perspective of Inclusion

Summary/Abstract: The increasing diversity of students’ needs challenges schools to respond equitably. Inclusiveeducation is understood not simply as placing students in the same classroom, but as reducingbarriers to participation, learning, and belonging. Such a process cannot be achieved throughisolated teacher effort alone, but depends on organizational conditions through which inclusion issupported by school vision, leadership, professional collaboration, and collective learning. Theschool as a learning organization (SLO) provides a relevant framework for examiningorganizational conditions that may support inclusive education. The study is theoretically groundedin the relationship between the SLO framework and the SEED model, which positions school-levelorganizational support as a key condition that may contribute to the development of inclusiveeducation. This study examines how specific SLO practices are perceived by teachers and schoolleaders. It addresses two research questions: (1) Which SLO practices are perceived by teachers andprincipals as more developed, and which as less developed? and (2) To what extent are therestatistically significant differences between teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of these practices?The study is based on a secondary analysis of a Romanian dataset of 613 respondents, including 70principals and 543 teachers, using the standardized SLO Questionnaire adapted for the Romaniancontext. Given the ordinal nature of the data and their deviation from normality, nonparametricanalyses were used. Friedman tests with Durbin–Conover post hoc comparisons examineddifferences among practices within each dimension. Mann–Whitney U tests compared principals’and teachers’ perceptions at item level. The findings reveal a consistent pattern: teachers andprincipals perceive practices as priorities, commitments or general orientations as more developedthan practices related to organizational learning mechanisms. Differences between principals andteachers are selective rather than generalized, and are most pronounced in the area of leadership.The findings are discussed in relation to their implications for school organizational conditions thatmay support inclusive education.

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