Le programme FADéPI et l’actualisation du leadership de la direction d’école dans le cycle de vie de plan d’intervention
The quebecor school, as it is today, holds numerous roles within society and in the developmental process of the child. Its multiple and different roles are continuously growing in complexity, while needing to address and service various learning profiles, precisely special needs students. At the head of the school’s ecosystem, there is a leader commonly called a school principal. The role of this individual calls for a wide array of skills, knowledge and abilities to perform daily educational, logistical and financial operations, all while ensuring the well-being and success of all students through a reflective leadership which cares for matters related to an inclusive education. In the case of students with special needs, the intervention education plan (IEP) is recognized as a life cycle for the planning, elaborating and reviewing of interventions. Taking into account the growing proportion of students, whose success depends on the quality of the interventions they benefit from, the IEP has become a fundamental tool for their inclusion, both educational and social. According to the Public Instruction Act, within the school, the responsibility for IEPs goes to the school principal.  There are many projects, programs and support systems to successfully complete the IEP life cycle, Myara (2011). However, the different leadership practices in relation to the IEP life cycle are not always clear. For this reason, our specific exploratory research aims, first of all, to document and analyze the forms and levels of involvement of the school principal in the IEP life cycle. Secondly, this study attempts to explore the evolution of the leadership practices in the IEP life cycle following the implementation of a training and support program for its development (FADéPI).    Overall, our research results have enabled us to establish that the school principal’s leadership in the IEP life cycle comes in different forms of involvement (direct and indirect) that are in fact a set of knowledge, abilities and skills. In addition, our results have also enabled us to witness an evolution, rather a change or an improvement of these leadership practices. Finally, the purpose of our study is to suggest forms of involvement and leadership practices in the IEP life cycle that can help promote inclusion and success for the student with special needs.
leadership inclusion Individualized education plan IEP special needs students school principal