L’éducation inclusive comme perspective pour comprendre la mobilisation d’écoles primaires montréalaises qui conjuguent défavorisation et défis relatifs à la diversité ethnoculturelle

Each year, thousands of newcomers settle in Canada. Over time, successive migratory flows have transformed the face of the country. Newcomers tend to get established in major urban areas across the country. Like many other cities in Canada, Montreal is characterized by an unprecedented social, ethnic, linguistic and religious heterogeneity, a reality which raises various issues. This diversity is reflected, amongst others, in the education system, where the school population is more diversified than ever. In multi-ethnic and disadvantaged environments, the addition of educational and social vulnerabilities often impacts students’ socio-academic experience. In order to offer to all children a fair chance to succeed, it is essential that schools concerned by these issues adapt to diversity, and mobilize themselves to meet the needs of the students they host.  This doctoral research focuses on characteristics of two Montreal elementary schools (leadership, professional practices and attitudes, relational/partnership dynamics) that deal with multi-ethnicity and socioeconomic disadvantage on a daily basis. They have been selected for this study because of their reputation for always trying to adapt to diversity on a systemic basis. In this research, the theoretical framework of inclusive education has been chosen to describe the operation of such schools. Traditionally, the concept of inclusion was mainly used to refer to the integration of students into ordinary schools and classes, which used to be segregated. Several authors now propose this perspective to rethink how schools can adapt to diversity, beyond situations of physical disabilities and/or learning difficulties.  Our ethnographic approach allowed us to integrate ourselves in the two participating schools in order to capture a complete picture of them and to identify inclusive characteristics they integrate as a daily practice. During several months, we attended a variety of school events and conducted individual and group interviews with various stakeholders (principals, teachers, professionals, parents, community actors, etc.). Our data is categorized around four main themes: leadership of the school’s principal, teaching and non-teaching staff members’ attitudes toward diversity, school-family collaborations and partnership with the community. On a daily basis, the principals of the schools implement a transformative and participative leadership. The other actors we met, teaching and non-teaching staff members, share positive attitudes related to diversity and are mobilized to meet the needs of students by collaborating. We also observed that participating schools deploy various strategies to adapt to the reality of parents and work with them to support their children’s socio-academic experience. Furthermore, the two schools nurture partnerships with various actors of the community in order to better address the needs of the students. The data analysis highlights the adaptation of these schools to diversity, an adaptation that goes beyond acknowledging and valorizing otherness. Our thesis contributes to the operationalization of a perspective such as inclusive education and to the questioning of its potential as a unifying paradigm of diverse perspectives on how to better adapt to diversity in today’s context.

Keyphrases: Leadership scolaire, Ethnocultural diversity, Recent immigration, Socioeconomic disadvantage, School success and resiliency, Inclusive education, School ethnography, School leadership, School, family and community collaborations