Abstract
Globalisation has caused many industries to review their practices and inevitably, major changes had to happen in the educational sector as well. Learners from different religious, language, ethnic and many other diverse backgrounds are now attending the same schools, sitting next to each other in the same class. Schools across the globe have had to make significant changes to not only their curricula and policies, but also to the way in which schools are led. It is also no different in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where my study was undertaken. In the UAE, where expatriates make up the majority of the population, schools have undergone massive changes in terms of diversity in classrooms and creating harmony between all occupants of the school. Attempts to improve school leadership through the adoption of Western leadership models have been attempted in the past, but have had limited success because principals did not necessarily share the same cultural norms and values from which such leadership models are derived (Gallagher, 2019). In this study, the concept of cultural responsiveness (CR) is examined to ascertain whether principals and teachers are implementing certain strategies to ensure inclusion of all learners in multicultural schools in the UAE. It is against this background that this study was undertaken. By means of a qualitative approach, data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Six participants, consisting of two principals and four teachers from different private schools, were interviewed. The interviews focused on challenges experienced, as well as leadership styles in international, multicultural schools in the UAE. The findings revealed a variety of challenges that ranged from school to the personal lives of both teachers and learners, as well as different leadership styles exhibited by the various principals. Recommendations for further studies include the screening of potential candidates wanting to teach in the UAE to avoid culture shock amongst other things, and the mandatory inclusion of policy documents that speed up CR practices in schools.
M.Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)