School-principals’ value profiles and associations with their inclusive policy-practices

This study, part of a broader investigation into inclusive education and school leadership, examines whether school principals can be classified according to their value profiles and explores the relationships between these profiles and their attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and practices regarding the education of students with disabilities and/or special educational needs (D/SEN). It also investigates the predictive role of principals’ values in these dimensions. Data were collected through a questionnaire validated for the Greek context and electronically administered to 582 principals from 334 primary and 248 secondary schools, selected through two-stage stratified sampling. Two-step cluster analysis identified four distinct value profiles: the Ambitious, the Conciliators, the Conservatives, and the Sophisticated. These clusters differed significantly not only in their value profiles but also in their attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and practices regarding D/SEN education. Benevolence, universalism, self-direction, and stimulation were positively associated with inclusive education, whereas security, tradition, conformity, achievement, and power were negatively associated. Values emerged as the strongest predictor of principals’ attitudes and, together with knowledge, played an important role in shaping beliefs, attitudes, and practices. These findings represent correlational relationships and should not be interpreted as causal.