Inclusion in education has become more or less a part of life in most schools. Stress is put on the creation of conditions under which everyone can achieve at least a minimum level of knowledge, skills and competences and develop his/her potential unrestricted by burdens or changing requirements (Equity and Quality, 2012). Yet it is evident that the goals stipulated by the international educational policy are fulfilled differently in different countries (World Declaration, 1990; Salamanca Statement, 1994; Dakar Framework for Action, 2000). Also, paths to inclusive schools differ within national education systems (cf. Armstrong, Armstrong & Spandagou, 2010; Mitchel, 2005). In their efforts to create inclusive settings, schools have to undergo a variety of structural and procedural changes to which both teachers and school leaders must react appropriately. This study is focused on school leaders as key actors in the process of implementation of innovations (Guzman, 1997; Carrington & Robinson, 2004) carried out within the project Inclusion in schools as an interdisciplinary problem: principles, conditions and the strategy of realization.

The Czech Republic is a country with a relatively long tradition in special education and a highly developed system of professional care for disabled persons (Lechta, 2012). During the 1990s, most regular Czech schools at the preschool, primary and lower secondary levels developed mechanisms in order to integrate physically handicapped and socially disadvantaged children into mainstream education. In the context of this tradition it seems difficult to describe the changes at the level of schools and the roles of leaders in the transition from integration to inclusion. It is also difficult to indicate the specifics of this process in the Czech Republic and specify how they may contribute to international discourse. So we focus on the process of the management and implementation of what Booth & Ainscow (2002) call school culture, policy and practice as support to all children in their learning. The goal is not an overall outline of the situation in the Czech Republic, but a good understanding of the nature of the leadership processes, clearing the way for inclusion under conditions favourable for all those involved (school leaders, teachers, pupils and parents). This is also the reason why we have chosen a case study as our research method as this enabled us to look at the operation of the organization as a whole and in its parts (Yin, 2003; Punch, 2006). We decided to observe the activities of school leaders whose task it is to organize the work inside schools so that the needs of all actors are satisfied.

For the purpose of this paper we focus on some selected key processes of school leadership as conditions to be fulfilled if inclusion is aimed at. Above all it is about work with vision, planning, as well as mechanisms of cooperation and communication. We are interested in how school leaders describe and explain these processes, what they find functional in them and which relations can be found among particular actors. Then we ask where they find the potential for the development or adaptation of these processes, how they substantiate it and which resources they use. And, finally, we are intersted in what role inclusion plays within the vision of leaders and the whole school, and how much vision is projected in these processes. This study therefore deals with the way these processes and questions are perceived by school leaders (the headteacher, his/her deputies and the head of the after-school club) and the school advisory board, which is a professional body for the implementation of pro-inclusive steps as part of the management, support and share of inclusion.

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