Research School Network: Breaking down the barriers to learning How can teachers identify barriers to learning and make deliberate choices to reduce or remove them?

Teaching is profoundly complex. It takes place in a ​“wicked learning environment” (Hogarth et al., 2015), where it can be difficult to determine which actions cause learning. Patterns are hard to detect, and experience can be a misleading guide to future action.

Within this environment, our job is to try to break down multiple barriers to learning, not just responsively during teaching, but prior to and after too, as we reflect on challenges and plan to address them in subsequent lessons.

There are ways, however, to make it easier. By identifying the barriers, or at least anticipating them, we may be better able to manage this complexity and improve the quality of teaching.

Knowing our students

One of the biggest challenges in education is the variance in who we find sitting in front of us. It is the reason that we are constantly checking and adapting our lesson plans. Corinne Settle of the EEF discusses why ​‘seeing the learner’ is such an important starting point in her excellent blog, Seeing the learner: the starting point for inclusive teaching | EEF

Knowing what we want to achieve

As tempting as it is to ​‘get through’ a curriculum topic, if we don’t check and adapt, we risk moving on before pupils have secured the knowledge and understanding they need to make sense of what comes next.

Spotting these moments and responding effectively relies on strong subject and curriculum knowledge and gives teachers the confidence to adapt. Teachers need to understand not just the content they are teaching, but also the knowledge, skills and potential misconceptions that sit beneath it (see ​“An example from a Year 11 biology classroom” – Embedding Maths Skills in the Science… | Devon Research School).

Knowing our routines

The EEF guide to Inclusive Teaching states that ​“calm and predictable classroom environments help pupils to focus on learning, participate fully and feel safe” and explores ways to achieve this (see Universal approaches | EEF). Consistent routines can help ensure cognitive load is not spent on decoding unhelpful variance in instructions and expectations, but on actual learning.

Knowing pupils who face additional barriers

For some pupils, another barrier to learning is a lack of belonging. Feeling you belong in the classroom may be connected to experiencing success there, but this of course is harder to achieve when pupils are absent from lessons. This makes positive relationships between school staff, pupils and families particularly important.

For pupils who find attending lessons challenging, small things may make a significant difference. We can welcome them back warmly after a period of absence and help them work out what they need to do to settle back in. These actions communicate an important message: you belong here, we noticed you were missing, and we want you back.

Knowing ourselves

Finally, our own assumptions about what students are capable of learning can sometimes be the barrier. The labels we see and language we use may inadvertently reinforce subconscious biases, leading us to make limiting judgements about ability or potential.

Schools can help to counter this by ensuring that the ways information is shared about pupils supports teachers’ planning and decision-making and reinforces high expectations. For example, at Kingsbridge Community College, leaders run weekly inclusion briefings in which there are opportunities to communicate live barriers, share strategies and provide a platform for leaders to reinforce high expectations.

Teaching is complex and rife with barriers to overcome, but by recognising and reflecting on those barriers, we can identify what is getting in the way of learning and make deliberate choices about how to reduce or remove them.

References

Claydon, H. (2026) _​Embedding maths skills in the science classroom: why it matters. Devon Research School, 5 May. Available at: https://researchschool.org.uk/devon/news/embedding-maths-skills-in-the-science-classroom-why-it-matters [Accessed: 12 October 2026].

Education Endowment Foundation (2026) The EEF guide to inclusive teaching: universal approaches. Available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/inclusive-teaching/universal-approaches [Accessed: 12 October 2026].

Hogarth, R. M., Lejarraga, T., & Soyer, E. (2015). The two settings of kind and wicked learning environments. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25(5), 379 – 385. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721415591878.

Settle, C. (2026) Seeing the learner: the starting point for inclusive teaching. Education Endowment Foundation, 21 September. Available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/seeing-the-learner-inclusive-teaching [Accessed: 12 October 2026].