Inclusion has never been more prominent in educational discourse. Yet, for many school leaders, the challenge remains the same: how do we create classrooms where every pupil can thrive while maintaining ambitious expectations for all?
The EEF guidance report, Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools, offers a clear answer. Effective inclusion is not primarily about additional interventions, separate systems or extensive differentiation. Instead, it begins with high-quality teaching that is deliberately designed to meet the needs of all learners.
Image of the EEF SEND Mainstream Guidance Report
Inclusion starts with great teaching
The EEF guidance is unequivocal: ‘High-quality teaching improves outcomes for all pupils and is particularly important for pupils with SEND.’ This principle is reflected in The EEF’s Guide to Inclusive Teaching, which help teachers anticipate barriers to learning, reduce unnecessary cognitive load and provide appropriate support without reducing challenge. This matters because inclusive classrooms are not created by lowering expectations. They are created by making success accessible. For school leaders, this shifts the conversation from what additional support do some pupils need? to How can we design learning so that more pupils succeed from the outset?
Towards inclusive design
For many years, inclusion has been associated with producing different tasks for different groups of pupils. Increasingly, the evidence points towards a more sustainable and effective approach: designing learning that is accessible to the widest possible range of learners.
The Guide to Inclusive Teaching encourage teachers to think carefully about:
How new learning is explained
How information is presented
How classroom routines support participation
How scaffolds are used and gradually removed
How learning is checked and adapted in response to pupil need
These approaches benefit all pupils but are particularly powerful for pupils with SEND, those experiencing disadvantage and those with gaps in prior knowledge.
The goal is not to create separate learning experiences but to ensure that every pupil can access the same ambitious curriculum.
Creating classrooms where everyone belongs
Inclusion is about more than access. It is also about belonging. The EEF guidance highlights the importance of understanding individual needs while maintaining high expectations. Pupils are more likely to engage and succeed when they experience consistent relationships, predictable routines and a genuine sense of belonging.
This aligns with the Great Teaching Toolkit’s emphasis, on creating supportive learning environments characterised by trust, respect and positive relationships. Teachers who know their pupils well and create psychologically safe classrooms are better able to support participation and learning for all pupils.
Many leaders will recognise that some of the most inclusive practices are often the simplest: clear instructions, strong routines, effective modelling, carefully sequenced learning and purposeful feedback. These practices do not sit alongside inclusion. They are inclusion.
What does inclusive leadership look like in practice?
The most effective school leaders move inclusion from being a specialist responsibility to being everyone’s responsibility.
Practical actions might include:
Embedding discussion of the EEF Inclusive Teaching Strategies within instructional coaching and professional development.
Using lesson visits to look for evidence of accessibility, participation and pupil thinking, rather than focusing solely on compliance.
Reviewing curriculum resources to identify and remove unnecessary barriers for pupils with SEND.
Ensuring adaptive teaching is a core component of subject leader monitoring and support.
Creating structured opportunities for teachers to share successful inclusive classroom strategies.
Using pupil voice to understand where learners feel successful, included and challenged.
At St Matthew’s, we have found that some of the strongest gains have come not from introducing additional interventions but from strengthening whole-class teaching. For example, refining classroom routines, improving the quality of teacher explanations and developing more effective scaffolding approaches has improved access to learning for pupils with SEND while strengthening outcomes across entire classes.
A leadership imperative
The EEF’s Guide to Inclusive Teaching, remind us that inclusion is not an initiative to be added to an already crowded improvement plan. It is a way of thinking about curriculum, teaching and leadership. The most inclusive schools are not necessarily those with the greatest number of interventions. They are those where leaders have intentionally designed systems, professional learning and classroom practice, so that every pupil can participate, belong and succeed.
Inclusive leadership is therefore not simply about supporting vulnerable pupils. It is about creating the conditions in which great teaching reaches every learner.
Further Reading:
Education Endowment Foundation (2020) Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools: Guidance Report. London: Education Endowment Foundation.
Education Endowment Foundation (2025) Inclusive Teaching. London: Education Endowment Foundation.
Evidence Based Education (2020) A Model for Great Teaching.
