Research School Network: Inclusion starts in the classroom: using the EEF guidance to reflect on inclusive practice Inclusion starts in the classroom: using the EEF guidance to reflect on inclusive practice

Georgina Ellis, Chief Education Officer for SEND at Unity Schools Partnership
Marc Rowland, Pupil Premium & Vulnerable Learners Advisor

The publication of the EEF’s new Guide to Inclusive Teaching gives mainstream school leaders a valuable opportunity to reflect on what inclusion currently looks like in their settings.

Importantly, the guide is not simply a list of new things for schools to introduce. Instead, it provides a useful framework through which leaders can consider what is already working well, where practice is consistent and where further development may be needed. The EEF describes inclusive teaching as enabling every child to participate and succeed, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.

At Unity Schools Partnership, this aligns with a principle we use regularly: inclusion starts with what happens in the classroom every day. It is baked in, not bolted on.

Reflect first on what is available to everyone

The guidance identifies five universal approaches: explicit instruction, effective feedback, scaffolding, positive relationships and calm classroom environments. These are not SEND-specific strategies. They are features of effective teaching that benefit everyone, while being particularly important for some pupils with additional needs. They provide an opportunity for leaders to ask:

• How consistently are these approaches embedded across our classrooms?
• Where do we see particularly strong practice?
• Do all pupils benefit equally from it?

For example, breaking complex learning into manageable steps may support a whole class, but for a pupil who experiences difficulties with working memory or processing information, it may be essential for participation.

As we often say across Unity: valuable for all, vital for some.

Look carefully at what happens next

Strong universal provision will not remove the need for adaptation. Some pupils will require adapted teaching, technology, targeted interventions, additional adult support or specialist input. The guidance provides an opportunity to reflect not just on what support is provided, but on the difference it makes.

Leaders might ask:

• Is the pupil participating and learning?
• Is the adaptation maintaining appropriate challenge?
• Is the adaptation maintaining appropriate challenge?
• Is support building independence?
• What evidence tells us that it is working?
• Do we review and adapt provision when it is not having the intended impact?

This moves the conversation from simply identifying provision to evaluating its effectiveness.

Use the guidance as a leadership tool

Perhaps the greatest value of the guidance is its potential to support professional dialogue. It can help leaders, teachers, SENCOs and teaching assistants develop a shared understanding of what effective inclusive practice looks like.

For leaders, this is an opportunity to consider inclusion through the lens of wider school improvement rather than as a separate SEND initiative. The starting point does not need to be ​“What else should we introduce?” Instead, we might ask:

• What are we already doing well?
• How consistently is that happening across the school?
• Which pupils are not yet benefiting enough?
• What should we strengthen next?

Used in this way, the EEF guidance provides a framework for reflection, professional dialogue and improvement, helping schools ensure that inclusion is not something additional we provide, but increasingly the way we teach.

Final reflections

We tend to overestimate what [disadvantaged] pupils have learned​in any lesson / sequence of lessons. The guidance helps us work in partnership to support pupils’ learning.

• Leaders can use the guidance to help teachers to refine and improve their practice. Not because practice is poor but because we are restless to improve children’s experiences.
• Teachers can use the guidance to focus on the importance of effective planning to ensure pupils can access the learning and work independently.
• All staff can use the guidance to prioritise rigorous checking for understanding. Responding accordingly is key to securing a strong level of status for all pupils in the classroom – but particularly those at risk of underachievement.

This allows teachers to deploy their resources and capacity to those that might need further support. It also allows teachers (and support staff) to apply the ​‘least help first’ principle. It also helps teacher wellbeing!

Resources:

Guide to Inclusive Teaching | EEF