Reflect

Most children spend a vast amount of their time in school and I think we all realise that the environment they are in really matters. All of us who love or educate children and young people want that environment to be somewhere they feel safe, valued, understood and supported, a place where they have opportunities to develop and thrive. But what does that really mean in practice? What makes a school truly inclusive?

A few weeks ago, we tried to find out! We hosted a conference on inclusive education for our Tooled Up school staff (all of the talks are available for teachers to watch back now). Bringing together ten experts from the worlds of psychology, neuroscience and education, we hoped to explore what genuinely inclusive schools can look like. Over the course of the day, we considered everything from trauma-informed teaching and learning science to neurodiversity, school attendance, intersectionality, classroom environments, teacher wellbeing and the importance of listening to children and young people's experiences.

My head was spinning by the end of it, and listening to the research, grappling with some challenging questions and considering a range of practical ideas left me, the whole Tooled Up team, and all of the teachers who attended live with plenty to mull over. Throughout the day, I was struck by the fact that despite approaching inclusion from a range of different perspectives, our speakers often returned to similar themes. I think that every single presenter encouraged us to question the assumptions that we make about children and learning, consider the environments in which they learn and remain curious about their individual experiences.

Reassuringly, one of the messages that emerged was that being inclusive doesn't necessarily mean reinventing the wheel, or even always doing more. Sometimes, it might mean thinking slightly differently about what is already being done, being willing to try new approaches, reflecting on how well they went, and working collaboratively, with educators, pupils and families all pulling together. This week, we thought that we'd share a few of the ideas and insights from the day.

Motivate

The importance of reflecting on how we fill in these blanks was one of the central messages from educator and speaker Joy Mbakwe, whose thought-provoking presentation challenged us to consider the assumptions we make about the children in front of us. At one point, she showed us some images of children we didn’t know and asked us to say what we thought their lives were like. What sort of family do they have? What are their attitudes to school? How old are they? What are their interests? What are their challenges? What is their future? Are they kind? What are their friends like? It wasn’t actually that hard to come up with some ideas, even when we might think we’d never profile another person in this way. When we really think about it, we make assumptions about others all the time, sometimes without even realising.

If a child repeatedly comes in late, we might assume they are disorganised or don't particularly care about punctuality. If a child regularly arrives at school without the correct uniform, we might assume they are deliberately flouting the rules. We might think that the child who gets to school early, sits attentively through lessons and never causes any trouble is happy and thriving. But perhaps the first child has caring responsibilities at home. Maybe the second is experiencing financial difficulties. Perhaps the third is actually working extremely hard to stay regulated at school and is exhausted to the point of meltdown when they get home. We may well simply not know.

In schools, educators see children's behaviour, attendance, academic performance, friendships and interactions with others, but Joy reminded us that these things only tell us part of their story. We might know less about the challenges they face outside school, how they feel about themselves, whether they feel that they belong or what it might take for them to get through an ordinary school day. Remaining curious, considering alternative explanations and being willing to question our initial judgements can help us to better see children as individuals.

This same concept was also central to Dr Jerricah Holder's presentation, which explored autism, masking and school distress. Dr Holder encouraged educators to think carefully not only about children who are obviously struggling, but also about those who appear to be coping well. She explained that some autistic children and young people work incredibly hard to navigate the social, sensory and emotional demands of the school day, and can often effectively conceal just how challenging they find it. Masking might include copying other people's behaviour, learning social scripts or finding ways to conceal difficulties in social situations. It’s not always a deliberate choice, or necessarily something that children can simply switch on and off, and, over time, camouflaging in this way can become quite automatic. It can also serve a useful purpose, helping young people to navigate social situations, build relationships or feel that they fit in. However, maintaining these strategies can require considerable effort and, for some children, contribute to anxiety, exhaustion and distress, which often appears at home. Parents and teachers can sometimes have very different impressions of how a child is doing, particularly when distress becomes apparent only after they return home, but both accounts can be accurate.

Another recurring theme throughout the conference was the importance of looking beyond diagnostic labels. Of course, diagnoses can be enormously valuable in helping children and families understand their experiences and access appropriate support. However, as Professor Joel Talcott explained, they don't necessarily tell us very much about a child's particular strengths, difficulties or what might help them to learn. Two children with the same diagnosis might have quite different needs, whilst pupils with entirely different diagnoses, or no diagnosis at all might share similar challenges. Professor Jo Van Herwegen reinforced this point, discussing research which showed significant overlaps in the needs of children with different diagnoses. She also reminded us that children's strengths and needs change as they grow, and that strategies that help at one point in their education may be less useful at another.

Professor Talcott spoke about his new Universal Classroom Profiler, a free tool developed with teachers to help them better understand the range of strengths and needs within their classrooms, rather than relying only on diagnoses. The profiler considers different areas of functioning, including communication, movement, sensory processing, social and emotional development and executive functioning, and aims to help educators recognise needs and better target support, both for individual pupils and across a class. The tool is still being developed, but anyone interested in trialling it or being involved in the project should get in touch.

Of course, recognising that children have different needs is one thing. Knowing what to do about them is another! Both Professor Pamela Snow and Professor Van Herwegen's presentations offered teachers some particularly interesting insights into which educational approaches are most likely to help.

Professor Snow spoke about the very limited capacity of our working memories, and reminded us that children's executive functioning skills are still developing. Any experiences of trauma, chronic stress or adversity can place additional demands on attention, emotional regulation and working memory, making it even harder for some children to learn. Whilst educators won't necessarily know which children have experienced adversity, trauma-informed approaches and learning science can and should work together to benefit everyone in the class. Professor Snow noted that explicit teaching, modelling, guided practice and opportunities to rehearse and retrieve information can all help to reduce unnecessary cognitive demands and support learning.

For teachers (or parents) who'd like to understand more about which teaching approaches might help children to learn, Professor Van Herwegen showed us an easy-to-use toolkit developed as part of a large piece of work called the MetaSENse project, which is designed to support teachers in selecting effective classroom strategies. The researchers reviewed a huge body of existing studies into the impact of interventions for children with special educational needs and disabilities, assessing which appear to be associated with better learning outcomes. Reinforcing Professor Snow’s advice, explicit teaching and feedback were the components with the most wide ranging impact.

This makes sense. Explicit teaching achieved through setting clear goals, breaking tasks into small steps, modelling and scaffolding leaves children more able to devote their attention and mental resources to learning. Timely and specific feedback can then support children to monitor their own learning, recognise errors and understand what they need to do next to progress. It’s a good reminder that effective universal practices can reduce barriers for many learners and make learning more accessible for all.

Another presentation that stayed with me was Dr Elizabeth Weir's, which explored the educational experiences of autistic people and their implications for wellbeing across the lifespan. Her research is extremely thorough, and it highlighted significant inequalities in educational outcomes between autistic children and their non-autistic peers. She also spoke about troubling associations between negative experiences at school and mental health difficulties later in life for autistic adults. She told us that when autistic people were asked about priorities for suicide prevention (where, sadly, autistic people are at higher risk), many emphasised the importance of improving school education, recognising needs earlier and providing appropriate support. It made me think about just how much children's experiences of school can matter long after they leave.

Support

Sometimes, we need to look at the environment, rather than simply expecting children to adapt. As someone frequently found walking on the treadmill whilst working (or in my current state, wrapped in a blanket and feeling like I might retreat to the sofa), the opening of Shahana Knight’s talk really resonated. Shahana encouraged us to consider the environments in which we adults prefer to work, where we feel most engaged and productive, and how we might respond to being told to sit still on the floor with our legs crossed. Many of us have at least some agency in where and how we work, at least some of the time. In contrast, children often have relatively little choice and, for some, small changes can make classrooms significantly more comfortable and accessible. Creating environments that reduce environmental stress and sensory demands can benefit some children hugely.

Young people’s voices matter and listening can improve school settings. It's worth considering how often children are given meaningful opportunities to influence their school environments, and what impact this might have on engagement and learning. Dr Devyn Glass talked us through what this might look like in practice, telling us about a project where she co-designed inclusive PSHE education with neurodivergent pupils. The young people involved were able to identify aspects of lessons that they found uncomfortable or difficult to access and suggest ways to improve them. Schools won’t be able to accommodate every suggestion, but being curious and taking children and young people’s perspectives seriously is a good place to start.

Never underestimate the value of continued reflection. Victoria Bagnall encouraged educators to continually reflect on how accessible their teaching and classroom environments are for different learners. Rather than viewing inclusion as a series of individual adjustments, she encouraged us to think about the barriers that might exist within our everyday approaches, consider what could be changed to benefit a wider range of pupils (using principles of universal design) and to continually review how well these changes work. Joy Mbakwe encouraged educators to be willing to ask difficult questions, even when the answers might make us uncomfortable. This includes questioning our assumptions about individual pupils, but also thinking more broadly about whose experiences are represented in the curriculum. Whose stories are told? Whose perspectives might be missing? Are some groups only represented through stories of struggle or disadvantage?

Communication between home and school is vital. Parents and educators will frequently have different perspectives and both are valuable. In fact, working together seems key to understanding children's individual experiences and needs. If you are a parent, sharing observations, concerns and insights about what helps your child can be enormously valuable, as can remaining curious about what teachers are noticing in school. Keeping communication open and listening to one another when exploring possible solutions can really help when trying to ensure that your child feels comfortable, supported and included at school. If you work in a school, then remember that loving parents and carers tend to know and understand their children well and can offer insights that may not be visible to you at school.

If you are a teacher, remember that you need support too. Your wellbeing matters in its own right, and the emotional demands of teaching are considerable. Beyond this, your emotional state is also important to the students you teach. Sarah Cox's workshop on staff wellbeing explored the importance of managing stress and emotional regulation, including how these can influence interactions with children. I came away thinking that, for school staff, it is vital to have supportive systems, time, resources and opportunities to develop and reflect. Inclusion cannot depend on individual teachers continually stretching themselves further. Inclusive schools need inclusive cultures, not just inclusive classrooms, and creating that is a shared endeavour.

When I was reviewing all of the presentations, I came back to one comment that Joy made during her talk. She said, “When I think of belonging, I often think of family, community and friendship. But school didn’t come to mind. In fact, when I thought about whether I belonged in school I felt this sense of disdain or rejection. I didn’t really feel as though I belonged in school”. I think my main takeaway message is that there’s so much that we can all do, whether we are educators or parents (or both), to help make schools places where more children experience a sense of belonging and fewer remember their school days in the way that Joy describes. We're never going to get everything right, but we can all try to keep learning and be willing to make changes when we see that something isn’t quite working.