Achieving high standards and the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (Updated)

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Inclusion
Pupil grouping and organisation of classes

What concerns did staff have about inclusion policies and practices?

Teachers were concerned particularly with social barriers with which SEN pupils sometimes had to face. For example one teacher wrote in her journal:

I noticed that Brian was very much left out of the small group discussions, because the boys with whom he was working were able to write down their answers much quicker than Brian could... Disappointed that despite all the work we have recently done on disability and prejudice the boys in my tutor group unwittingly exclude Brian.

The teacher tried to help Brian in the short term by scribing for him while a teaching assistant worked with another child but noted also that it was something she would have to discuss further with the other pupils. Teachers were particularly concerned about students' personal privacy, friendship and belonging. Support staff reported variability in the extent of differentiation of tasks and materials and in the range of teaching approaches used. One support worker commented, "Some lessons still have lots of teacher talk."

There was also concern felt by staff in one school that the success of inclusion policies would promote the reputation of the school as catering for predominantly low-ability pupils. This problem did not materialise as the school has been able to demonstrate that it is possible to be inclusive while improving academic achievement.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction Does inclusion have an impact on school effectiveness? What did the researchers set out to do? Did inclusion affect pupils' achievement? How was learning support used? What concerns did staff have about inclusion policies and practices? What did pupils and parents think? How was the research designed? Implications Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader Achieving high standards and the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (Updated) This digest found in Inclusion Pupil grouping and organisation of classes Send to a friend Word doc 60KB Printer friendly Collate for later What concerns did staff have about inclusion policies and practices? Teachers were concerned particularly with social barriers with which SEN pupils sometimes had to face. For example one teacher wrote in her journal: I noticed that Brian was very much left out of the small group discussions, because the boys with whom he was working were able to write down their answers much quicker than Brian could... Disappointed that despite all the work we have recently done on disability and prejudice the boys in my tutor group unwittingly exclude Brian. The teacher tried to help Brian in the short term by scribing for him while a teaching assistant worked with another child but noted also that it was something she would have to discuss further with the other pupils. Teachers were particularly concerned about students' personal privacy, friendship and belonging. Support staff reported variability in the extent of differentiation of tasks and materials and in the range of teaching approaches used. One support worker commented, "Some lessons still have lots of teacher talk." There was also concern felt by staff in one school that the success of inclusion policies would promote the reputation of the school as catering for predominantly low-ability pupils. This problem did not materialise as the school has been able to demonstrate that it is possible to be inclusive while improving academic achievement.