Inclusive Teaching

Hey 👋

Hope your week is going wonderfully. Today’s snack is dedicated to the launch of a new discussion paper I’ve been working on (pretty intensely) for the last few months…

Inclusive Teaching—Securing Strong Educational Experiences and Outcomes for All Students 💪

Abstract

This discussion paper examines the serious challenges facing England's special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system: poor student outcomes, strained resources, and system inefficiencies affecting over 1 million young people. We consider five signs that the system is under strain, explore five potential drivers of this situation, and in response, propose five guiding principles designed to reframe our approach to classroom teaching. These principles—which represent a shift from individualism to inclusion—offer a coherent, classroom-based suite of strategies to improve educational experiences and outcomes for all students, especially those with SEND.

Download and read during half-term (perfect for the beach) ⤵️

While we’ve worked hard to ground our proposal in the best available evidence, we recognise that SEND is a complex, evolving, and emotive field. If you have suggestions for how this paper could be even more rigorous or considerate, we’d love to hear them—just hit reply and send us your thoughts.

Finally, massive snaps to my supersmart co-authors Jen & Josh, and the wide range of colleagues who provided kind and constructive feedback on various drafts—the education community is strong and together we make progress.

Little updates 🥕

• Review of studies on drawing to learn → finds it helps most when tasks are well-designed and tests match the drawing style.

• Speech on what AI means for language learning → argues it won’t revolutionise education but can support useful gradual changes if used well.

• Study analysing 1200 children’s books → finds that kids see lots of complex words but not often enough to learn patterns without help.

• Overview of special journal issue on teacher effectiveness → suggests weak links to learning often reflect fuzzy theories, not poor teaching.

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