Special educational needs and inclusion
November 2005
Introduction
How might schools manage inclusion in ways that are compatible with raising all pupils’ achievements?
To read a one-page summary of this RoM, go to the overview.
Including children with diagnosed special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream classes has been government policy for a number of years, partly because there had been criticisms of the quality of teaching and learning in special schools, and of the social segregation of their pupils. In June this year, Baroness Warnock, originally a firm supporter of inclusion, voiced her concern that in practice the system was still failing too many children. So, what impact does inclusion have on pupils’ achievement – both those with diagnosed special needs and those without – and how could schools manage inclusion so that they reduce any possible negative impact that inclusion might have? This month we have chosen a study that sheds some light on these key issues.
The study is:
Dyson A., Farrell, P., Hutcheson, G., & Polat, F. (2004)
Inclusion and pupil achievement DfES RR578
The researchers analysed national pupil attainment data, which included information on over 500,000 pupils in mainstream schools at each key stage, to explore the effects of school inclusivity on pupils’ scores in national assessments. Their findings suggested that attainment was largely independent of levels of inclusivity and indicated that other factors (such as socio-economic status, gender and ethnicity) may have a more significant impact on attainment.
The researchers also examined how 16 highly inclusive schools (schools with a high proportion of pupils with SEN) managed inclusion. They identified strategies that seemed likely to enhance the attainment of all pupils. These included careful individual monitoring, flexible grouping and strategies for raising achievement generally.
In this month’s RoM, we report on:
- the impact of including SEN pupils on academic attainment at LEA-level, school-level and for pupils
- ways of managing inclusion that seem compatible with raising the achievement of all pupils
- the groups of pupils most likely to be ‘at risk’ of low attainment.
We also provide case study examples that illustrate some of the strategies for managing inclusion identified by the study, such as training TAs to work with SEN pupils, helping SEN pupils make friends and raising the attainment of groups of low attaining pupils.
We think that practitioners at both primary and secondary level will find the material will help them rise to the dual challenge of being inclusive and raising achievement. The RoM will particularly help teachers who are concerned that including SEN pupils in mainstream may inhibit the achievements of those pupils and/or of non-SEN pupils. We explore the specific minor negative connections where they existed (as an inevitable outcome of the presence of low attaining pupils) at the end of the RoM.
About the terms used in the study
The researchers defined ‘school inclusivity’ as the proportion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in a school’s population, not the extent to which schools included SEN pupils in common learning activities. Special educational needs is a very broad category covering a range of conditions and needs, such as autism, emotional and behavioural difficulties and physical impairments. The pupils the researchers identified as having special needs were those who had higher levels of SEN – either provided with a statement or placed at School Action Plus (but without a statement).
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