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Seven Principles. Seven Conversations | Session 1 recap
Our Seven Principles. Seven Conversations series began on Tuesday 20 October, with Dr Helen Curran joining Tracey Maloney and Shanti Chahal to discuss ambitious leadership and governance that embeds inclusion.
The conversation explored how schools can use the process of writing an inclusion strategy to look more closely at their existing practice, involve colleagues across the school and consider what needs to change.
It’s no coincidence that ambitious leadership and governance is the first of the seven principles. The decisions leaders make and the structures they put in place provide the foundation for how inclusion is understood, supported and put into practice across the school.
Here are six points that stood out from the discussion.
1. The strategy won’t be perfect from day one
With a deadline approaching, there’s understandably a focus on getting the document written. But the conversation raised an important distinction between producing a compliant strategy and having one that genuinely shapes what happens in school.
Writing the document is an opportunity to take stock. What’s already working? Where are the gaps? What would we like to do differently?
The first version won’t have all the answers, nor should it be expected to. It’s a starting point that schools can return to and build on.
2. Inclusion can’t sit with the SENCO alone
One of the points explored was the risk of inclusion becoming something the SENCO writes about and governors approve, without wider discussion.
The SENCO has a coordinating role, but responsibility for inclusion needs to be shared.
That raises some practical questions. How closely do senior leaders work with the SENCO? How involved are SEND governors? Who is responsible for putting different parts of the strategy into practice?
Sharing responsibility doesn’t mean losing accountability. Schools need to consider how those responsibilities are organised, and how information reaches the people making decisions.
3. Look at what your existing evidence is telling you
Schools don’t necessarily need to begin by collecting more data.
Attendance, pupil progress, participation and other information already gathered across the school can provide a useful starting point.
The discussion encouraged schools to look at this evidence thematically. Are there patterns emerging? Are particular groups experiencing barriers? Are there things we think are working well, but don’t yet have the evidence to demonstrate?
The EEF’s Guide to Inclusive Teaching was also highlighted as a useful resource for schools reviewing their approach. It offers an evidence-informed starting point for thinking about inclusive classroom practice, alongside the evidence schools already hold about their pupils.
Sometimes the gaps in what we know can be just as useful as the information we already have.
4. Ambition needs a starting point
Every school has its own context, challenges and priorities. An inclusion strategy needs to reflect these rather than simply describe what an inclusive school should look like.
Understanding the current position is an important part of deciding what comes next.
Who are the children in our school? What barriers do they face? What are we already doing to address them?
Having a clear picture of that starting point makes it easier to set ambitions that are relevant to the school and its community.
5. How will we know what’s working?
It’s worth thinking about what progress will actually look like, and what evidence schools might use to recognise it.
Schools might also consider how staff training translates into classroom practice, and what evidence they have of the difference it’s making for pupils.
That doesn’t have to be limited to academic results. Do children feel they belong? Are they attending regularly? Are they taking part in whole-class lessons and wider school life?
These are useful questions to consider when deciding what to monitor, how often to review it and who should be involved.
6. A strategy that evolves with your school
One of the messages to emerge from the session was that writing an inclusion strategy shouldn’t be the end of the process.
Schools will learn more about what works as they put their plans into practice. Priorities may change, new challenges will emerge and some approaches will need adapting.
Making time for those conversations, and ensuring the right people are involved, can help the strategy remain useful long after the initial document has been completed.
Four questions to consider
The conversation also explored four questions that could help schools as they begin writing or reviewing their inclusion strategy:
- What are we ambitious for?
- What barriers are our pupils experiencing?
- What leadership and governance arrangements will support our approach?
- How will we know whether pupils’ experiences and outcomes are improving?
These questions offer a useful starting point for discussions between school leaders, SENCOs and governors.
Further reading
Four resources that may be useful when reviewing your school’s approach to inclusion:
- School belonging: Case studies and research – Department for Education
- The Childhood Lottery – Children’s Commissioner
- Developing an inclusion strategy using the Inclusive Mainstream Fund – Department for Education
- A School’s Guide to Inclusive Teaching – EEF
Join the next conversation
Our next session, Evidence-based early intervention, takes place on Tuesday 27 October, from 4:00 – 4:45pm.
The series is free to attend, with seven conversations exploring different aspects of developing a whole-school inclusion strategy.