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Seven Principles. Seven Conversations | Session 3 recap
How can schools adapt teaching to meet individual needs without reducing curriculum ambition? How can curriculum design anticipate barriers to learning before pupils encounter them?
These questions were the focus of the third conversation in Equalitas’ free Seven Principles. Seven Conversations series.
Tracey Maloney, Director of Initial Teacher Education at Equalitas, and Dr Helen Curran, independent neurodiversity consultant, explored how adaptive teaching, curriculum design and subject expertise can support inclusive practice across schools.
Here are six key points from the conversation
1. Adaptive teaching is more than differentiation
Adaptive teaching is not simply a new term for differentiation. Rather than preparing different levels of work, teachers should identify barriers to learning and consider how their teaching can respond.
The focus should remain on shared learning goals, with adaptations informed by individual needs, subject demands and classroom context.
2. Accessibility should not mean reduced ambition
Making learning accessible does not require lowering expectations. Pre-teaching vocabulary, modelling, alternative recording methods and carefully planned scaffolding can help pupils access challenging content without reducing curriculum entitlement.
The starting point should always be what pupils are expected to learn, followed by consideration of the support they may need to achieve it.
3. Inclusive curriculum design anticipates barriers
Curriculum leaders, teachers and SENCOs should work together to identify potential barriers during curriculum planning, rather than making adjustments only when difficulties arise.Considering vocabulary, sequencing, working memory and processing demands from the outset can improve access for a wider range of learners, including those whose needs have not yet been formally identified.4. Inclusion happens within subjects
As Tracey observed during the conversation: “Inclusion happens in subjects and not outside of them.”
The barriers a pupil encounters in mathematics may differ considerably from those experienced in history, science or English.
Inclusive practice therefore requires both subject expertise and an understanding of individual learning needs. A single approach to adaptive teaching will not necessarily work across every subject or context.
5. Additional support should develop independence
Helen highlighted the importance of distinguishing between task completion and meaningful learning.
Scaffolding and adult support should help pupils access important knowledge while gradually developing their independence.
For teachers and teaching assistants, this means considering the level of support pupils genuinely need and how that support can be reduced as their confidence and understanding develop.
6. Evaluate impact, not simply the presence of strategies
The presence of adaptations does not necessarily demonstrate effective inclusive teaching.
Leaders should consider whether pupils are accessing the curriculum, participating meaningfully, learning and becoming increasingly independent.
Classroom observations, pupil discussions, assessment information and conversations with staff can help schools evaluate the impact of their approaches over time.
From discussion to inclusion strategy
The conversation concluded by considering how schools can translate these principles into a meaningful inclusion strategy.
Tracey and Helen explored the difference between simply listing planned activities and explaining how those activities will improve pupils’ experiences.
For example, rather than committing only to purchasing vocabulary resources and providing staff training, a school could identify specific barriers, explain how subject leaders and teachers will respond and establish how improvements in participation, learning and independence will be evaluated.
A useful framework emerged:
Curriculum ambition → Barrier → Curriculum response → Teaching response → Pupil experience → Impact
This provides a practical way for leaders to connect curriculum priorities with the changes they want pupils to experience.
Four questions for school leaders and SENCOs
- How effectively do curriculum leaders and SENCOs work together to anticipate barriers during curriculum planning?
- Are adaptations maintaining ambitious expectations while improving pupils’ access to learning?
- Does additional support develop independence, or could some approaches unintentionally create dependency?
- How do we evaluate the impact of adaptive teaching on pupils’ participation, understanding and progress over time?
Continuing the conversation
The third session reinforced the importance of embedding inclusion within curriculum design and everyday classroom practice, rather than treating it as an additional provision.
For schools developing their inclusion strategies, the challenge is to connect curriculum ambition with purposeful adaptations and clear evidence of their impact on pupils.
Explore the full Seven Principles. Seven Conversations series