The first step to inclusion is the physical presence of all students in the classroom. This may sound obvious, but in the past there has been a tendency to segregate students with an SEN, to teach them in small groups in a different room or even to educate them in a separate school. The new SEND Code of Practice clearly expresses that full inclusion is the way forward for the majority of students with an SEN and this means being educated in the same class as their peers.
Physical Presence –
As the name suggests this means that it is key for students to be physically present in the classroom as much as possible. This will allow them the opportunity to learn the same as their peers and to gain key social and communication skills. However a number of students may on occasion be asked to attend an intervention, at the moment the link offers interventions for numeracy, literacy, social skills and behaviour. If a student is required to attend one of these it is important that the class teacher does their best to ensure the student is kept up to date with class work and is able to fit straight back into classroom activities on their return.
Emotional Presence –
It is all very well having a student with additional needs present in the classroom, but in order for them to be included and ready to learn, these student need to be emotionally present.
So what does emotional presence look like? Students with an SEN are 7 times more likely to be excluded from school than a student without an SEN (DfE, 2010), this staggering figure is linked to results showing these exclusions are normally for prolonged disruptive behaviour. This to me suggests that students find themselves in lessons they don’t understand and therefore present behaviours to avoid their additional educational needs becoming apparent. Emotional presence therefore refers to students being in a place of emotional readiness so that they are able to take part in the lesson. The bullet points below give some suggestions as to what this might look like:
- Self – motivated to learn
- Resilient
- Able to manage own emotions
- Able to recognise the feelings of others
- Reflective
- Good social skills
So you may be thinking, how do I get a student with an SEN to develop these emotions? Well you are probably doing lots of things already, but here are a few ideas that may help and if you find they are not working, then you may want to contact the staff in the link for extra support.
What you can do…..
Build team activities into your lessons.
Build relationships with your pupils.
Use reward systems more than consequences.
Provide lots of appropriate praise.
Use group work for other students to model appropriate social skills.
Build time for reflection into every lesson.
Always remain in control of your own emotions and model good behaviour.
I hope this provides you with some food for thought and in later articles I will look more specifically at behaviour for learning and provide specific techniques and resources. In the mean time I would like to recommend the book ‘Behaviour for Learning Proactive Approaches to Behaviour Management’ as an excellent read when looking at emotional readiness within the classroom.
References:
Department for Education (2010) A Profile of Pupil Exclusions in England. London: HMSO.
Department for Education. (2014) SEND code of practice 0-25. London: HMSO.
Ellis, S., and Tod, J. (2009) Behaviour for Learning Proactive Approaches to Behaviour Management. Abingdon: Routledge.
Evans, J. (2011) Tough Love, not get tough: Responsive approaches to improving behaviour in schools. London: Barnardos.
Humphrey, N. (2013) Social and Emotional Learning a critical appraisal. London. Sage.
I hope this provides you with some food for thought and in later articles I will look more specifically at behaviour for learning and provide specific techniques and resources. In the mean time I would like to recommend the book ‘Behaviour for Learning Proactive Approaches to Behaviour Management’ as an excellent read when looking at emotional readiness within the classroom.
Inclusion made easy 
