Inclusive mainstream provision research
On behalf of Calderdale and Leeds Councils pop pop studio did some desk research into the way other councils are providing resources for mainstream inclusion
On behalf of Calderdale and Leeds Councils pop pop studio did some desk research into the way other councils are providing resources for mainstream inclusion
We started by looking at how other councils have provided resources for the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle of the graduated response through universal, targeted, and specialist interventions.
Mainstream Inclusion resources may have 4 possible audiencesmainstream teachers and teaching assistants
SENCOs
parent carers, who may want to discuss inclusion strategies with their child’s teacher
pupils, who may want to learn strategies to support themselves
Throughout my research for this review I assumed that I was looking for the best hierarchical structure to allow SENDCos and teachers to follow a path that would lead them to the specific resource they needed. It wasn’t until I had finished the review that I realised that we are looking at 2 different things
Information pages
Directory of resources
I haven’t yet found a council that has created a searchable directory of mainstream inclusion resources. If you know of one, please let me know. We're all about collaboration, and not reinventing the wheel.
As an example of hierarchical pages we have
Home > Schools and learning > SEND Graduated Approach Toolkit > Setting and school staff > School age > Graduated approach > Key Stage > Area of need > Subject > Individual Intervention
This would be a lot of clicks through a lot of pages, each with a number of alternative paths to other resources (such as Assessment, or Top tips). Eventually they would find the resource they are looking for, and could then bookmark that page.
A teacher would need to bookmark a number of pages to be able to find resources to cover the whole curriculum.
The problem with this approach is that it leads to a LOT of repeated content.
You need an "Area of need" page for every Key Stage
You need a "Subject page" for every Area of need
It is a waste of admin time to have to update the same information on multiple pages.
A better idea is to have a searchable directory of resources, categorised under Area of need, Key Stage, graduated level, and so on. A SENCO or teacher can then search for a specific resource, without wading through a PDF or multiple web page.
Nothing is obvious until you see it, of course. I realised that we need 2 types of content, which can, in some cases, be displayed together.
For example, pages about
the graduated approach
universal, targeted, and specialist support
general information about Areas of Need
Take a look at an example web site map for information and advice pages.
Individual resources, added once, and filtered with categories.
Rather than starting at the top of the hierarchy and moving down, we can start with a specific resource, and tag it.
The topics and fields needed to create this type of searchable directory are up for discussion with all stakeholders.
Implementing a directory, and keeping it up to date is notoriously difficult. Some guidelines for including resources are essential. For example
Approved by the SIT team
Simple to understand quickly by class teachers and TAs
Clear, short explanations of how to use the resource
Downloadable resources available directly from the Directory
Fields for tagging might include
Support level
Useful for Whole School Policy
Key Stage
Training or coaching resource
Area of need
SIT support
We will need to work with SIT, SENCOs, and teachers to define the fields that will work best for Calderdale.
How would you categorise the resources in your graduated approach?
While trying to find a specific resource to demonstrate this, I encountered a huge number of problems, which I hope we can avoid in a curated list of resources for Calderdale.
free resources that require a full log in on a payment platform
free resources that were blog posts
awful videos of people waffling for the first half of the video
paid for assessment programmes
unsafe websites (no security certificate)
broken links
links to huge resources that require a lot of sifting through to find what you need (hierarchical, not filterable)
resources that had to be downloaded before you could see what they were
Although I can't share the full report, this is a summary of the findings from the review of mainstream inclusion resources from 12 councils.
Documents are difficult to locate within cluttered pages
Heavy reliance on PDFs and Word documents, creating accessibility barriers
Information is fragmented and repetitive across different pages
No clear stepped approach or logical flow through information
Poor information architecture requiring frequent back-and-forth navigation
Lack of table of contents and clear headings
Broken links
Artificial separation between professional, parent, and pupil sections
Redundant content across different areas
Inconsistent terminology between sections
Stages and progression not clearly defined
Dense, poorly organised documents
Content appears primary-school focused
Difficult to find KS3-specific guidance
Some provision grids don't differentiate by age
Activities labelled as "age appropriate" without filtering options
Limited targeted support advice
Few direct links to specific resources
Teachers must conduct additional research for activities
No apparent resource sharing between SIT and SENCO
Outdated documents
CPD mentions without accompanying links
Lack of transparency about the graduated approach
Complex language may be barrier for parents
No clear guidance for initiating conversations with teachers/SENCOs
Parents must search multiple sections for comprehensive information
Universal advice that could benefit all pupils
Good basic introduction to SEND
Minimal legal jargon and confusing acronyms
Some effective SENCO support
Useful "persistent and significant" difficulties framing
Good Intervention Overview (when found)
Word and PDF documents create problems with
Finding information
Maintaining updates
Ensuring accuracy
Managing information density
Web page format (HTML) instead of PDFs/Word docs
Clear navigation structure
Consistent terminology
Age-appropriate filtering
Direct resource links
Simplified parent/carer guidance
Better integration of shared resources
Regular content updates
Improved searchability