Inclusive mainstream provision innovation research

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.

Resources hierarchy

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. 

Repeated content

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.

An obvious alternative

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. 

Information and advice pages

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.

A directory with filters

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.

Topics and fields

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. 

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 6 councils. 

1. Accessibility & Navigation Issues

• 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

2. Content Structure Problems

• 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

3. Age-Appropriate Content

• 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

4. Resource Limitations

• 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

5. Parent/Carer Considerations

• 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

6. Positive Aspects

• 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)

7. Technical Issues

• Word and PDF documents create problems with

  • Finding information

  • Maintaining updates

  • Ensuring accuracy

  • Managing information density

8. Suggested Improvements

• 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