Focus on Inclusion Spotlight
At Mid Essex Initial Teacher Training, we believe that inclusion should not be viewed as a standalone topic, but as an integral part of high-quality teaching. To support this, we have developed our Inclusion Spotlight, a carefully sequenced strand woven throughout our Core Training curriculum.
Rather than exploring inclusion through isolated sessions, trainees revisit a cohort of fictional pupils throughout the training year. Each pupil represents different experiences and potential barriers to learning, including special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), English as an Additional Language (EAL), social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH), attendance challenges, identity, literacy difficulties and high prior attainment.
As trainees progress through the programme, these pupils are revisited through different curriculum themes such as behaviour, assessment, adaptive teaching, curriculum design and safeguarding. This enables trainees to develop increasingly sophisticated professional judgement and a deeper understanding of how barriers to learning can influence pupils' experiences in the classroom.
The Inclusion Spotlight is built around several key principles:
- Inclusion is part of high-quality teaching
- Pupils are more than labels
- Professional judgement matters
- Identity and belonging are important
- Barriers to learning are often complex and interconnected
By embedding inclusion across the curriculum, we aim to help future teachers recognise barriers to learning, anticipate need, adapt their practice without lowering expectations, and create classrooms where all pupils can participate, belong and succeed.
Photograph: Mid Essex ITT trainees engaging in an Inclusion Spotlight activity during Core Training.
