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How to Create an
Inclusive Classroom:
12 Tips for Teachers

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classroom-12-tips-for-teachers

#1
Define clear minimum
standards for behaviour.
Every child in your class should be absolutely clear about
what the minimum, basic acceptable levels of behaviour are.
These should be rules that are thought of and agreed by both
you and your class. Once agreed, why not ask children to sign
a class contract to make sure they understand that the class
rules are everyone's responsibility to follow. You might even
like to let children be involved in creating a class rules display.
Keep these short and simple, so everyone can understand
them. Try to make these rules not about learning, specifically,
but about ensuring everyone feels safe and respected.
Examples of rules you might agree on are:
• Be kind
• Keep your hands and feet to yourself
• Use kind words at all times
• Always respect the property of others
• Everyone has the right to feel safe and respected
• Everyone has the right to express themselves and be
listened to

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#2
Enforce rules consistently,
with proportionate
consequences.
Just as you must make the basic class rules absolutely clear
and understood, you must also agree on consequences when
those class rules are ignored.
These consequences must be proportionate and consistently
applied. Remember: the rules for behaviour are
the minimum of what is acceptable in your classroom, so try to
be consistent with consequences when they are broken.
If you are aware of disruption in your class, the first port of call
is to look at your own teaching. Ask yourself ‘is this lesson
inclusive and engaging for all children?’ there may be a way of
adapting your teaching to avoid such disruption.

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#3
Deal with children who
misbehave in a sensitive way.

You know how we said not to write the name of the child who
kept calling out on the board? That's because it is an
insensitive way of dealing with an issue, which visibly singles
out a child in front of everyone. If you write a child's name
down on a piece of paper, they know they have misbehaved.
They also have the opportunity to stop, and amend their
behaviour without further consequence.
If you write the name of a child who misbehaves on the board
—visible to everyone—why would they choose to change their
behaviour? Their name will remain up there, for all to see,
regardless of whether they start to behave better, or not. It's
humiliating – not inclusive, especially for children who
regularly struggle with some of the basic rules (e.g. those with
attention deficit disorders).

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#4
Create opportunities to listen
to all children.

This is especially important when resolving conflicts between

children in your class. Allow time for the children involved to
fully explain how they believe the incident arose, as well as
what has upset them and why.
Create opportunities day-to-day, during normal lessons and
learning, for children to be listened to as well. This helps them
engage with the learning and feel included in it.
Listen to all children's thoughts in the creation of additional
classroom rules (beyond the minimum, basic ones we talked
about before).

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#5
Develop a 'scaffolded'
approach to learning.
What is 'scaffolding' in terms of teaching and learning? We could
write an entire book about scaffolding, but in the simplest
terms, scaffolding means giving support so that all pupils can
access the same learning.
Scaffolding is absolutely key to creating an inclusive learning
environment. You want all of the children in your class to be
accessing the same information during a lesson (even if you
slightly differentiate your resources and activities). Instead of
activities that are entirely different to those you had planned for the
rest of the class, why not plan activities with the same objectives
and outcomes but scaffolding the activities to suit the children's
needs.
The same goes for behaviour. For some children, following rules
set out for the whole class can be tricky. For example, making a
child with ADHD sit for a long period of time is near impossible,
and therefore the expectation that all children sit on the carpet and
listen for periods of time might not be an inclusive approach for
that child. If you looked at the starting line of a race, where one
child was in a wheelchair, that wouldn’t be a fair race. It is the same
for those children with behavioural difficulties. To be inclusive is to
adapt your approach to behaviour in the same way you would
differentiate learning.

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#6
Be aware of the specific needs
of every child in your class.

For a truly inclusive classroom, it's not enough just to know

which of your children have Special Educational Needs and
Disabilities (SEND). You should know which, if any, of your
children are on Free School Meals (FSM), which are
caregivers, which are in foster care, which have English as an
Additional Language (EAL) and which children are from the
particularly vulnerable Roma or traveller communities.
Knowing this will help you consider every aspect of your
classroom, and how you make it inclusive, safe and
purposeful.

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#7
Provide support that benefits
ALL children in your class.
Some inclusion strategies are so universally beneficial for all
students, that they are worth doing in every classroom! For
example, many children with dyslexic traits struggle to read
pure black text on a pure white background. Simply changing
the colours you use on your slides, avoiding black on white,
can help not only children with a dyslexia diagnosis,
but all children.
What if you have children with mild dyslexic traits that are
unlikely to be diagnosed? Changing your slides will help them,
too!
Changing the colours of your slides to ones that are less high-
contrast makes them less tiring to view and read, too: better
for everyone – you included!
This is just one example of an inclusive change that benefits
all children, but there are many, many others.

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#8
Create a calm, purposeful
learning environment.

This is another big one which promotes inclusion for all in your
classroom. We all need calm in order to learn. But creating a
calm environment in class is a tricky thing to master.
Ensure you clearly define when group discussion or working is
required and acceptable, and when it is not.
A calm environment is inclusive for many of your children,
regardless of whether they have a special need for it or not.

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#9
Clearly display timetables and
key information.
This is one of those little changes you can make which helps
everyone, and makes all children feel included.
Some children with dyslexic and dyspraxic traits struggle with
organisation, as do some with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
Clearly displaying timetables (visual timetables are great,
especially for younger learners) helps them, and all your children,
feel involved in the school day.
With a clearly displayed timetable, children can look ahead to
their favourite or least favourite activities, and mentally prepare
accordingly: they may think to themselves 'How will I show
everyone how good I am at History later on?' or 'How will I cope
with PE today?' Sharing the timetable for all to see includes
children and empowers them.
The same is true for key vocabulary, facts or concepts relating to
what you're currently learning in class. Stick this information up
for all to see on display boards. This helps remind children of prior
learning, and to answer questions or tackle tricky tasks.

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#10
Use pre-assessment to inform
your planning.

You might be thinking to yourself: 'What has this got to do with

inclusion?' Well, again, this is about engaging children and
making them feel like they have a say in their own learning.
Don't just assume what your children already know or don't
know when you're planning a new topic; ask them! That way
you'll identify areas which children are curious to learn more
about, and avoid going over very familiar learning.
Pre-assessing children's prior knowledge, and interests
around a subject, in this way shows them that they have been
listened to, and included in their own learning. It's a powerful
tool for inclusion in the classroom.

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#11
Let children choose how to
show what they have learned.
Inclusion works by finding the best way to ensure all children can
access the learning, and have the opportunity to achieve. Setting
exactly the same task for all children may not help you to achieve
that, particularly when it comes to assessing learning.
When you get to the end of the topic, it might be tempting to
assess children's learning with a written test. Don't do this (at least
not every time, anyway)! Instead, offer children a choice of ways
of presenting what they have learned. For example, at the end of
a topic about the Arctic, give children the choice of showing their
learning by:
• Writing a blog
• Creating a poster or infographic
• Making a slideshow presentation
• Recording a short information film or radio programme
Of course, you'll need to provide sufficient resources and support,
plus encourage children to choose a way of showing their learning
which plays to their own strengths.
Giving children a choice empowers them. It's inclusive, because it
creates equal opportunities to show learning and progress in a
way that a standard test (which many children struggle with) may
not.

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#12
Don't compare the progress of one child
to another; personal progress is key.
And so, our final, and possibly most important strategy for an inclusive
environment that benefits all students: don't compare them to one another!

Learning is not a competition. It is a never-ending process, a journey. Think

about yourself for a moment: If you had recently started learning electric guitar,
would it feel fair if your guitar tutor compared you directly to Eric Clapton?

For some children with additional needs, the comparison between themselves
and others in their class can feel as stark, and as disheartening. Don't do this.
What's the point, anyway? How can comparing the attainment of one learner to
another possibly help either of them?

Instead, focus entirely on children's personal progress, and encourage them to

do the same. Ask: 'Can you do even better than you did last time?', 'What do
you want to focus on that you found tricky the last time we looked at this?', or
'What's changed from when we started learning about this, to now?'.

Lastly: sometimes children just won't make progress with something. This can
be crushing for any child, but particularly for those with special needs, who are
more likely to have experienced disappointments like this – over and over
again.

But you can make them feel included in the learning process, and capable of
achieving, even if they haven't this time. How?

Even if a child hasn't made progress, they can identify ways in which
they want to. Teach children that identifying their own shortcomings, or areas for
improvement is learning. By doing so, they are still actively engaging with the
learning and including themselves in it.

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