Inclusive classroom: what it is and how to create one

An inclusive classroom is one where every pupil, including those with special educational needs, those learning English and those who find learning harder for any other reason, takes part in the same ambitious learning and makes progress. To create one, you plan for the full range of learners from the start rather than adding fixes afterwards: know each pupil’s strengths and barriers, build predictable routines, teach with strategies that help many pupils at once, group flexibly, use support staff well, and review what is working.

This guide sets out what that looks like day to day, with a step-by-step routine, a table of classroom adjustments and a worked example of one lesson adapted for a mixed class. It pays particular attention to multilingual international schools, where special educational needs and English as an additional language often meet in the same room.

What is an inclusive classroom?

Inclusion means pupils learn together, with the support they need to reach the same curriculum, rather than being taught separately or given an easier version of the lesson. Three misunderstandings are worth clearing up:

• Inclusion is not everyone doing identical work. Pupils share the same learning goal but may reach it with different support.
• Inclusion is not lower expectations. Support is there to make the challenge reachable, not to remove it.
• Inclusion is not only about special educational needs. It also covers pupils learning English, pupils new to the school or country, pupils with anxiety, and able pupils who are not being stretched.

An inclusive classroom environment shows in small details: a pupil with a hearing difficulty seated where they can see the teacher’s face, instructions displayed as well as spoken, a quiet corner that anyone may use, and discussion routines that give every pupil a way to contribute.

Why inclusive education is important

Pupils learn more when they know they belong, when they can access the lesson and when they are expected to succeed. Inclusion addresses all three. It also helps the class as a whole. The Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance report on special educational needs in mainstream schools puts it plainly: “To a great extent, good teaching for pupils with SEND is good teaching for all.” Clear explanations, well-sequenced tasks, visual support and structured talk help a pupil with dyslexia, and they help everyone else too.

There is a social side as well. Pupils who learn alongside classmates with different needs, languages and backgrounds practise working with people unlike themselves, which is part of what school is for.

How to create an inclusive classroom: six steps

1. Build a profile of your class

Before you plan, know who is in the room. For each pupil who needs one, a one-page profile can record strengths and interests, known barriers to learning, strategies that help, home languages, and anything the pupil or family has said about what works. Ask the pupils themselves; they are often precise about what helps. Keep each profile short enough that a new teacher or cover teacher will actually read it.

2. Make routines and the room predictable

Predictability reduces the load on working memory and lowers anxiety for many pupils. Use the same lesson structure most days, a visual timetable for younger classes, a clear signal for transitions, and a consistent place to find instructions and key vocabulary. Check the physical space too: sightlines, lighting, noise, room to move, and seating that places pupils who need it near the teacher without singling them out.

3. Plan for the range from the start

Universal Design for Learning, developed by CAST, gives a useful planning lens. Its three principles ask you to design multiple means of engagement (why pupils should care and how they stay motivated), representation (how information is presented) and action and expression (how pupils show what they know). In practice, that might mean presenting a concept through a diagram and a short text as well as a spoken explanation, and letting pupils show understanding through a labelled drawing, an oral answer or a written paragraph.

4. Teach with strategies that help many pupils at once

The EEF guidance names a group of teaching approaches worth emphasising for pupils with special educational needs, which teachers can use flexibly with the whole class:

• Explicit instruction: teaching new skills and concepts in small steps, with modelling and guided practice before independent work.
• Cognitive and metacognitive strategies: teaching pupils how to plan, monitor and check their own work.
• Scaffolding: temporary support, such as a writing frame or task checklist, that is gradually removed as the pupil gains independence.
• Flexible grouping: short-term groups formed for a specific purpose and disbanded when that purpose is met.
• Technology: for example text-to-speech, speech-to-text or visual organisers, where they remove a barrier.

The point about grouping matters. The report notes that pupils with special educational needs are often grouped together with other low-attaining pupils, and that research suggests this kind of streaming can be detrimental to some pupils’ learning and to their longer-term attitudes to education.

5. Use teaching assistants and other adults well

A teaching assistant can make inclusion work or, without planning, quietly undermine it. The EEF’s advice is that teaching assistants should supplement, not replace, teaching from the class teacher. Practical ways to do that:

• Share the lesson objective and key questions with the assistant before the lesson, even in a two-minute conversation.
• Ask the assistant to build independence, for example by prompting a pupil to use their checklist rather than completing steps for them.
• Make sure pupils with the greatest needs spend time working directly with you, not only with the assistant.
• Vary who the assistant works with, so support does not become a permanent separation from classmates.

6. Check, adjust and review

Inclusion is a cycle rather than a one-off plan. Many schools describe it as assess, plan, do, review: find out what a pupil needs, plan support, teach, then check whether it worked and adjust. Short checks during lessons, such as mini whiteboards, hinge questions and brief conversations, show you who needs a change today rather than at the end of term.

Supporting special educational needs in the mainstream classroom

Needs vary widely between individuals, and a label tells you less than a close look at the barrier a pupil meets in a particular task. The table below matches common barriers to classroom adjustments worth trying. It describes barriers, not diagnoses.

Worked example: adapting one lesson for a mixed class

Here is an illustrative example. Imagine a Year 5 maths lesson on comparing fractions, in a class of 26 that includes a pupil with dyslexic traits, a pupil who arrived recently with little English, an autistic pupil who finds unexpected changes difficult, and two pupils who grasp new maths concepts quickly.

1. Before the lesson: the teacher goes through the lesson plan with the autistic pupil using the visual timetable, and briefs the teaching assistant on the key question: “How can you tell which fraction is bigger?”
2. Starter: the whole class uses fraction strips to compare one half and one third. Concrete materials and pictures support the pupil new to English and the pupil with dyslexic traits without making them look different.
3. Explicit teaching: the teacher models two worked examples step by step, thinking aloud, with the key words numerator, denominator, greater than and less than displayed with a picture beside each.
4. Guided practice: pupils answer on mini whiteboards. The teacher notices three pupils assuming that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction, and forms a short-term group to reteach the idea with strips.
5. Independent practice: all pupils work on the same objective. The worksheet uses a clear font and generous spacing, with fewer questions for the pupil with dyslexic traits but at the same level of difficulty. The pupil new to English has a word mat with the key terms in English and their home language. The two confident pupils tackle an open problem: find three fractions between one third and one half.
6. Review: pupils answer a final hinge question on whiteboards, and the teacher notes who needs another look next lesson.

Nothing here requires a separate lesson plan for each pupil. The adjustments are small, planned in advance, and mostly available to everyone.

Inclusion in multilingual international schools

• EAL is not SEN, but a pupil can have both. Learning English is not in itself a special educational need. If a pupil struggles with a skill in their home language as well as in English, or progresses much more slowly than peers from similar backgrounds, explore it with your SENCo. Ask the family how the child learns at home.
• Families see additional needs in different ways. Parents bring very different experiences and expectations of special educational needs. Start conversations with the child’s strengths and specific classroom observations rather than labels, and agree one or two practical next steps together.
• High parental involvement is an asset. Share the strategies that work in class, such as a visual checklist or a reading routine, so families can use them at home.
• Staff turnover. One-page profiles that move with the pupil each year stop every new teacher starting from nothing.

Tips for creating an inclusive classroom: a quick checklist

Use this before a new unit or at the start of a term:

• I know the strengths, barriers and home languages of every pupil in the class.
• Instructions are given aloud and displayed, in short numbered steps.
• Key vocabulary is pre-taught and visible.
• Every pupil works towards the same learning goal, with different support.
• Groups change according to need rather than fixed ability.
• The teaching assistant knows the objective and is building independence.
• Pupils have more than one way to show what they know.
• I check understanding during the lesson, not only at the end.

Frequently asked questions

What is an inclusive classroom?

An inclusive classroom is one where all pupils, whatever their needs, language or background, learn together and take part in the same curriculum, with support adjusted so each can succeed. The teacher plans for the range of learners from the start, keeps expectations high, and uses routines and strategies that remove barriers for many pupils at once.

Why is inclusive education important?

Inclusive education gives every pupil access to the same curriculum and a sense of belonging, both of which matter for learning. The strategies it relies on, such as explicit instruction, scaffolding and clear routines, tend to help the whole class. It also teaches pupils to learn and work alongside people whose needs, languages and backgrounds differ from their own.

What are some examples of inclusive classroom practices?

Examples include displaying instructions as well as saying them, pre-teaching key vocabulary with images, using writing frames and task checklists, grouping pupils flexibly for specific purposes, offering more than one way to show learning, giving thinking time before answers, and preparing pupils for changes to routine. Most help several pupils at once and need little extra planning.

How can teachers support children with special educational needs in a mainstream class?

Start by understanding the specific barrier the child meets in your subject, then adjust the teaching rather than the goal: break tasks into steps, model clearly, scaffold and gradually remove support. Work with the SENCo and the family, brief any teaching assistant, and review the adjustments regularly to see whether they are working.

For teachers who want to take this further, the Master of Education in Special Education is awarded by Guglielmo Marconi University, Italy, and takes one year, studied fully online; details are on the MEd in special education online page. For early years practitioners, the NCFE CACHE Level 3 (SENCo) Award for Special Educational Needs Coordinators in Early Years Setting is awarded by NCFE CACHE and studied fully online over three to five months; see the SENCo qualification page.