8 inclusive teaching strategies and seeing the invisible child

Based on webinar Inclusive Teaching: Seeing The Invisible Child from 30/06/2022. Watch here.

There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to inclusive teaching strategies. This blog, based on our webinar, ‘Inclusive Teaching: Seeing the Invisible Child’, is a great starting point for teachers in understanding what inclusive teaching looks like, and what strategies to start using to make your classroom more inclusive, with a specific focus on ‘invisible children.’

What are inclusive teaching strategies?

Inclusive teaching strategies are the methods that teachers use to ensure that their teaching and learning serve the needs of all students. The strategies might take into account background, identity, gender, special educational needs, personality traits, interest in the topic taught, or a combination of any of the above. Inclusive teaching strategies recognise that efforts need to be made to ensure everyone has access and feels comfortable with the learning process.

8 inclusive teaching strategies and attributes

What inclusive strategies and attributes can you start using in the classroom today? Our curriculum adviser, Sue Heys, shared her wisdom.

1. A calm atmosphere

It might seem simple, or counter-intuitive when you have some worn out year 10s on a Friday afternoon, but a calm atmosphere helps to foster stress-free lessons. Welcome your students at the door and have work ready for them on their desks. These two small actions help to set the tone for the lesson and show you are in control - particularly helpful for students who are more introverted or find school stressful.

2. Accept everyone

Even the student who caused you a lot of grief in the last lesson. In fact, try hard to rub the slate clean for any student who has been difficult in previous lessons. It lets them know that you accept them for who they are, and you’re willing to forgive and forget - a key skill for life.

3. A positive environment

We can all have bad days. But when you’re not feeling 100%, see your classroom as a stage. Act positive and happy, and it’s entirely possible that by the end of the lesson, you actually will be! On top of that, you will have set the tone for a more positive working environment for your students, helping them to focus on the tasks at hand.

Related content:

Primary to secondary school transition: consistency of language and instruction

Behaviour management in the classroom: a guide to 9 strategies

7 easy ways to improve pupil progress

4. A safe space

You might see your classroom as a safe space, but never underestimate how stressful the school environment is for some students. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many were encouraged to embrace their introverted characteristics, in what is usually a world created for extroverts. You might even be one of these people! A calm, accepting and positive environment will help those struggling to be around lots of people for many hours of the day.

5. Teamwork and collaboration

You can encourage a more accepting and inclusive environment in your classroom by utilising teamwork and collaboration. Group work has its place in all classrooms. You know your students; choose your moments wisely, but get them to work together so that they begin to not only accept each other’s differences, but celebrate them too.

6. Allow questions

Unless students are working in silence for whatever reason, allow questions, even the ones that are frustrating or seem simple. This is especially important with new year 7s. Year 7s have usually heard horror stories about secondary school being a scary place. Their preconceived ideas about secondary school and consequent anxiety might mean that they ask bewildering questions. Use these moments to clarify expectations and celebrate that no question is a silly question in your classroom.

7. Making mistakes is okay

We so often preach that more learning happens when one makes a mistake. But if we’re all honest, even as adults we don’t like to make mistakes. Celebrating mistakes is an incredibly important way of making your classroom more inclusive. It gives everyone, including you, permission to mess up sometimes - as we all are 100% guaranteed to do! Equip your students with resilience and a growth mindset.

8. Everyone has the potential

All of the above, when coming together in a classroom, highlight that everyone has the potential to achieve no matter their background, race, gender, sexuality, learning needs, etc. Everyone should have that self belief that they can achieve. That includes ‘invisible children’.

Who are invisible children?

The term ‘invisible child’ is used in different ways, but in this article it refers to those children who are present in your lesson but who may prefer to remain invisible.

It’s often the case that some children demand more of your time in lessons and it can be difficult to not give into that, particularly if there are behaviour concerns.

Invisible children commonly:

• are introverted

• don’t want to draw attention to themselves

• are quiet and conscientious

• do just enough to stay under the radar

• underperform in assessments

How do children become ‘invisible’?

There are a lot of reasons why children may become invisible in the classroom. Some of those reasons include:

• they may not want to get things wrong and so don’t try

• because they behave well, it may seem like they don’t need help

• they actively resist interaction in the classroom

• their mental health has been impacted significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic

• they don’t have a label - e.g. they’re not pupil premium, they don’t have SEND, etc.

Using LbQ to see your invisible children

Before you can understand how Learning by Questions can help you support invisible children, let’s just have a quick rundown of what it actually is.

What is Learning by Questions?

Learning by Questions is an online platform that harnesses the power of continuous formative assessment and immediate feedback in the classroom. Whilst the class answers questions and is given immediate feedback, the teacher can monitor their progress via LbQ’s matrix (shown below).

How can LbQ help teachers to support invisible children?

The matrix gives teachers the ability to be ‘on the shoulder’ of every student in the class at a glance. If a child isn’t making progress, that will become evident very quickly. If they are completely off-task, that will also be evident, even if their behaviour suggests that they’re cracking on.

The matrix also highlights exactly where misconceptions lie, whether that be with an individual, a small group, or the whole class. You don’t have to rely on an inkling — you are shown through the matrix. Even better, you can use the platform and content to address those misconceptions swiftly, in the lesson.

In addition, if a child is making unexpected swift progress, that will also be highlighted. Through the platform, you can set more challenging tasks for those that are steaming ahead.

LbQ can give you all the insight you need to spot those invisible children, and it frees up time in the lesson to intervene where it is needed - which might sometimes be with those children you wouldn't often spend time with. It really is a winner all round.

Better yet, you can try out LbQ completely free for six weeks, with no need for credit card details. Trial LbQ for free today.