Supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in mainstream classrooms can be challenging, but research-backed strategies can make a significant difference. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) highlights five key approaches - the 'five a day' principle - that teachers can integrate into their practice to improve outcomes for all learners, including those with SEND.

What is the ‘five-a-day’ principle?

The EEF’s guidance report, Special educational needs in mainstream schools, outlines five evidence-based strategies that can enhance learning experiences and boost attainment for pupils with additional needs. The best part? These approaches align with existing classroom practices, requiring only small adjustments to make a big impact.

Why this matters for teachers and SENDCos

SENDCos play a crucial role in helping schools implement effective SEND strategies. However, teachers already juggle numerous responsibilities, and finding time to explore new research can be difficult. The ‘five-a-day’ framework provides a practical, research-supported way to embed high-impact teaching techniques into everyday lessons - without requiring a complete overhaul of current methods.

The five key strategies for supporting SEND learners

EEF recommends that teachers develop a flexible, responsive teaching approach by incorporating the following five strategies:

1. Explicit instruction – Breaking down complex concepts into manageable steps with clear explanations and modelling.
   
   
2. Cognitive and metacognitive strategies – Helping pupils understand how they learn by encouraging planning, monitoring, and self-evaluation.
   
   
3. Scaffolding – Providing structured support that gradually reduces as pupils gain confidence and independence.
   
   
4. Flexible grouping – Using different grouping methods based on pupils’ needs, rather than fixed ability groups.
   
   
5. Use of technology – Leveraging assistive tools and digital resources to enhance learning accessibility and engagement.
   

Using Clicker to support the ‘five-a-day’ principle

Clicker is a powerful tool that can be seamlessly integrated into these five strategies to support SEND learners:

• Explicit instruction: Teachers can create Clicker Sets to break down learning into manageable steps, providing clear instructions and interactive activities.
  
  
• Cognitive and metacognitive strategies: Clicker’s Word Banks and Voice Notes encourage pupils to plan and review their writing, reinforcing metacognitive awareness.
  
  
• Scaffolding: Clicker’s sentence-building and word-prediction tools provide structured support that can be adjusted to individual pupil needs, promoting gradual independence.
  
  
• Flexible grouping: Clicker can be used individually, in small groups or as a whole-class learning tool.
  
  
• Use of technology: Clicker’s speech feedback and accessibility features empower pupils with SEND by providing multi-modal learning support - including switch and eye-gaze access.

By embedding these approaches into daily teaching and utilising Clicker’s assistive features, schools can create more inclusive classrooms that support the diverse needs of all pupils.

Next steps: implementing the ‘five-a-day’ principle

To ensure a shared understanding of these strategies, consider these action points:

• Share the EEF’s ‘five-a-day’ poster with staff to ensure there is a shared understanding of these strategies and what they entail.
  
• Visit the EEF blog for an overview of the ‘five-a-day’ approach.
  
• Explore the guidance report in full, including case studies and implementation examples for each of the ‘five-a-day’ strategies.

In the summer term, I hosted a webinar with inclusion expert, Jules Daulby, that focused on engendering independence for SEND learners. At a time when many schools are planning for transition from Year 6 to secondary school, Jules shared some great tips with SENCOs and school leaders on how technology can be used to ensure quality teaching and learning.

Here are my 5 takeaways from the session:

1. The importance of keeping up, not catching up. We need to focus on keeping up and focus on strategies that can enable this, such as quality-first teaching, the use of technology and the importance of scaffolding and differentiation.
   
2. Using visuals to scaffold and support learning, from pre teaching of vocabulary, to supporting retrieval practice in class lessons, to opportunities to reflect on learning. Visual prompts are also powerful for supporting learners who struggle with planning and sequencing. For example, DocsPlus includes Workspace, a powerful mind-mapping tool. In LearningGrids, teachers can find hundreds of ready-made templates linked to curriculum topics or writing genres. Jules described how she had easily adapted these to increase support and scaffold.

3. Encourage students to talk about the topic using Voice Notes. They can use their oracy as an alternative or to support writing, enabling learners to fully participate in planning and creating pieces of writing. Using Voice Notes in the WorkSpace allows students to have spoken prompts alongside text and visuals.

4. Technology is useful in removing barriers. Jules talked about building on the skills developed during lockdown, when many students had access to laptops at home, to support our SEND learners. Continuing to provide access to technology in the classroom can allow students to build on this familiarity and support. Allowing access to technology across all platforms and curriculum areas is key, as well as extending this provision across the whole class, not just to SEND students.

5. Use technology to continue support in exams. For students who are entitled to a reader in exams, DocsPlus can read a PDF out loud (including text highlighting). This provides seamless support from everyday classroom tasks to exam support. Jules noted that whilst students are not allowed to have a human reader in English exams, they are allowed to have a screen reader

To request a full webinar recording, or to find out more about how DocsPlus can support writing in your school, contact us on 01604 671691 or email info@cricksoft.com.