For SENCOs, inclusion leads and school leaders
The research on SEND in mainstream schools points one way: the biggest lever is good teaching that every pupil gets, adapted so pupils keep the same goals. Here is that evidence, the Chalk tools that help with each part of it, what we are careful not to claim, and a one-page rationale you can adapt for your inclusion strategy.
In short
For pupils with SEND, the biggest lever is high-quality teaching for everyone, adapted so they keep the same goals. Chalk makes that quicker to prepare. The evidence is for the practices, not yet for Chalk itself.
Evidence checked October 2026 · Sources are listed at the end of the page
Three documents shape what schools in England are asked to do this year. They agree on the essentials.
EEF, 2020
EEF, July 2026
DfE, 2026
The EEF’s five approaches for teaching pupils with SEND in mainstream classrooms, what the research behind each one says, and the Chalk tools that make it quicker to prepare.
Teach the key words and ideas clearly, before pupils need them.
Clear explanations, modelling in small steps and frequent checks for understanding help every pupil, and pupils with SEND most of all. Teaching the key words of a topic before the lesson gives pupils who find reading or language hard a way in to the same content as everyone else.
EEF, 2020Rosenshine, 2012EEF, 2021Beck, McKeown and Kucan, 2013
Be careful
Pictures help most in whole-class teaching. The largest meta-analysis of classroom trials found smaller, less certain effects for targeted groups such as pupils with SEND, so a picture supports the explanation; it does not replace it. Symbols for pupils who use AAC rest on a different reason: access to meaning.
Give support that lets pupils do the same task, then take it away.
Worked examples, sentence starters and partly completed organisers let pupils work on the same ambitious task as their classmates. Scaffolds work best when they respond to what the pupil can already do and are faded as they succeed.
Wood, Bruner and Ross, 1976van de Pol, Volman and Beishuizen, 2010EEF scaffolding frameworkEEF, 2026
Be careful
Simplify the wrapper, not the learning. Plainer instructions and questions help; stripping the connecting words out of the text pupils learn from can make it harder to follow. Plan when each scaffold comes away.
Help pupils remember what they have learned and explain how ideas connect.
Low-stakes retrieval practice is one of the most reliable ways to make learning last, in real classrooms as well as in the lab. Tasks that ask pupils to explain links and justify their choices build the organised knowledge they need to think well.
Dunlosky et al., 2013Agarwal, Nunes and Blunt, 2021Fiorella and Mayer, 2016EEF, metacognition guidance
Be careful
Keep retrieval low-stakes, with questions every pupil can read. Most of this research is not specific to pupils with SEND, so watch how your pupils respond and adjust.
Group pupils by what they need today, not by a fixed label.
The EEF recommends grouping pupils for a specific purpose and changing the groups often. Fixed groups can lower expectations and narrow what pupils get to learn.
Be careful
Versions are there for the teacher’s judgement on the day, never a fixed track for a pupil.
Make materials accessible by default, so nobody has to ask.
The EEF lists using technology among its approaches for pupils with SEND, and its 2026 guide points to tools that remove a barrier to the same learning. Clear type and strong contrast help every pupil read from the back of the room.
Be careful
Evidence that a special font improves reading for dyslexic pupils is weak, so we choose fonts for clarity and treat them as good practice, not a treatment. Technology removes a barrier; it does not replace teaching.
“Really being able to have just the vocabulary for some groups of children, icons for some groups of children. 8 words the students need to know or 5 words.”
“What some staff struggle with is knowing what to do, and then generating the resources to go with it.”
CPD beside the tools
How well a task is taught matters as much as the task. Six of Chalk’s most-used tools come with Chalk in Practice: Karl McGrath’s short guide to why, when and how to use the tool, with a video, a one-page summary and a CPD badge. It follows what the EEF found makes professional development stick: building knowledge, then modelling and practice in your own classroom.
Many schools ask whether Chalk can come from their Inclusive Mainstream Fund. Only your school can decide that. These are the rules the DfE has published, so you can judge for yourself.
The two classroom principles, in the DfE’s words
Fill in a few details and print it, or save it as a PDF, for your business manager, governors or inclusion strategy. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Rationale
Using Chalk to support high-quality adaptive teaching for pupils with SEND
5 November 2026
The EEF finds that, to a great extent, good teaching for pupils with SEND is good teaching for everyone, and names five approaches to use flexibly. Its 2026 guide asks that adaptations help pupils reach the same goals as their peers.
“high quality adaptive teaching with curriculum designed for all learners”
Your school decides. The DfE asks that funded activity is evidence-informed, sits under one of its seven principles and is new rather than subsidising something you already had. If you plan a new use, such as every teacher pre-teaching vocabulary, set it out in your inclusion strategy with its cost and how you will know it is working.
Not yet. The evidence on this page is for the teaching practices Chalk helps with, such as explicit instruction, scaffolding and retrieval practice. We say this plainly because it matters when you weigh up any tool.
No. Chalk helps teachers prepare high-quality teaching for the whole class, with adaptations that keep the same goals. It sits alongside your interventions and specialist advice, not in place of them.
Many of the same practices help: key words taught first, pictures that carry meaning, and resources translated alongside the English. As with SEND, the evidence for pictures is stronger for whole-class teaching than for targeted groups.
No. Chalk’s teaching tools work from a topic or a text. Our Use of AI page explains how we handle data and the AI we use.
Pick one routine every class can use, such as pre-teaching the key words of each unit, and agree how you will check it is working. Twenty minutes with staff is usually enough to start.
Written by the Chalk learning team. Questions or a correction? [email protected]
