Whole School SEND launch second edition of popular free resource – The Teacher Handbook: SEND

Whole School SEND has today published its highly anticipated second edition of the Teacher Handbook: SEND – a free reference book designed to improve the educational experience of children and young people by helping education practitioners put inclusion at the heart of their practice.

With contributions from specialists across the sector, the handbook is a comprehensive resource for teachers to use over time, with each of the nine sections intended to be used as required rather than being read in sequence.

It brings together practical examples of high-quality teaching - placing focus on removing barriers to learning, getting to know and understand individual learners, and bringing to life the graduated approach.

With three completely new subject-specific chapters for History, Geography and Religious Education, it offers a wealth of ideas and information about the following key areas:

• Planning inclusive lessons
• Creating including environments
• Curriculum considerations for KS3 and 4
• Strategies to scaffold learning
• Vocabulary retentions
• Supporting learners who need additional conceptual understanding

Head of Whole School SEND, Amanda Wright says: “The Teacher Handbook: SEND has already proved itself to be an invaluable resource for the thousands of practitioners who use it. The information is presented in a way that makes it easy to navigate straight to specific themes and learn about practical solutions and strategies that will enhance provision and improve the learning experience for all children and young people.”

Katherine Walsh, Regional Whole School SEND Leader, and one of the lead authors of the Handbook says: “We are pleased to be adding secondary humanities guidance to the Teacher Handbook: SEND. Over the past eighteen months, school leaders have told us about the impact the guidance in the handbook has had on teaching and learning in their schools. The new guidance, written by practicing subject specialists, will support subject leaders and teachers in successfully adapting and scaffolding the humanities curriculums for children and young people with SEND.”

The resource is freely available, thanks to funding from the Department for Education as part of the Universal SEND Services programme. The first edition, which was published in January 2021, quickly became the most popular Whole School SEND resource published to date, and has since been downloaded more than 21,500 times.

The revised Teacher Handbook: SEND is just one of many avenues of support available through the ambitious three-year Universal SEND Services programme, which brings together support for SEND in schools with support for SEND across further education, with the ambition of improving preparation for adulthood from the earliest years in a seamless, joined up way. 

The mainstay of the programme is a series of 20-minute bite sized online SEND CPD units exploring the most commonly observed barriers to learning regardless of age, label or area of need. The units are complemented by a series of Specialist Spotlight discussions, offering the chance to contextualise learning, share experiences with other practitioners and seek advice from specialist professionals – often the very specialists who have helped develop the units.

For those with time to dedicate to more involved CPD, there is the option to join professional development groups, support with conducting preparation for adulthood reviews, access to peer mentoring support for school leaders, and much more.

You can read about the full offer available, access our catalogue of resources, and find out how to contact your regional SEND leaders on our website: https://www.wholeschoolsend.org.uk/page/universal-send-services