with Jo Van Herwegen, Professor at University College London’s Institute of Education
As parents of children labelled as having Special Educational Needs, we are encouraged to work in co-production with our child or young person’s education setting, and to be involved in planning the support that our child is given.
However, the vast majority of parents are not qualified teachers or researchers studying education interventions, so it’s hard to evaluate what might work best for our children.
Some recent research has been undertaken by a team at University College London’s Institute of Education that aims to help both teachers and parents evaluate whether an intervention might be suitable. Jo Van Herwegen, Professor at UCL, tells us more…
Recent evidence shows that students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) have lower educational outcomes compared to their peers and that this gap continues to increase. Although schools typically use various targeted interventions for students with SEND, a recent study has shown that most targeted interventions are not evidence-informed. In addition, while the SEND Code of Practice (2015) emphasises the importance of parental involvement in all aspects of supporting children with SEND, including the selection of interventions, parents often do not have access to research, and thus are not able to evaluate which interventions might be most helpful for their child.
The MetaSENse study carried out by researchers at the Centre for Educational Neuroscience and the Department of Psychology and Human Development at UCL aimed to address these issues. The study was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and included three phases:
- Phase 1 included a review of the current research on targeted interventions.
- Phase 2 focused on interviews with practitioners to examine barriers and best practice to implementation, and
- Phase 3 included the co-production of a new toolkit and searchable database to help educators and parents make better-informed decisions around targeted interventions.
What do we know about targeted interventions for students with SEND?
The first phase examined the existing research evidence base, identifying 467 studies. The review of previous research was positive, demonstrating that targeted interventions can raise educational outcomes among students with SEND by an average of five months of progress, compared to those receiving teaching-as-usual or “active control” interventions. So, there is evidence that some interventions can be effective.
However, the review also highlighted some gaps in the research evidence. This was particularly true for those students with intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory disabilities such as vision and hearing impairments, as 50% of the studies focused on students with specific learning difficulties. There was also a lack of studies that examined what worked for students with SEND in secondary schools, especially for mathematical abilities. In terms of educational outcomes, there was a lack of focus on general attainment and on science outcomes. This shows that for several SEND groups, it is difficult to advise educators and parents about evidence-based intervention approaches.
What are the barriers for educational practitioners to implement evidence-based targeted interventions?
In phase 2, we interviewed 33 educational professionals from mainstream and special primary and secondary schools in England, along with various local authority professionals who work with schools (e.g. educational psychologists, specialist assessors etc). The in-depth individual interviews focused on current targeted intervention practices and how evidence is used in schools and explored barriers to implementing effective practices.
The interviews with educational practitioners showed variability in the understanding and use of evidence-informed practice. There were also some barriers related to putting interventions into practice. There was limited awareness of rigorous scientific methodologies, such as using control groups and randomised controlled trials. Most practitioners relied on evidence generated from their own experiences or through word of mouth from professional networks.
As such, the findings from Phase 1 and Phase 2 show while we know some interventions do work, practitioners don’t always have access to the research evidence of what works. This limits their ability to make evidence-informed decisions on which interventions to use with pupils with SEND.
The MetaSENse toolbox: A searchable database to help teachers and professionals make evidence-informed decisions
Combining the findings from Phase 1 and Phase 2, the third and final phase included the co-production of a toolkit. This is an online tool that allows educators and parents to search for evidenced-based approaches for particular educational outcomes and SEN groups.
The new toolkit includes a searchable database that features those targeted interventions included in the review and are available, either commercially or via researchers’ webpages, for teachers and parents to use or purchase. The database also includes why these interventions might work and a short description is provided of each study that has evaluated the intervention.
The database allows teachers and parents to search by educational outcomes, SEND group, age group, and many other factors. For example, you can look for what interventions improve mathematical outcomes for students with various SEND needs in Key Stage 1. Or you can search for a specific intervention using its name. The database also allows users to search all interventions that have been evaluated for particular groups of SEND (for example, autism or ADHD). Each search then returns an overview of the interventions available (see Figure 1a) and by clicking on the name of the intervention, a new form opens that describes that intervention, what is required to implement it, how the intervention works (theory of change), and the research outcomes (See Figure 1b).
The toolkit will be updated in the years to come to ensure it remains up-to-date.
At the moment, the database only includes studies that have measured educational outcomes, and thus very few interventions relate to behavioural improvements or wellbeing. Also, as there is already a very helpful database for speech-and-language approaches, we did not include these interventions in the MetaSENse database. However, we hope to expand on the MetaSENse database shortly to include non-academic outcomes as well.
Moving forward: allowing parents greater insight into what works to improve educational outcomes for students with SEND
Although students with SEND have lower educational outcomes, the MetaSENse review shows that there is a growing evidence base of targeted interventions that can improve these students’ outcomes. In moving forward, we hope that parents (as well as educators) will be able to access and use the database to make informed decisions about their child’s educational support as part of the child’s SEN or EHCP provision.
For more information about the MetaSENse study and the full study report please visit our website.
The MetaSENse study was carried out by researchers at UCL’s Institute of Education: Professor Jo Van Herwegen, Thomas Masterman, Dr Catherine Antalek, Professor Chloë Marshall, Professor Julie Dockrell, and Dr Rebecca Gordon; and Professor Michael Thomas from the Centre for Educational Neuroscience, Birkbeck, University of London.
Also read:
- Should we ‘mind the gap’ of disabled pupils’ attainment? Or is it really an indictment of how success is measured?
- “The curriculum belongs to the nation” Let them know that includes children with special educational needs
- 83% educators say SEND learners aren’t effectively supported to achieve, says 2024 Pearson school report
- An update on the DfE’s Change Programme—plus another SEND funding announcement
- Invest in early specialist therapy for all deaf children, teenager, Hope, tells the Government
- Research: Cost of Living Crisis having “profound and far-reaching consequences”, increasing SEND needs while forcing cuts to school support budgets
- It’s time to end the “double impact” of poor experiences at the intersectionality between Race and SEND: A Call to Action!
- How are your child’s communication skills? Support them with a new FREE progress checker
- ‘Inverse care’ and unmet need: How children in poorer areas are less likely to receive the right SEND diagnosis or provision
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