By Dr Vasilis Strogilos, Associate Professor, University of Southampton
SNJ Intro: The “direction of travel” for SEND from the Labour government seems to be expanding the use of resourced provision and units in mainstream schools, as a way to reduce the use of independent special schools. We have recent articles about the difference between RPs and units here, and another on what can help make them successful here.
Today’s article looks at a toolkit for resourced provision designed to enhance SEND inclusion in mainstream schools. It’s written by the toolkit’s creator, Vasilis Strogilos, an Associate Professor at the University of Southampton
How Resourced Provision supports students with SEND, and why a toolkit is needed by Dr Vasilis Strogilos, University of Southampton
Resourced Provision (RP) is a way of supporting students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) within mainstream schools. In many countries, this means that students spend part of their school week in a dedicated space within the school, where they receive additional support from specialist teachers and teaching assistants (TAs). These spaces are often managed by the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCO).
Different countries use different terms for similar support models, such as “special classes” in Finland, “special education resource rooms” in the USA, and even “inclusion classes” in Greece. While they all aim to provide targeted individual or small group support, the extent to which students from the RP interact with their peers in mainstream classes varies. This depends on each country’s approach to inclusion, ranging from full inclusion in the mainstream class to full segregation in the RP space.
Resourced provision: An inclusive service or a safe space?
A few years ago, I worked with teachers, teaching assistants (TAs), students with SEND, and their parents in three primary schools, exploring how resourced provision (RP) functions and how we can make it more inclusive. Through individual discussions, group meetings and class observations, we found that RP tends to follow one of two models: an inclusive service or a safe space. But what’s the difference between them?
The Inclusive Service Model: In the inclusive service model, students in RP spend most of their time learning in mainstream classrooms, with support from RP staff. They also have individual or small-group sessions in the RP space for a few hours each week. Importantly, RP staff don’t just support students directly, but they also help classroom teachers and TAs adapt lessons so that students with SEND can succeed in the mainstream setting. Planning is shared between mainstream and RP staff, ensuring that students have clear learning goals that can be met both in their regular classroom and with extra support in the RP space. Parents and external professionals (such as speech therapists) work closely with both mainstream and RP staff to provide a well-rounded support system.
The Safe Space model: In contrast, the safe space model treats RP as a separate classroom within the school. Here, students primarily learn within the designated RP space, only joining mainstream classes for certain subjects or activities, usually those that do not require additional support. They follow an individual curriculum within the RP, and collaboration with parents and external professionals happens mainly through RP staff rather than the mainstream staff.
Many schools use a mix of these two approaches, but the safe space model is often more common. While this provides a protective and supportive environment, there’s a risk that students with SEND become isolated from their peers, missing out on valuable opportunities to learn and interact alongside them.
So, how can we ensure that RP truly supports inclusion? That’s the challenge we need to address.
The idea to co-create a toolkit
From our research, it became clear that schools needed practical guidance on how to support the inclusion of students belonging to the RP into the mainstream part of the school. With this in mind, I worked with teachers and TAs from the three schools to co-create a toolkit. This is a resource designed to help schools bridge the gap between RP and mainstream classrooms.
To shape the toolkit, we focused on the eight key challenges identified in the research. These areas highlight the main challenges to inclusion and are described in the below picture.
What does the resourced provision toolkit include?
Practical solutions for supporting students in RP and mainstream classes
To help schools address the challenges of educating students in both RP and mainstream classrooms, we developed a set of practical examples and case studies. These real-life scenarios offer insights and strategies that schools can use to create more inclusive learning environments.
Below, you will find an example — and there are many more available in the toolkit .
Why use the Resourced Provision Toolkit?
We designed this toolkit to help schools enhance the education and inclusion of students with SEND in mainstream settings. It also aims to strengthen collaboration between schools, external professionals, and parents, while supporting educators in developing their skills to teach students in both RP and mainstream classrooms.
Some schools may find that they already use many of the practices and processes outlined in the toolkit, while others may identify areas for improvement. To support schools in tracking their progress, we’ve included evaluative sheets for each of the eight key areas. These sheets help schools reflect on their current approaches and identify steps for further development.
Here’s an example of an evaluative sheet:
Making Resourced Provision an Inclusive Service in Mainstream Schools
The case studies and examples in the toolkit can help schools rethink how RP operates, moving from a “safe space” that functions like a small special school within a mainstream school to a truly inclusive service that benefits the whole school community.
For this transformation to happen, support from local authorities (LAs) and the Department for Education is crucial.
Schools with RP need sustainable communication with LAs, and LAs should actively encourage networking between RP schools so they can learn from each other. A simple but impactful change could be enrolling students with SEND directly into mainstream classes rather than RP. This would reinforce that they are part of the whole school, rather than being seen as belonging only to RP. Schools could also clearly explain on their websites how their RP integrates with the mainstream school, helping parents understand whether it functions as an inclusive service or as a separate space. Additionally, OFSTED could play a key role by assessing how RP is integrated within the school, whether it operates as an inclusive service or a separate space and evaluating its impact accordingly.
By empowering RP staff to support the whole school, not just students within the RP, we take a step toward making mainstream schools more inclusive for all students with SEND.
About Dr Vasilis Strogilos
Vasilis is an Associate Professor in the School of Education, and has extensive research experience in disability related projects and particular interests in the use of appropriate teaching strategies for the inclusion for all students including those with learning disabilities. His recent research interests have centred on the development of inclusive pedagogy and curricula and the role of parents with children with learning disabilities. Vasilis has a specific interest in co-teaching, resource provision and differentiated instruction. He is currently working on a funded project on the role of the resource provision classrooms in the inclusion of students with special needs and/or disabilities in mainstream schools (funded by the British Academy).
Contact me for further information. | LinkedIn | Bluesky
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Also read:
- Will 10,000 new places for SEND pupils really mean “more inclusive classrooms in mainstream schools”?
- SEN Resource Bases and Unit Provision in Secondary—what are they and do they count as inclusion?
- Successful Additionally-Resourced Schools: A 13-step strategy and a 7-point “purpose”
- Inclusive Education: It’s not just a buzzword—it’s something we can define and measure
- The same but different: Understanding SEND and inclusion in schools today
- What are powerful council lobbying voices telling the Education Committee they really really want?
- Alternative Provision, SEND, and Inclusion: Should AP even exist in an inclusive system?
- What makes an autism assessment report genuinely useful to a school?
- Big ideas belong to everyone: Education, rights and lifelong learning for people with learning disabilities
- As The Guardian prints our joint campaign’s open letter, it’s clear people with lived experience don’t want to lose SEND rights
- How do you ensure pathways to education, health, and social care support, meet both diagnosis and needs?
- Researching flexi-schooling: How beneficial is it for children with SEND?
- Oops, we did it again… The Government must now listen to more than 100,000 people who do not want to lose SEND rights
- Experts at Hand: When is an occupational therapist also a SEND expert?
- Could using AI to filter Government consultation responses lead to “algorithmic silencing” of neurodivergent voices?
- A council’s “improvement journey”? How determined SEND parents catalogued the trail of their LA’s unlawful behaviour
- Research: Social networks in special schools. Friendships, bullying and play
- CrowdJustice SEND accountability: When the law says “must”, local authorities cannot treat it as “maybe”
- DfE must give its SEND reform Child Rights Impact Assessment a do-over; this time, without marking its own homework
What kind of government is “bold” enough to scrap statutory EHCPs from vulnerable children?May 16, 2025
The SEND reforms in the Schools White Paper reveal rights given, and rights stripped awayFebruary 24, 2026
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- What makes an autism assessment report genuinely useful to a school? - October 14, 2026
- Big ideas belong to everyone: Education, rights and lifelong learning for people with learning disabilities - October 12, 2026
- As The Guardian prints our joint campaign’s open letter, it’s clear people with lived experience don’t want to lose SEND rights - October 9, 2026
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