In this paper, I explore CLDD within the political background of disability, rooted in debates on SEND studies. Since the 1970s, policy reforms have prompted increased discussion around practices for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). However, these reforms have remained controversial and multidimensional across…

This systematic review explores test anxiety in children and young people (CYP) with learning difficulties. Research has found that students with learning difficulties experience higher levels of anxiety about school compared to peers without learning difficulties. One area of school that has had little research is test anxiety, therefore further…

The Engagement Model was launched in January 2020, endeavouring to address the weaknesses of the P-scales assessment for students not yet involved in a subject-specific curriculum. This paper will discuss how and if the tensions between previously adopted assessment systems as discussed in teacher interviews can be reconciled through the…

The Equals Formal Curriculum English Scheme of Work has been designed for that very small percentage of the school population, perhaps as low as one or two per cent, who have global learning difficulties (GLD) to such a degree that they are consistently working at levels significantly below their age-related peers for all of their academic lives.…

This article discusses how one special school for pupils with moderate-learning difficulties reflects themes in the literature on pupil motivation. It aims to highlight good practice and is based on reflections from prolonged working with the school as an advisory teacher, illustrated with teacher, pupil and parent comments from Y6 Education…

The study presents data drawn from semi-structured interviews with five young people permanently excluded from schools in North East England. The research aimed to investigate the risk factors that lead to the children using illegal drugs, to determine the drivers and implications for drug misuse and the carrying of knives into school. The…

This article details a piece of small-scale action-based research in a school for students with learning difficulties. It focusses on the use of Drama as a means whereby confidence of those students who are at a point of transition to employment can be enhanced. Using qualitative-based mixed methods of data generation, a range of issues are…

The telling of personal stories is a feature of everyday life. Young people with learning difficulties may find it difficult to report what has happened to them. A project was set up to investigate the impact of Storysharing® on the co-construction of personal narratives by staff and students in a special school. The current study investigated the…