Inclusive Teaching Framework

Help your teachers better understand and meet children’s needs

The Inclusive Teaching Framework sets out essential knowledge to help teachers understand and meet a wider range of pupils’ needs in mainstream schools. It builds on what teachers already know about what makes good teaching and connects this to selected specialist knowledge about five key areas of children’s needs.

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What to know about the Inclusive Teaching Framework

It shares insights across five areas of child development: speech and language, sensory, motor, executive function, and social and emotional development.
The framework draws on the best available evidence from a range of specialist fields. We worked with specialists to choose the insights which meet high standards of evidence and are likely to make the most difference in the classroom.
It builds on ideas many teachers will have come across in national professional development programmes or other evidence-led resources, so it is accessible and relevant to their experience.
We have created it in response to conversations with teachers, school leaders and our partners who told us that they would like more support to understand child development and to build knowledge in specialist areas. We have been developing the framework since 2024.
It enables teacher educators (the people who lead professional development for teachers) to make thoughtful decisions about how they help teachers to adapt their practice and support the pupils in their classroom.
It is intended as a starting point for teacher educators: the Inclusive Teaching Framework will develop as the evidence base grows and evolves.

Written by Dr Neil Gilbride CPsychol and John Jackson, we developed the Inclusive Teaching Framework in close partnership with specialists including the National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language UK, The Difference and the Royal College of Occupational Therapists. The framework also reflects feedback from experts and leaders across the education sector.

Five key areas of children’s needs

Every child has needs and these can change over time. The framework explores five areas of pupil need which cover a broad range of pupils’ experiences at school:

Speech and language: How children’s language and talk emerge through development.
Sensory: How children experience and perceive the world around them.
Motor: How children develop, move and express themselves physically.
Executive function: How children think and process information.
Social and emotional development: How children experience their social world and their feelings.

Each area includes evidence-informed insights from specialists, along with an explanation and references to guide schools’ professional development offer.

Who it’s for

The framework is for people who are responsible for teacher development. Teacher educators and leaders in schools, colleges, trusts, local authorities and teaching school hubs can use this knowledge to develop evidence-informed professional development on inclusive teaching.

This approach offers stronger support for teachers and inclusive teaching, rather than teachers applying the framework to their own practice independently.

Ideas for how to use the framework

Here are some examples of how to use the framework:

Inclusion lead: could use it to establish a shared language and concepts around inclusive teaching.
Senior leader: could use it to identify knowledge gaps among staff and to design or offer training to fill those gaps.
Professional development lead across a group of schools: could use it to design a staff training programme.
Professional development provider: could use the structure as the basis for an inclusive teaching programme.

Download the framework

Download the Inclusive Teaching Framework.

Tell us what you think about the Inclusive Teaching Framework

We want to know what you think about the Inclusive Teaching Framework, and how you use it.

We are also developing resources and programme ideas that support the sector to understand and apply these ideas.

In addition, we have designed this document in line with guidance on print and digital accessibility so that it can be accessible to all. We welcome feedback on accessibility and can provide the document in alternative formats if required.

Cite this publication

Gilbride, N. & Jackson, J. (2026). Inclusive Teaching Framework. Ambition Institute.