How to make learning more accessible in education
by Victoria Bagnall
Making learning more accessible for everyone
One of the young people who changed the direction of my career had achieved an exceptionally high score in Oxford University’s Thinking Skills Assessment. There was little doubt about her intellectual ability.
Yet she was struggling enormously with education.
Anxiety could overwhelm her. Getting started was difficult. Planning and organising learning could become almost impossible. There was a huge gap between what she was capable of understanding and what she could consistently demonstrate.
Educators see this every day: the pupil who can explain something brilliantly but produces little work; the child who knows the answer but cannot begin; the learner who manages one day and struggles with the same expectations the next.
Too often, we interpret these inconsistencies as problems of effort, attitude or motivation. But knowing something and being able to access the skills required to demonstrate that knowledge are not the same thing.
Executive function skills help us manage ourselves and get things done. They include working memory, planning, cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, task initiation and metacognition. Crucially, access to these skills is variable. Stress, anxiety, relationships, sensory demands, sleep and environment can all affect them.
That has profound implications for neuroinclusive education.
Neuroinclusion is much more than identifying pupils with additional needs and providing individual adaptations while the classroom remains unchanged. If several children struggle to hold three verbal instructions in working memory, perhaps we should put the instructions on the board for everyone. If pupils struggle to begin open-ended work, clearer starting points might benefit the whole class.
This is the shift at the heart of The Neuroinclusive Educator: moving from asking, “What is wrong with this learner?” to “What might be getting in the way of learning here?” - and then working with children to identify barriers and strategies.
The book’s five practical elements - Tuning In, Settling, Naming, Strategising and Reinforcing - help educators notice what is happening, create the conditions for learning, identify barriers, develop strategies and reinforce what works.
Tuning in
Self-regulation starts with awareness. Students first need to notice when they are becoming overwhelmed, restless or foggy before they can do anything to regulate themselves. An adult might ask, “What do our bodies feel like when we start to feel overwhelmed?” to help build that awareness.
Settling
Settling is about helping students return to a state where learning feels possible, using movement, connection, sensory support or co-regulation with a trusted adult.
Naming
Naming helps students identify the executive function skill or barrier getting in the way. “I’m struggling to hold these instructions in working memory” is more useful than “I’m bad at this.”
Strategising
Strategising is about building a personal toolkit. Students explore practical strategies that work for them, so they have options they can draw on when similar barriers arise again.
Reinforcing
Reinforcing helps students notice what worked, so successful strategies become easier to recognise, repeat and eventually use independently.
This shift can also reduce workload. Rather than continually responding to individual difficulties, we work alongside pupils to remove unnecessary barriers and build independence.
Neuroinclusive practice goes beyond adapting learning for pupils. It helps pupils begin adapting learning for themselves.
The goal is independent learners who can say: I wonder what is getting in my way. I think I know what I need. And I have some strategies I can try.
Perhaps that is one of the most important things education can give them.
