Research, Practice and Policy: Spaces and Interfaces
Against the backdrop of the 2026 Schools White Paper, Every child achieving and thriving, this keynote will explore what proposed reforms to schools and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) might mean for the relationship between research, policy and practice. With particular attention to adaptive teaching for pupils with SEND, we will consider what different groups bring to the conversation: what policymakers need from research, what researchers can learn from and add to practice, and what teachers need and can contribute if policy ambitions are to become meaningful and sustainable classroom approaches.
Rather than viewing evidence as something that simply moves from research into policy and then into practice, the talk will question this linear model. It will explore the different forms of knowledge that shape inclusive teaching, including types of research evidence, professional expertise and knowledge of individual learners, and consider what can happen when these forms of knowledge meet.
For teachers and school leaders, the keynote will provide a space to reflect critically on adaptive teaching: what it is intended to achieve, how research can inform it, and how it can support participation without overlooking individual needs. Ultimately, the talk asks how stronger interfaces between researchers, practitioners and policymakers might help turn the aspiration of inclusion into the everyday experience of pupils with SEND.
Senior Teaching Fellow at University College London
I am Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education at UCL Institute of Education. I am also a Lecturer in Special and Inclusive Education and Psychology in the Department of Psychology and Human Development at UCL. I have extensive experience...