My mum used to talk to me a lot about cleaning. I fear it fell on deaf ears! But my favourite of her phrases was “a lick and a promise”, meaning doing the job quickly or superficially, with the promise that you’ll finish it properly later (I rarely did!) I sometimes wonder if many of us are guilty of a “lick and a promise” approach to inclusion. In England, there has been significant funding and policy change to improve inclusive practice, but is this sufficient for lasting change, or are we still settling for a lick and a promise?
This week the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) released their new Guide to Inclusive Teaching. As ever, the EEF has dusted off the fluff, offered polished strategies, and cleaned up myths. The EEF guide reminds us that inclusion isn’t achieved through specialist labels or long lists of adaptations. It is achieved through teachers consistently applying high-quality practice every day. That’s much harder than a lick and a promise, but it’s where inclusion succeeds or fails.
