The Rochford Review heralded new arrangements for statutory assessment for children with SLD and PMLD working below the national curriculum standard. New assessment arrangements, the pre-key stage standards and the engagement model, relate to two groups of pupils: pupils 'not yet engaged' and pupils 'engaged' in subject-specific study. This…

The increasing complexity of children with SLD and PMLD can make day-to-day teaching challenging and emotionally taxing. Regular opportunities for teachers to reflect upon practice can help teachers make sense of what happens in the classroom and see the relationship between their personal theories, values and beliefs, and their thinking,…

This article charts one school's journey in securing an assessment regime aligned with its vision for its learners with profound and multiple difficulties (PMLD). Previous iterations, based on commercially-based systems, as well as lessons learned from reflecting on the school's own assessment practices, were used as catalysts for the development…

This article reports on a small-scale, school-based enquiry regarding the views and reflections from practitioners working with children and young people who have complex learning needs (termed 'Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties' (PMLD) in England). The study was built around a series of key questions which enabled the participants to…

This article describes a three-year project undertaken at Pear Tree School for children and young people with severe and multiple and profound learning difficulties. Lesley Sullivan, the school's head teacher, believed that much of the value within the work of this outstanding school went unidentified by existing approaches to planning, monitoring…

Because of what are perceived by some as potential challenges it is still commonplace for research to fail to seek the opinions of pupils with multiple and complex needs. While many such pupils do have significant communication difficulties, along with other disabilities, which are undoubtedly a constraint, it is crucial in order to be inclusive,…

A basic need for a child is to belong to a group (Maslow, 1970). Groups help children: to develop relationships and to foster individual mental health (Johnson and Johnson, 1989); and disabled and non-disabled children, when given assistance, can develop relationships with each other (Sideris, 1998). But there are very few opportunities in Cyprus…

This paper reports findings from a follow-up evaluation of a short inservice course designed to enable teachers to assess and teach pupils with PMLD more effectively by combining the use of custom built ICT hardware and software (the Declan materials) and cognitive developmental psychology. The Declan materials were introduced to teachers at a…