Context: Gathering qualitative evidence is a helpful way to get a true picture of what things feel like for children and young people on a day-to-day basis. In this local area, they had run a survey with young people in year 7 and 8 and found that the inclusivity of other children was really important to them.
What they did: Following the survey, they set up some visits to schools and spoke to children in classrooms. They asked them what they are enjoying at school and what they think could be improved. The children shared examples such as playing football at lunchtime and not being passed to enough upsetting them, or being left out of WhatsApp groups.
What they found: In addition to understanding what ‘inclusive’ behaviour felt like to these young people, this local authority was able to understand what might work to help improve their settings. For example here, the local authority wanted to further investigate maintaining links from primary school, increasing access to school clubs and enabling more inter-year socialising to build wider support networks. By doing school visits, they were also able to situate the stories and opinions from young people into the environment which gave an even richer picture of the day-to-day for these young people.
Context: One way to understand the feelings of a child is to get them to creatively express how they feel without the need for them to answer direct questions or surveys. This demonstrates a possible way to increase engagement across children who may be less able to convey their feelings verbally.
What they did: In this local authority, they first surveyed parents to understand their opinions towards the level of change required for their child to be supported in a mainstream setting. They then asked a group of primary school students what their favourite things to do at school were and asked them to draw them.
What they found: By engaging with students in a creative and open way, one student (age 5) revealed how much he enjoys spending time with his support worker who helps him get around school through a drawing. In addition, observation showed that he had trouble accessing the room as his support frame was as wide as the doorway. Speaking with his support worker, this local authority was able to understand some of the challenges she faces in getting adaptations for him but how her approach is to ensure he always feels important and included.
