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How to Create an Inclusive Secondary School Environment
24 Mar, 20251-2 minutes
In this blog, you will learn:
- Why it is important to create an inclusive secondary school environment.
- How to create an inclusive secondary school environment.
- Discover more about our education recruitment services.
In today's day and age, creating an inclusive secondary school environment is more important than ever. An inclusive secondary school ensures that all students, regardless of their background or abilities, are welcomed, treated with respect and given the same opportunities and tools to succeed academically.
In this blog, we’re exploring how to create an inclusive secondary school environment and why it is important to create one!
Why is it important to create an inclusive secondary school environment?
Creating an inclusive secondary school environment is important because it allows all students, no matter their background or abilities, to feel welcomed, respected and supported.
It is also important as an inclusive school environment builds a positive learning environment, aids equitable learning opportunities and improves student confidence.
How to create an inclusive secondary school environment
How to create an inclusive secondary school environment:
- Set clear expectations.
- Build meaningful relationships with students.
- Understand how each student learns.
- Implement diverse teaching methods.
- Promote anti-bullying policies.
- Offer mental health and wellbeing support.
- Regularly assess and improve inclusivity initiatives.
- Train staff on diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Provide necessary accommodations for students with disabilities.
- Use gender-inclusive language and policies.
Set clear expectations
Setting clear expectations helps students understand what is expected from them through behaviour, academic performance and active participation in activities.
Having clear expectations in place reduces misunderstandings and shows that all students have the same expectations, eliminating bias and favouritism.
Setting clear expectations helps to create an inclusive secondary school environment where all students are treated equally and are given the same opportunities.
Build meaningful relationships with students
Building meaningful relationships with students creates trust and helps Teachers understand their background and direct needs. When Teachers get to know their students on a more personal level, they can provide more personalised support and identify potential challenges early on.
By getting to know the students on a personal level, teaching staff can address individual needs which can help students feel seen, heard and valued.
Understand how each student learns
By getting to know how each student learns, you can understand their strengths, weaknesses and preferred learning styles. This could be through visual, auditory, kinesthetic learning or reading and writing.
From this, you can then tailor teaching strategies accordingly to prevent students from feeling discouraged and ensure that all students have an equal chance at succeeding academically.
Implement diverse teaching methods
Implementing diverse teaching methods is important to ensure that all lessons cater to each student no matter their abilities, learning style or background. Diverse teaching methods can include assistive technology, project-based learning, social-emotional learning and cooperative learning.
By implementing diverse teaching methods, teaching staff ensure that all students have equal opportunities to learn and develop their skills.
Promote anti-bullying policies
According to The Mix, 48% of young people experience bullying in schools, so it's extremely important that schools do what they can to stop this. Especially when targeted at underrepresented groups, bullying can discourage students from taking part in learning and create a toxic school environment.
Strong and effective anti-bullying policies help prevent harassment, discrimination and exclusion, creating an inclusive school environment.
By promoting anti-bullying policies, secondary schools can stand against bullying and make sure that students feel safe and confident expressing themselves at school.
Offer mental health support
Mental health has significantly increased amongst young people over the years, so schools should be offering mental health support and making it a priority. Schools can provide access to counsellors, mental health programs and wellness resources to ensure students receive the support they need.
This way, students struggling with anxiety, depression or stress have a support network at school and know where to seek help when needed.
Regularly assess and improve inclusivity initiatives
Having inclusivity initiatives in place is all well and good until they are outdated. It’s important that schools regularly assess and improve inclusivity initiatives to keep them up to date and ensure that they are still effective.
Schools can gather feedback from students, staff and parents through surveys and diversity audits. This way, other individuals can bring fresh perspectives and new initiatives making it more personal to students, staff and parents.
Train staff on diversity, equity and inclusion
Training staff on diversity, equity and inclusion is extremely important because if they don’t have a full understanding, it will hinder their ability to effectively address discrimination.
It also allows teaching staff to recognise unconscious bias, understand different cultural perspectives and implement strategies that support each and every student.
Well trained staff are better equipped to effectively address and prevent discrimination, creating a more inclusive secondary school environment.
Provide necessary accommodations for students with disabilities
Providing necessary accommodations such as assistive technology and accessible classrooms for students with disabilities, is of utmost importance to create an inclusive secondary school environment.
Having accommodations in place removes any barriers, ensures students have equal access to learning opportunities and allows students with disabilities to fully participate in school activities.
Use gender-inclusive language and policies
Using gender-inclusive language and policies creates an inclusive secondary school environment where all students, regardless of their gender identity, feel respected, accepted and aren’t excluded.
Gender-inclusive language and policies involve respecting the student, using their correct pronouns and ensuring that classroom activity teams, sports teams and policies around dress codes don’t discriminate against any gender.
Recruit teaching staff
As a specialist education recruitment agency, we support mainstream and SEND schools with their temporary, permanent and temp-perm staffing needs.
We currently work with hundreds of schools and have exclusive access to some of the best Teachers and Teaching Assistants in the North West.
If you’re struggling to fill a teaching vacancy, why not get in touch with one of our team to see how we can help?
- Primary schools - Jimmy Callagher
- Secondary schools - Liam Jones
- SEND schools - Jamie Heath
Teaching jobs
If you’re searching for your next teaching job, why not take a look at the latest teaching vacancies, or simply upload your CV to be notified when a relevant position becomes available.
Who is Spencer Clarke Group?
Established in 2017, we’re an award winning and progressive recruitment agency based in the heart of the North West. Our reputation is built on trust, expertise and an unwavering commitment to exceed expectations.
In 2024, we were named Recruitment Agency of the Year at the prestigious Recruiter Awards, an accolade we are extremely proud of.
We operate in two sectors:
In eleven specialisms:
Healthcare, Social Care & Nursing
Corporate Functions & Business Support
