The BASE Model: An evidence-based and flexible framework to support inclusive practice in schools

On the 24th of October 2024, the National Audit Office issued a damning report about the system of support in schools for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN).

A system in crisis

This report confirmed what many of us already know – that under the current system there has been a significant rise in the number of children and young people in specialist provision, and the system is not consistently delivering for those with SEN or for their families. The report also found that the current system is not achieving value for money and is unsustainable.

The response of the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson was to announce several measures aimed at making mainstream schools more inclusive. She emphasised the importance of children feeling like they belong in school to “tackle the epidemic of school absence”. She also noted the importance of teacher wellbeing and job fulfilment, and the need for schools to be centred in their communities.

Developing a model of inclusive practice

I have been a Specialist Educational Psychologist since September 2023, with a remit to support inclusion in mainstream schools. One of my first steps in this role was to look at the evidence around what works for inclusion in schools. Along with colleagues in our Educational Psychology Service (EPS) and an EPS working group, we co-produced a framework to support schools to develop and enhance their inclusive practice. This was to become known as the BASE model.

The BASE Model – a community as an ecosystem

The BASE model is built around 4 key themes that crop up repeatedly in the evidence base and literature around what works for inclusive practice.

Belonging and Relationships: 

• Ensuring that very pupil has a sense of belonging and connection to adults and peers in the school.
• Policies and procedures are built upon compassionate and relational approaches.
• Pupils are supported and enabled to develop positive and respectful friendships and friendship groups.

Autonomy: 

• Children, young people and adults have an experience of autonomy in the school. They feel that their voice is heard and acted upon through collaborative decision making.
•  Flexibility is built into practices and procedures to enable adaptations based  on pupils’ unique nature

Sense of safety:

• Creating a sense of safety through clear and consistent routines, expectations and boundaries, and respectful relationships.
• The physical environment is safe and welcoming for all, with clear signposting for where to seek help and support.
• The school takes steps to support safe and healthy lifestyle habits.

Equity: 

• Adults around the children and young people understand their individual strengths and needs, and how best to support them.
• A flexible approach is used to support every pupil to feel capable and competent. This includes universal provision and high-quality teaching for all, alongside personalised reasonable adjustments and adaptations.

The BASE model builds on these descriptions further, using the metaphor of the whole school community as an ecosystem. When different parts of the ecosystem are in balance and working collaboratively, all parts are likely to thrive. However, if the balance is lost (e.g., one component of the system dominates or one part is undernourished), this will have a negative impact upon the entire school ecosystem (the school community). As such, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Best outcomes are most likely when a holistic approach is taken. This considers how different parts of the model interact, and how any changes to policies, procedures, strategies etc are likely to impact on every member of the school community, including all pupils, staff, parents/carers, and supporting professionals. In encouraging schools to consider how a change in any one of the 4 key areas might impact upon the other 3 areas, the BASE model provides a flexible framework that can be applied dynamically to any school, regardless of demographics, resources, starting point, or physical environment.

Defining inclusion

Alongside developing the BASE model, we developed a concise definition of inclusion based on national and international policy and literature around inclusion, whilst factoring in our own EPS team values and local strategic priorities. 

We needed to produce this as there is currently no universally agreed definition of inclusion; this is urgently needed to ensure that we all share a joint vision and are working towards the same end-goals. The definition we are currently working with in our EPS is as follows:

Inclusive education is:

• A fundamental right to education.
• An approach to teaching and learning where all students learn together in a mainstream classroom in which the strengths and individual differences of all pupils are understood and celebrated.
• An ethos that values the dignity, wellbeing, autonomy, and contribution to society of all pupils.
• Creating an environment where all members of the school community from any background feel welcomed and confident that they belong.
• A continuing process to eliminate barriers to education and promote reform in the culture, policy, and practice across the whole school community, so that all pupils can flourish at school.

Current applications 

The BASE model was shared with EPS staff in July 2024. EPs within the service are now using it as a framework to support solution-focussed consultations with mainstream schools, particularly around systemic and whole school queries. EPs in the service are encouraged to keep the framework in mind when assessing, advising, or co-producing outcomes and provision recommendations around individual pupils identified with SEN. We are also at the early stages of multi-agency work – aiming to develop a shared understanding of inclusion and a shared vision of inclusive practice across services. 

Next steps and potential future applications

Whilst the BASE framework has been well received by school staff in informal discussions and consultations, it has not yet been formally tested in schools. A pilot project is planned for the near future. This project aims to use a positive psychological approach to support a secondary school to use the BASE framework to further build upon current good practice in relation to inclusion. The hope is that this will provide some evidence to support the framework, as well as informing any changes or tweaks to the model that may be required. 

The visual simplicity and flexibility of the BASE model lends itself to several other potential applications, not only for EPs, but also for school and multi-academy trust staff, and other allied professionals. Possibilities for future applications include:

• To inform CPD around a range of issues in schools, such as inclusion and belonging, trauma-informed and relationship-based approaches, universal provision and high quality and /or adaptive teaching, the SEND Code of Practice, effective deployment of support staff, and so on. 
• To support policy reviews in schools. For example, to draw attention to the interactions between different policies so that all are written with due regard to each other (e.g., the crossover between the school’s inclusion policy, behaviour and relationships policy, attendance policy, safeguarding policy etc).
• Thinking about environmental and relational factors impacting on engagement, progress, self-concept, relationships, and/or a sense of safety for individual pupils or groups of pupils.  
• To support considerations around systemic changes to the organisation and/or physical structure of the school to ensure that any changes develop and enhance a sense of inclusion, belonging, and safety for all members of the school community. 
• The model may further be applied within allied services such as the EPS when considering how changes to our own systems, policies, procedures, and practices might impact upon all within the service and those we work with.

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References and further reading

Allen, T., Riley, K. & Coates, M. (2020). Belonging, Behaviour, and Inclusion in Schools:  What Does the Research Tell Us?’. Belonging research Literature Review.pdf (neu.org.uk)

Department for Education and The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP (7 Nov 2024), Bridget Phillipson’s Speech to the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) Conference. Bridget Phillipson’s Speech to the Confederation of School Trusts – GOV.UK

Greeny, T., Pennacchia, J., Graham, J, & Bernardes, E. (2023). Belonging Schools: How do Relatively More Inclusive Secondary Schools Approach and Practice Inclusion? BelongingSchoolsReport_0.pdf (teachfirst.org.uk)

The National Audit Office (24 Oct 2024), Support for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs. Support for children and young people with special educational needs – NAO report
The University of Cambridge (September 2023), Belonging In School Resource. Download (cam.ac.uk)

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