In addition to academic attainment and other wider learning (e.g. personal, social), achievement may be shown through increasing confidence, using a broader range of learning strategies, more active participation, increased social skills, wider competences, access to further study and employment.

According to the Agency’s Position on Inclusive Education Systems, ‘raised achievement for learners encompasses all forms of personal, social and academic attainments that will be relevant for the individual learner in the short term, while enhancing their life chances in the long term’ (European Agency, 2015a, p. 2).

(See also ‘Attainment’)

The highest ISCED level of education an individual has successfully completed. This is usually measured with respect to the highest education programme successfully completed which is typically certified by a recognised qualification. Recognised intermediate qualifications are classified at a lower level than the programme itself (UNESCO/UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2012, p. 79).

(See also ‘Achievement’)

Opposed to individual learning, collaborative learning develops a community-centred approach. It is a recent trend in human learning and cognition that emphasises participation, joint meaning-making, discourse and dialogue. It is characterised by collaboration, creative processes and the use of new technology.

Teachers and leaders need to increase their capacity, skills and motivation to provide all learners with equitable opportunities for academic and wider success. Effective professional development must include activities connected to classroom practice and school improvement priorities. Working with other teachers and professionals within and beyond school can extend knowledge and skills and equip teachers to develop their practice to meet the diverse needs of all learners.

High-quality professional development should support research and innovation, rather than expert inputs or single, short courses. It should move from seeing teachers as users of research produced by others, to seeing teachers as collaborative problem-solvers who share potential solutions and actively consider the relevance of various approaches for different learners and different situations (adapted from European Agency, 2017 and European Agency, 2018b).

(See also ‘Teacher professional learning’)

Differentiation is a method of designing and delivering instruction to best reach each learner. Teachers might differentiate content, process, products and/or the learning environment, with the use of on-going assessment and flexible grouping (Tomlinson, 2014). Differentiation in teachers’ practices takes account of learner differences and matches curriculum content and teaching methods to learning styles and learner needs. It may focus on input, task, outcome, output, response, resources or support. Care must be taken, however, that differentiation does not lead to lower expectations and segregation from the mainstream system. It should offer a range of differentiated tasks to everyone in class, giving learners some choice in what they do and how they respond.

This firstly involves the devolution of responsibilities to middle leadership teams that are able to support and manage the transfer of knowledge and skills when necessary. Secondly, it enables all staff and school stakeholders to take responsibility by promoting flexibility and sharing practice. Thus, this leadership model involves the interactions between those in formal and informal leadership roles much more than the actions they perform. The main concern is how leadership influences organisational and instructional improvement (European Agency, 2020, p. 39).

A variety of methods teachers use to evaluate learner comprehension, learning needs and academic progress during a lesson or course. Formative assessment can help teachers identify concepts that learners are struggling to understand, skills they are having difficulty acquiring or learning standards they have not yet achieved so that lessons, teaching/learning approaches and support can be adjusted.

Formative assessment aims to collect detailed information that can be used to improve teaching and learning while it is happening. What makes an assessment ‘formative’ is not the design of a test, technique or self-evaluation, per se, but the way it is used — i.e. to inform in-process teaching and learning modifications.

Formative assessment is an integral part of effective teaching. It helps learners to develop an understanding of their own strengths and development needs (adapted from ‘formative assessment’ in the Glossary of Education Reform).

Inclusion is both a principle and a process: ‘Inclusion and equity in and through education is the cornerstone of a transformative education agenda […] No education target should be considered met unless met by all’ (World Education Forum, 2015, p. 2).

It can be seen as: ‘A process consisting of actions and practices that embrace diversity and build a sense of belonging, rooted in the belief that every person has value and potential and should be respected’ (UNESCO, 2020a, p. 419).

The term was often associated with disability, but now extends to wider groups as ‘a response to increasingly complex and diverse societies. It treats diversity as an asset which helps prepare individuals for life and active citizenship in increasingly complex, demanding, multi-cultural and integrated societies’ (Soriano, Watkins and Ebersold, 2017, p. 7).

‘An education that promotes mutual respect and value for all persons and builds educational environments in which the approach to learning, the institutional culture and the curriculum reflect the value of diversity’ (UNESCO, 2020a, p. 420).

The Agency views inclusive education as ‘a systemic approach to providing high quality education in mainstream schools that effectively meets the academic and social learning needs of all the learners from the school’s local community’ (European Agency, 2015, p. 2).

Inclusive education supposes a real change at both policy and practice levels regarding education. Learners are placed at the centre of a system that needs to be able to recognise, accept and respond to learner diversity. Inclusive education aims to respond to the principles of efficiency, equality and equity, where diversity is perceived as an asset. Learners also need to be prepared to engage in society, to access meaningful citizenship and to acknowledge the values of human rights, freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination (Soriano, Watkins and Ebersold, 2017, p. 6).

Inclusive pedagogy refers to ‘an approach to teaching and learning that supports teachers to respond to individual differences between learners, but avoids the marginalisation that can occur when some students are treated differently’ (Florian, 2014, p. 289).

Inclusive pedagogy is concerned with redressing the limitations on learning that are often inadvertently placed on children when they are judged ‘less able’. It does not deny differences between learners but seeks to accommodate them by extending what is ordinarily available to all rather than by differentiating for some. Here there is a shift in focus away from the idea of inclusion as a specialized response to some learners that enables them to have access or participate in that which is available to most students. Extending what is ordinarily available to all learners, taking account the fact that there will be individual differences between them is a subtle but profound difference in approaching teaching and learning for all that is the hallmark of inclusive pedagogy (Florian, 2015, p. 13).

Instructional leadership emphasises the importance of establishing clear educational goals, planning the curriculum and evaluating teachers and teaching. The prime focus is on leaders’ responsibility for promoting better measurable outcomes for learners, highlighting the importance of enhancing the quality of classroom teaching and learning (Day, Gu and Sammons, 2016).

Instructional leadership furthermore emphasises the creation of a supportive, encouraging work environment that can support the development of teaching practices best suited to improve academic performance (Hansen and Lárusdóttir, 2015). This type of leadership has also been termed ‘learning-centred leadership, leadership for learning or curriculum leadership’, as one key dimension focuses on developing and co-ordinating an effective school curriculum (Gumus, Bellibas, Esen and Gumus, 2018) (European Agency, 2020, p. 41).

‘Collaborations of stakeholders around clusters of schools involving both school and community personnel, together with researchers, local area leaders and policy-makers’ (European Agency, 2015e, p. 7).

Such communities share and critically reflect on practice in an on-going process that promotes further learning. Parents and community stakeholders play an important role in the learning and support network around schools, developing social capital.

Features of learning communities include:

• Shared values and vision
• Collective responsibility for and focus on learning and personal growth of learners/other stakeholders
• Respectful relationships that involve mutual trust and support
• ‘Shared’ authority
• Collaboration with external partners (European Agency, 2015e).

Along with the individual education plan, learning support assistants (LSAs) are the most used form of support for learners with disabilities/other additional support needs. They are also called ‘teaching assistants’, ‘special needs assistants’ or ‘paraprofessionals’. Roles, responsibilities, training and qualifications vary across countries, but research now indicates that LSAs should work to support teachers and all learners in class to avoid stigma and reduce possible dependency.

Pedagogy encompasses:

… teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and ideas, as well as their knowledge and understanding of the teaching and learning process and the diversity of learners – all of which impact on their practice in the classroom. This includes for example:

• communication and social interaction (with and between learners);
• visual methods to support learning;
• organising tasks to engage learners;
• monitoring and using feedback for further planning;
• formative and summative assessment of learners (involving learners themselves).

Pedagogy ‘acknowledges the importance of relationships’ and ‘sees teachers working alongside learners with concern for their holistic development and well-being’ (European Agency, 2015e, p. 10).

A process of tailoring education to a learner’s current situation, characteristics and needs to help achieve the best possible progress and outcomes. Personalised learning can include personalising the curriculum, courses, learning materials and activities, and different forms of learning support. Each learner is provided with education that is tailored to their individual characteristics and needs. They learn in a way that is most suitable for them, resulting in different learning experiences for each learner (Adapted from Seel, 2012 in UNESCO-IBE, Glossary of Curriculum Terminology).

Personalisation involves working closely with parents and families to address any support requirements holistically. Personalisation is not ‘individualisation of learning’, which is essentially a teacher-driven action. Learner participation and involvement in decision-making is crucial to distinguishing between the two approaches. Personalisation requires learners to reflect in an interactive process – co-creating learning with the teacher but, over time, taking increasing responsibility and managing their own learning (within the framework of the country’s curriculum and standards) (European Agency, 2012b).

A professional learning community refers to collaborations of education stakeholders ‘around clusters of schools involving …. school and community personnel, together with researchers, local area leaders and policy-makers’ (European Agency, 2015e, p. 7).

Professional learning communities may serve two broad purposes:

(1) improving the skills and knowledge of educators through collaborative study, expertise exchange, and professional dialogue, and (2) improving the educational aspirations, achievement, and attainment of students through stronger leadership and teaching. Professional learning communities often function as a form of action research—i.e., as a way to continually question, reevaluate, refine, and improve teaching strategies and knowledge (‘professional learning community’ in the Glossary of Education Reform).

(See also ‘Learning community’)

‘The process of improving or developing, or of getting nearer to achieving or completing something; the process of developing gradually from one stage or state to another’ (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries).

To enable learner progress, schools need to:

• understand all learners’ current situations and support them by using information to plan future steps;
• develop the ‘capability to meet learner needs and increase curriculum relevance, helping learners to gain competences’ for future life, studies and employment
• be flexible to ‘adapt pedagogical strategies and provide support’ – to increase ‘access to appropriate learning opportunities’ and develop learners’ knowledge and skills.

‘Schools should be clear about what progress might look like for all learners, particularly when it does not lead to traditional recognition’, e.g. through examinations. Progress may be shown (for example, by learners with more complex support needs) by ‘increased responses, improved communication and social skills, reduced need for support, less reliance on routines, reduction in challenging behaviour, transfer of learning between different situations or increased self-advocacy’ (European Agency, 2015e, pp. 12–13).
 

A preliminary process for identifying learners who may be at risk of future difficulty in a particular area and who therefore may be a priority for intervention. Screening is intended for all learners and so the measures/tests used are usually inexpensive, quick and easy to administer, and easy to interpret. Screening is often the first step to further, more detailed assessment (diagnostic tests, etc.).

Summative assessment is a ‘one-off’ used to get a snapshot of a pupil’s level of achievement in relation to a programme of study. Usually, summative assessment is carried out at the end of a period of time, or the end of a programme of study. It is frequently quantitative and is often associated with a mark or grade that provides a comparison of the pupil’s achievement in relation to other pupils. The term ‘product-oriented’ assessment is often linked to summative assessment.

Transformative leadership emphasises vision-setting and inspiration. It focuses on establishing structures and cultures that enhance the quality of teaching and learning, setting direction, developing people and (re)designing the organisation (Day, Gu and Sammons, 2016). Transformative school leadership is traditionally associated with the ability to facilitate change and innovation by impacting on people and cultures within schools (Navickaitė, 2013) (European Agency, 2020, p. 43).