What are the purposes of these guidelines?

These guidelines support the planning, development and implementation of the curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties. They draw on effective practice across a range of schools and can be used in mainstream and special primary and secondary schools, specialised units and independent schools. They also provide support to the range of services that work with these schools.

The guidelines can be used with the school's own material, the National Curriculum and the frameworks for teaching literacy and mathematics to:

• confirm the statutory entitlement to learning for all pupils and build on the principles of inclusion set out in the National Curriculum
• help schools develop an inclusive curriculum by: 
        - setting suitable learning challenges
        - responding to pupils' diverse learning needs
        - including all learners by overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment
• provide a stimulus to revisit and revise existing schemes of work or a basis to develop new ones.

Who are the pupils?

The guidelines relate to all pupils aged between five and 16 who have learning difficulties, regardless of factors such as their ethnicity, culture, religion, home language, family background or gender, or the extent of their other difficulties. This includes pupils who are unlikely to achieve above level 2 at key stage 4. (These pupils are usually described as having severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties.) This also includes pupils with learning difficulties who may be working at age-related expectations in some subjects but are well below this in others. (These pupils, along with those with other significant difficulties, are often described as having moderate learning difficulties.)
 

Who are the guidelines for?

The guidelines support the work of a range of adults who are concerned with meeting the needs of pupils with learning difficulties. This includes class teachers, subject coordinators, special educational needs coordinators (SENCos), senior managers, teaching assistants, parents, carers, governors, therapists, Local Education Authority (LEA) and advisory support services, and professionals from health, social services and the voluntary sector. Throughout these materials, the term 'staff' is used to refer to all those concerned with the education of these pupils.
 

What is in the guidelines?

The guidelines contain:

• support on developing and planning the curriculum
• support on developing skills across the curriculum
• subject materials on planning, teaching and assessing each National Curriculum subject, religious education (RE) and personal, social and health education (PSHE) and citizenship. These include descriptions of pupils' attainment showing progress up to level 1 of the National Curriculum, which can be used to recognise attainment and structure teaching.