What's in a Word?
The language we use in education shapes policy, practice, and perception. What’s in a Word? explores the meanings and assumptions underlying the terminology we rely on
The language used in education shapes policy, practice, and perceptions. Edge’s series asks, What's in a Word? and scrutinises the impact of the terminology we commonly employ.
September 2026
The word ‘Inclusion’ has been a key theme running though recent wider education reforms, with government Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) proposals referring to a ‘more inclusive education system’ and Ofsted introducing inclusion as a graded evaluation area for schools. It is generally agreed to be a positive thing. Yet the more frequently a word is used, the more easy it is to overlook what it actually means. Inclusion is defined by the Department for Education as ‘all staff supporting the learning, wellbeing and safety needs of all children, so that they belong, achieve, and thrive’. However, there is no formal, statutory definition of the word. If inclusion is about removing barriers to participation, belonging, and achievement, then language deserves far greater attention than it currently receives within the inclusion agenda.
With around 1.8 million pupils in England's schools using English as an Additional Language (EAL), diverse multilingual classrooms are now the norm in many schools across the country. Yet language is often absent from discussions about inclusion. This is surprising because language is at the heart of being able to participate meaningfully in education. It is how pupils access the curriculum, demonstrate their knowledge, build relationships, and develop a sense of belonging within their school community. Many pupils using EAL have a double job to do. They are not only learning the subject content of maths, humanities, and other subjects, they are also developing the English needed to access, discuss, and succeed in those subjects. The curriculum does not pause while their English language develops. The role of English proficiency is therefore critical. Through more than a decade of research with the University of Oxford, The Bell Foundation has consistently found that for EAL learners, proficiency in English makes a much bigger difference to their academic performance than anything else. It matters about four to six times more than their gender, socioeconomic disadvantage, or ethnicity combined.
Yet the way EAL data is collected and reported through the school census reduces a highly diverse group of pupils to a single binary label, providing only a broad overview of EAL learners in England. This approach obscures significant differences in pupils’ experiences, proficiency in English, and educational needs. Schools that rely on this broad categorisation, will have limited insight into individual learners and will be less equipped to identify needs and target appropriate support. An EAL learner who was born and educated in England and is fluent in English will have a very different educational experience from a pupil who has recently arrived, is new to English, and is navigating an unfamiliar education system. Others may have experienced interrupted schooling or displacement. Some will also have additional learning needs. Understanding the differences in learners’ varied experiences, backgrounds, and potential is fundamental to inclusion.
Too often, however, inclusion is still understood as providing additional support once barriers emerge. A more ambitious goal would be to design a system that anticipates and responds to learner diversity from the outset. This is where current education reform presents an important opportunity. The Curriculum and Assessment Review provides an opportunity to address inclusion across the whole system not through separate arrangements for EAL learners, but by ensuring that curriculum, assessment, qualifications and accountability are designed with the pupils who will use them in mind.There have been some developments in this area. The increased visibility of EAL within Ofsted’s inspection toolkit from October 2025, proposals for greater flexibility in KS4 accountability and pathways, a stronger focus on oracy, and wider reforms to strengthen inclusion in mainstream education all have the potential to make a difference.
The challenge now is to ensure that these reforms work coherently together and that learners using EAL are considered in their design and implementation. Greater mainstream capacity, adaptive teaching, and whole-school responsibility – all areas identified as key to inclusive education – should encompass the diversity of learners in our classrooms, rather than being understood solely through the lens of SEND. This does not mean treating EAL as another form of SEND. EAL and SEND are distinct, but they can intersect. Schools, therefore, need the expertise to understand the difference between language acquisition and additional learning needs, while appropriately supporting pupils who experience both. But inclusion is about more than academic access. Language is also closely connected to identity and belonging.
A genuinely inclusive school does not require pupils to leave their languages, cultures, or experiences at the school gate. Instead, it recognises multilingualism as an asset and values the knowledge, perspectives, and cultural resources that learners bring with them.
This has become increasingly important in a wider social context marked by growing debate around migration and identity. Schools are often a microcosm of the communities they serve. Some have found themselves navigating tensions linked to local protests or misinformation about newly arrived families. These issues will invariably shape whether children feel welcomed, represented, and safe and also influence families’ engagement with schools. Schools cannot solve these divisions alone. But they do play an important role in modelling inclusion and creating environments where diversity is recognised as a strength rather than a source of tension.
EAL learners should not have to wait for barriers to emerge before schools respond. Linguistic, social, and academic diversity needs to be designed into inclusive practice from the outset, so that every classroom is a place where pupils can learn, participate, and belong.
Written by
Katherine Solomon. Katherine joined The Bell Foundation in 2014, where she is currently Director of Programmes and Partnerships. Prior to the Foundation, Katherine spent nearly a decade as a teacher and in academic management. She has worked as a teacher trainer in the UK and overseas. She holds PGCE Primary, CELTA and DELTA qualifications and an MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT.
Next time: What does it mean to be a ‘professional’ in education, and what is its relationship with ‘development’? Eleanor Hotham and Emily Perry, Manchester Metropolitan University, look for a definition of ‘professional development’.
