ABSTRACT
The term learning support covers all those activities that enable a school to respond to the diverse range of skills and needs of pupils. Learning support is about more than children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND); it is a whole-school issue aimed at supporting the development of more inclusive systems in the school rather than merely helping individual children. Among both teachers and support staff there are often fundamental misunderstandings about inclusion and what inclusion really means. Developing a shared vision of inclusion is the first step to improving the quality and effectiveness of support for learning. It is vital that teaching assistants are involved in all lesson planning so that they understand the aims of the lessons and are aware of the teacher's expectations of their role in that context. This is equally necessary for teaching assistants assigned to a whole class as for those whose identified role is to support an individual child with SEND.
