What Really Works in Inclusive Education: Using Evidence-Based Teaching Strategies

Citation

Mitchell, D., & Sutherland, D. (2026). What Really Works in Inclusive Education: Using Evidence-Based Teaching Strategies (4th ed.). Routledge.

Chapter Summary

The fourth edition has 43 chapters and about 480 pages, with a preface, an introduction and three parts. The authors take what the publisher calls a whole-child approach and set out more than thirty evidence-based teaching strategies for diverse learners, grouped into four approaches: behavioural, social, cognitive and mixed. The publisher says the strategies draw on high-quality research from a range of countries and have a theoretical rationale that includes inclusive education, neuroscience, ecology and a model of learning and teaching. Examples of strategies in use in schools, recommended videos, discussion topics and learning activities are included.

Chapter 1: Introduction

A single introductory chapter precedes the three parts.

Part I, Foundations (Chapters 2–8): Learners with additional needs and their educational outcomes; Evidence-based education; Neuroscience; Quality education for all; An ecological model; A learning and teaching model; Learning from evolution

Seven chapters lay the ground. The first deals with learners with additional needs and what they achieve at school, and the second with evidence-based education. The next chapters supply the theoretical frames the publisher names: neuroscience, an ecological model, a learning and teaching model and an evolutionary perspective, alongside a chapter on quality education for all. The publisher notes that the authors also interpret behavioural challenges in an evolutionary context.

Part II-A, Behavioural strategies (Chapters 9–13)

Five strategies: behavioural assessment and approaches, review and practice, direct instruction, formative assessment and feedback, and school-wide positive behaviour support.

Part II-B, Social strategies (Chapters 14–22)

Nine strategies: cooperative group teaching; peer tutoring and peer influences; social skills training; collaborative teaching; family engagement and support; school culture; classroom climate; social and emotional learning; and inter-agency cooperation. This group reaches from the classroom to the school and to families and outside agencies.

Part II-C, Cognitive strategies (Chapters 23–28)

Six strategies: cognitive strategy instruction; self-regulated learning; memory strategies; reading comprehension and phonological awareness; comprehensive reading programmes; and comprehensive mathematics programmes. The last of these is new to the fourth edition according to the publisher.

Part II-D, Mixed strategies (Chapters 29–40)

Twelve strategies: cognitive behavioural therapy; assistive technology (including artificial intelligence); augmentative and alternative communication; the natural environment; the built environment; visual learning and communication; early intervention; transition from school to post-school environments; multi-tiered systems of support; Universal Design for Learning; music; and exercise and dance.

Part III, Conclusion (Chapters 41–43): From research to practice; The future of education: A transformative journey; Conclusion

The closing part turns from the strategies to implementation, with a chapter on moving from research to practice, a chapter on the future of education, and a conclusion.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–8: Foundations

• Evidence-based education: the principle of choosing practice on the basis of research.
• Ecological model and learning and teaching model: the theoretical frames in Chapters 6 and 7.
• Whole-child approach: the publisher's term for the fourth edition's orientation.

Behavioural and social strategies (Chapters 9–22)

• Formative assessment and feedback; direct instruction; review and practice: instructional strategies in the behavioural group.
• School-wide positive behaviour support: a whole-school approach to behaviour.
• Cooperative group teaching, peer tutoring, social and emotional learning: social strategies at classroom level.
• Family engagement and inter-agency cooperation: strategies that extend beyond the classroom.

Cognitive and mixed strategies (Chapters 23–40)

• Cognitive strategy instruction and self-regulated learning: teaching learners how to learn.
• Multi-tiered systems of support and Universal Design for Learning: system-level approaches in the mixed group.
• Assistive technology and augmentative and alternative communication: supports for access and communication.
• Early intervention and transition from school: the two ends of schooling.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Strategy-by-strategy structure. Each of the 32 strategies has its own chapter, grouped into four approaches, so a teacher with a particular problem can go straight to the relevant chapter.
• Support for use. The publisher lists examples of strategies used in schools, recommended videos, suggested discussion topics and learning activities, which suit a course or a staff study group.
• Broad definition of diversity. The fourth edition extends its scope to learners with disabilities and to those from low socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ learners.
• Updated for the fourth edition. The publisher reports nine new chapters, including comprehensive mathematics programmes, music, exercise and dance, the natural environment and the future of education, and expanded treatment of artificial intelligence, diet and exercise and multi-tiered systems of support.

Limitations

• Breadth over depth. With 43 chapters in about 480 pages, each chapter has roughly a dozen pages. A reader who needs a detailed protocol for one strategy will have to follow the references.
• Organised by strategy, not by need. The strategy chapters are not arranged by category of disability, so readers who want a category-by-category account of needs should use an introductory special-education text alongside.
• A varied evidence base. The strategy list ranges from instructional techniques such as direct instruction to environments (natural and built) and music, dance and exercise. The book's own claim is that all are evidence-based, but the strength of evidence is likely to differ across such different strategies, and readers should check it for their own context.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is the practice-oriented, strategy-focused book of the inclusive-education list. Daniel Hallahan, James Kauffman and Paige Pullen's Exceptional Learners and the Exceptional Lives textbook of Turnbull and colleagues are introductory special-education textbooks, organised by category of exceptionality or built around real students and families. Marilyn Friend and William Bursuck's Including Students with Special Needs prepares general education teachers for inclusive classrooms and covers the legal framework, groups of learners and instructional adaptation. Brahm Norwich's Addressing Tensions and Dilemmas in Inclusive Education is a scholarly analysis of why inclusion is hard to realise and argues that its dilemmas should be resolved by democratic deliberation.

Read an introductory textbook first for the categories of need and the framework of provision, then this book to choose and compare teaching strategies. Norwich's book is the place to go for a critical discussion of the principles that underlie inclusion.

How to Use This Book

The book is aimed at classroom teachers, school leaders, teacher educators, educational psychologists, special needs coordinators, researchers and initial teacher education students, according to the publisher. It assumes that the reader already has an introduction to special or inclusive education.

A practical plan:

• Read the foundation chapters first, especially the chapters on evidence-based education and on learners with additional needs.
• Then choose by problem. Use the four groups to find strategies that fit the learner or class: behavioural for routines and feedback, social for relationships, family and school climate, cognitive for learning and literacy, and mixed for technology, communication, systems and the environment.
• Compare and trial. Read two or three related strategies together, plan a small trial in your own setting and use the discussion topics and learning activities for a staff or course group.
• Finish with Part III for the chapter on moving from research to practice.