Enabling Access

‘Enabling Access was published at a time when the professional community was engaged in an evolving discourse on what constitutes an holistic curriculum for students with significant disabilities. This book was instrumental in contributing to the pedagogical landscape for this group of learners by reminding the professional community that breadth and balance need to be at the heart of any pedagogical decision-making: something as pertinent today as when the book was published. It definitely warrants a place alongside other classic contributions to our understandings and practice of teaching and learning. A well-deserved accolade!’

– Professor Phyllis Jones, University of South Florida, USA

‘I warmly welcome the publication of the new edition of Enabling Access. In many respects, its first edition marked the start of a quiet revolution in how we view the education of a new, distinct and all too often disenfranchised group of learners who need new and personalised responses to their profile of learning needs. The growing number of children and young people with complex learning and other disabilities have always challenged the system – in schools, families and in their multiple interactions with health and social care. Enabling Access introduces new concepts, of holistic learning pathways and engagement, and importantly it takes forward the potential of pro-active personalisation in education. Personalised education can transform the responses of schools but it necessitates new and more collaborative relationships across schools, between families, with a range of other professionals and sometimes using the insights offered by neuroscience as to how children learn – and how they see their worlds. Enabling Access provides that transformative guidance and offers a rich range of essential advice, case studies and shared learning vital to the new 2lst century pedagogy which will ensure that our pupil population with the most complex needs can indeed achieve their full potential.’

– Dame Philippa Russell, DBE