Inclusive assignment - observations maths and the silent middle pupils

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Critically reflect upon, analyse and synthesise your developing understanding of inclusive learning in relation to the chosen diversity focus. What are the implications of this understanding for your own professional development? Your synthesis must draw on your work with the chosen class, your assignment activities and your wider reading.

For my inclusive assignment I looked at a top set year 9, within this class I observed that I had a group of 6 pupils who would engage in the given task but they tended to stay quiet and avoid class discussions. This group of student are called the silent middle. Collins (1996) suggested that the emphasis on physical truancy masks an even greater problem in terms of those children who attend school but who 'play truant in mind'. These children elsewhere have been called 'quiet, tend to have good attendance records and are physically present in the classroom'. However, their inability or unwillingness to participate in the learning activities which are planned and presented prevents them from learning.

Observing this group of pupils in other subjects gave me both reassurance and concerns that they presented the same behaviour of being the silent middle. This meant that these