Vulnerable learners include the following groups:
Very young children can struggle to have views of their own, and lack the means of expressing their views. They will probably find it more comfortable to talk to an inspector as part of a small group in their usual setting and are likely to need a familiar adult with them. This will be helpful where children have limited expressive language or are shy of strangers.
Learners with special educational needs or those who require extra support may be more likely to have difficulty in using verbal language to communicate their views and may have to rely on others to mediate their responses. For some, their actual age will not match their developmental age. Those who have social, emotional or mental health needs are likely to lack the trust and confidence in other people that is essential for effective communication.
For learners with additional or different communication needs, inspectors will need to enlist specialist help from those who can use the appropriate mode of communication. This may be, for example, one of the sign languages or picture systems, ICT equipment or Braille.
Learners with physical health difficulties who are dependent on others for their care and wellbeing, who may have to put medical care before learning as a priority and who are likely to experience interruptions to their education or training programmes.
Children excluded from school who have no voice in the exclusion process and may experience considerable interruption to their education, both before and after the exclusion. They are likely to drop out of education and training, but may reappear in the mental health or criminal justice systems.
Looked-after children and children on the at-risk register for whom the educational, social, health and career outcomes are known to be much poorer than those of their peers. They are more likely to have additional learning, social or emotional needs and to discontinue education or training early. They are also likely to drop out of education and training and to reappear in the mental health or criminal justice systems.
Children and young people in residential educational provision who are likely to have additional learning needs. It is likely that some of these children and young people are also looked-after children. They may be some distance from home and require particular attention to their care, welfare and protection from harm.
Members of minority ethnic and faith groups who may find cultural, religious and linguistic barriers to communicating their views as learners and who may experience racism. They may lack trust and confidence that their views matter.
Learners for whom English is an additional language may need support in order to communicate with inspectors.
Travellers’ educational experiences are often very different from the majority of their peers and they are more likely to experience social exclusion. They may lack trust and confidence that their views matter.
Refugees and asylum seekers may find cultural, religious and linguistic barriers to communicating their views as learners and may experience racism. They will have had very different educational experiences from those of their peers and may have experienced trauma.
Many of these learners may need support in order to communicate with inspectors.
Supplementary guidance: listening to learners on inspection - September 2021
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Communicating with vulnerable learners
It is essential to ensure that the views of vulnerable learners, namely those whose needs and views may be different from those of the majority of their peers, are included. In order to find out how these groups of learners experience their education or training, it is often useful to talk to them in private in small groups with about three to four learners.