RESEARCH-INFORMED PRACTICE
Research-informed practice for inclusive education, SEND and early identification
Wheeler Education is grounded in research-informed practice. Alongside direct work with children, families, schools and professionals, Marc Wheeler contributes to academic research on SEND, inclusive education, neurodiversity, statutory assessment and the early identification of hidden educational need.
How can education systems recognise children's needs before they reach crisis point?
Research themes
Marc’s publications and current research activity focus on several connected areas:
Hidden educational need
A major theme across Marc’s recent work is the idea that educational need is not always visible through attainment, behaviour or attendance. Some children maintain outward participation in school while relying on significant support, masking, compensation or environmental alignment. This means that educational difficulty may be underestimated until a transition, change in demand or period of accumulated stress leads to deterioration.
This research is particularly relevant for children whose needs are internalised, including those with autism, ADHD, anxiety, sensory processing differences, developmental language needs or complex profiles that do not fit neatly into one category.
Participation sustainability
Marc has developed and written extensively about participation sustainability. This concept asks whether a child’s engagement in education can be maintained over time, across contexts and through changing demands.
Rather than treating classroom participation as a simple sign that a child is coping, participation sustainability considers:
- the effort required to participate
- the support or environmental conditions needed to maintain participation
- whether participation is consistent across settings
- how the child responds to transition and change
- whether participation can be sustained without exhaustion, distress or breakdown
This framework has practical relevance for schools, families, professionals and statutory decision-making. It helps explain why some children appear to manage in one context but struggle in another, or why difficulties may become more visible during secondary transition, increased academic demand or changes in support.
SEND assessment and EHCP decision-making
Marc’s research also examines how educational participation, provision and need are represented within SEND assessment information. This includes how decisions about Education, Health and Care needs assessment may be influenced by observable indicators such as attendance, classroom engagement or continued mainstream placement.
His work argues that assessment evidence should distinguish between participation that is genuinely secure and participation that is fragile, scaffolded or dependent on significant support. This has direct relevance to EHCP applications, annual reviews, professional reports and the way educational evidence is prepared and interpreted.
Neurodiversity, autism and social models of difference
Marc’s first peer-reviewed publication critically examined medical conceptualisations of Asperger’s syndrome from a social constructionist perspective. This early work challenged deficit-based interpretations and argued for a more socially informed understanding of difference.
This theme continues to run through Marc’s later research. His work is concerned not only with identifying need, but with ensuring that children are understood in context, with attention to environment, expectation, access, support and belonging.
Peer-reviewed publications
Syndromeor difference: A critical review of medical conceptualisations of Asperger’s syndrome.
PublishedDisability & Society, 26(7),839–851.
This article critically reviews medical conceptualisations of Asperger’s syndrome and challenges the assumption that autism-related differences should be understood primarily through deficit-based diagnostic frameworks. It argues for a more socially informed understanding of difference and highlights the need to move beyond reducing individuals to lists of symptoms.
Sustaining participation in inclusive education: A conceptual model for recognising hidden vulnerability.
PublishedFrontierss in Education, 11, Article 1830274.
This article introduces the Sustainability Model of Educational Participation. It argues that outward participation does not always indicate secure underlying functioning, because engagement may be maintained through regulatory effort, contextual support or compensatory strategies. The model identifies five key domains for understanding participation sustainability: effort intensity, environmental dependence, contextual
consistency, transition response and temporal durability.
Understanding hidden educational need: A participation-based framework for inclusive decision-making.
PublishedFrontiers in Education, 11, Article 1820725.
This article develops a participation-based framework for inclusive decision-making. It argues that educational and statutory systems should not rely only on observable functioning, such as attainment, attendance or behaviour, when judging whether a child’s needs are being met. Instead, it proposes that professionals should consider whether participation is sustainable, effortful, context-dependent or fragile over time.
Participation and provision in SEND assessment information: A longitudinal documentary analysis.
PublishedJournal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 26, e70123.
This empirical study analyses statutory SEND documentation across refusal-to-assess decisions, later EHC plans and annual review records. It examines how educational participation and provision sufficiency are represented over time. The findings highlight the importance of evidencing whether a child’s participation is independently secure or dependent on structured support, adult mediation, environmental adaptation or specialist provision.
When classroom coping conceals educational need: A multiple-case analysis of hidden barriers to participation.
PublishedEducational Futures, Vol 17
This article explores how children may appear to cope in the classroom while hidden barriers to participation remain unrecognised. It extends Marc’s wider research on hidden educational need, masking, participation sustainability and the importance of interpreting school evidence carefully.
Unveiling the mask: early indicators of hidden vulnerability and participation breakdown in mainstream education
PUBLISHEDAdvances in Autism
This study explores whether early signs of emerging SEND vulnerability can be identified before a young person reaches crisis point. Drawing on four retrospective case studies of pupils aged 12–15 who later experienced school refusal or withdrawal, it examines how early indicators were visible within everyday school life but often overlooked because pupils appeared to be coping.
The findings suggest that outward competence, reliance on support, differences between home and school presentation, and the effort required to maintain participation can conceal growing difficulties. Crisis may occur when these compensatory strategies become unsustainable, particularly during transitions such as moving to secondary school.
The study highlights the importance of looking beyond attainment, attendance and behaviour when identifying need. Schools may need to consider how sustainable participation is, how much effort it requires, and whether the learning environment is a good fit for the pupil.
Current and developing research
Marc continues to develop research in the areas of SEND, inclusive education, neurodiversity and educational assessment. Current areas of interest include:
- parent and teacher discrepancy in autism assessment information
- hidden need and masked difficulty in mainstream education
- participation sustainability across primary and secondary transition
- the role of professional evidence in EHCP decision-making
- how educational reports can better capture context-dependent functioning
- the relationship between inclusive school improvement and early identification of need
This developing body of work reflects Marc’s dual perspective as a practitioner and researcher. It is grounded in real educational contexts and aims to support more accurate, compassionate and preventative approaches to understanding children’s needs.
Research and Wheeler Education practice
The research described on this page is not separate from Wheeler Education’s day-to-day work. It directly informs how assessments are planned, how evidence is interpreted and how reports are written.
In practice, this means looking beyond simple statements such as “the child is coping” or “the child is making progress”. It means asking deeper questions about how that progress is being achieved, what support it depends on, whether the child is experiencing distress or exhaustion, and whether current provision is likely to remain sufficient as demands change.
This approach is especially important for children whose needs are not immediately obvious. For families, it can help explain why a child who appears to manage in school may be struggling significantly at home.
For schools, it can support earlier identification and more precise provision. For statutory processes, it can help ensure that evidence captures not only what a child is doing, but what it costs them to do it.
