The conclusions from our review indicate that although
common teaching principles and strategies are relevant to the
subgroups we have considered, more intensive and explicit
teaching is also relevant to pupils with different patterns and
degrees of difficulties in learning. There are many pupils whose
difficulties in learning make it hard to place them clearly in
one or other subgroup (as used above) as this depends on where
cut-offs between the subgroups are drawn. This is what has
been called the continuum of SEN, which has usually been
matched with a continuum of special provision. What has
been missing in talk about continua of special needs and special
provision has been the notion of continua of teaching or
pedagogic approaches. The concept of a continuum implies
that there are differences of degree, so by teaching continua
we mean that the various strategies and procedures which
make up teaching can be considered in terms of whether they
are used more or less in practice.