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Designing continuity of support across classrooms and schools.
A proposed experience that helps authorised school staff find useful pupil information, share context specific strategies and keep support information with a pupil when schools change. It follows the QSEN business analysis case study.
- MY ROLE
- UX Designer
- PROJECT TYPE
- Self-directed concept project, informed by my experience in secondary education
- FOCUS
- Information architecture, flows and interface concepts
- TOOLS
- Figma, HTML for interface concepts
- STATUS
- Concept designed. Not yet tested with users.
AT A GLANCE
What this page is, and what it is not
What I designed
- Navigation and information architecture for two roles
- Three core flows, each linked to a business requirement
- Interface concepts for strategy sharing and transfer tracking
- Concept screens for the teacher and SENCO flows
- Accessibility and privacy principles
What I have not done
- No user research and no usability testing
- No accessibility audit
- No working product: these are design concepts, not screenshots of software
- No claim that any version is secure or compliant
How it connects
Every flow points to a requirement in the business analysis case study. The Must requirements, sharing and transfer, are designed first. The AI resource and the day view are Should items and are designed after them.
Teachers need more than access to a record
They need a short view of what matters now, a safe way to learn from colleagues' observations, and confidence that support information follows a pupil when schools change.
Fast, focused access
Show the relevant support information with a clear hierarchy and little navigation.
Useful collaboration
Make it easy to share observations tied to a context, without presenting them as rules for every pupil.
Continuity between schools
Help authorised SENCOs prepare, send, receive and check transfer information.
Privacy by design
Show permissions, review steps, status and ownership in the workflow.
A dashboard alone cannot fix fragmented ownership or incomplete handovers
HOW MIGHT WE
Help school staff find and apply relevant support information quickly, share what they learn, and keep continuity when a pupil moves school?
Constraints shaping the design
- Staff may use the service between lessons, on different screen sizes and with little time.
- Information must be short enough to scan but detailed enough not to mislead.
- Access to sensitive information depends on role, and the interface must not suggest every member of staff can see every record.
- Shared strategies are observations tied to a context. They are not diagnoses, assessments or guaranteed interventions.
- Transfer progress needs clear status and exception handling, not one "sent" message.
Four design hypotheses, none yet tested
These come from my professional context. They would be tested with teachers, SENCOs and data protection and IT stakeholders before I treat them as findings.
| Hypothesis | How to test it | Design response if supported |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers need a quick route from the day view to the right pupil profile. | Observe staff doing realistic lookups and ask which information is essential. | Put search, upcoming lessons and a short profile summary first. |
| Teachers reuse a strategy more readily when its context and observed response are clear. | Ask staff to read anonymised sample notes and say what is missing. | Show context, date, author and response, and make stale notes easy to flag. |
| School transfers need confidence in the recipient, completeness and receipt. | Map the current transfer steps with authorised staff and list the exceptions. | Separate preparing, sending, receipt, review and completion. |
| AI assisted resources need visible changes and human review. | Walk teachers through synthetic examples and ask about accuracy and editing. | Explain what changed and keep the teacher in control before use. |
Everyday classroom tasks are kept apart from SENCO administration
Navigation and permissions are proposed. Labels and visibility would be checked against the school's roles, policies and systems.
Teacher navigation
- Today: upcoming lessons
- Pupils and profile search
- Profile and agreed support information
- Shared strategies
- Resource support
SENCO navigation
- Dashboard and profile oversight
- Strategy review and flagged notes
- Transfers: outgoing and incoming
- Transfer status and exceptions
- Access and administration
Three flows, each linked to a requirement
Flow A: Find and apply support
Serves BR-01 and BR-02 (Must), with the day view from BR-08 (Should) as the quickest way in.
01
See what is coming up
The day view shows upcoming lessons and links to authorised profiles.
02
Scan the profile
Key support information, agreed strategies and the update date come first.
03
Use and reflect
The teacher reads the guidance and can add an observation after the lesson.
Flow B: Share best practice responsibly
Serves BR-03 and BR-04 (Must).
01 | COMPOSE
Record an observation
Capture what was tried, the context, the date and what was observed, without labels or assumptions.
02 | CHECK
Preview before saving
Confirm the note is factual. The interface shows its author and time.
03 | REUSE OR REVIEW
Keep it current
Colleagues judge relevance and can flag outdated or unsuitable notes.
Flow C: Transfer pupil information between schools
Serves BR-05 and BR-06 (Must).
01 | PREPARE
Confirm and review
The SENCO confirms the pupil, the receiving school and what may be sent.
02 | SEND
Track delivery
Use an approved secure route and show a timestamped status, never a public link.
03 | RECEIVE
Acknowledge and check
The receiving SENCO checks the package, acknowledges receipt and flags missing or different items.
The interface separates "sent", "received", "reviewed" and "completed". If a transfer fails or an item is missing, a named owner and next action are shown.
Making the two continuity features concrete
These are illustrations of the design, built to show intent. They are not screenshots of a working product.
Four decisions to validate, not results
Each decision comes with the question that would confirm or overturn it.
Day view, then profile
Decision: put upcoming lessons and search first, then a short profile view.
Validate: can staff find the right pupil quickly without choosing the wrong record?
Profile, then resource
Decision: keep resource drafting tied to the support context and show what changed.
Validate: can teachers judge, edit and reject an unsuitable draft?
Strategy note
Decision: structure the note around context and observed response, not a free text tip.
Validate: does another teacher understand when the observation may or may not apply?
Transfer hub
Decision: a status led workflow, with review before sending and acknowledgement after receipt.
Validate: can a SENCO spot an incomplete, failed or misdirected transfer?
Design considerations, not compliance claims
Accessibility
- Readable text and a clear heading order
- Visible keyboard focus and real controls
- Status shown in words, never by colour alone
- Zoom, narrow screens and touch targets to be tested
- Plain language and clear ways to recover from errors
Privacy and trust
- Access shown by role and need
- Record freshness and note authorship visible
- Recipient and package confirmed before a transfer
- Receipt, exception and audit states
- Teacher review of every AI generated resource
None of this means the concept is compliant or security tested. Before any pilot, the school and its data protection and IT leads would assess lawful handling, access controls, retention, supplier terms, security, accessibility and safeguarding. A data protection impact assessment would be needed before real data is used.
What I would test next
The next stage is to test whether the concept works for the people and edge cases it is designed around. No usability results exist yet. Testing is planned for December 2026 to January 2027.
| Task | What to observe | Evidence to record |
|---|---|---|
| Find a pupil and identify key support information | Wrong selections, hesitation, navigation path and understanding | Task completion, time, errors and participant feedback |
| Add a strategy observation | Whether the person includes context and an observed response | Missing fields, note clarity and confidence about sharing |
| Find and judge a shared strategy | Whether users understand date, author, context and limits | Correct reading, relevance judgement and use of the flag |
| Prepare and send a transfer | Recipient check, package review and understanding of status | Critical errors, missed checks and recovery path |
| Receive and check a transfer | Whether missing items and next actions are clear | Completeness check errors and who owns each exception |
Measures to report after testing
- Task completion and time, with the number of participants and the task context
- Critical errors, especially wrong record or wrong recipient
- Accessibility issues and how well statuses and note context are understood
- Feedback quoted only with permission and anonymised
Continuity is the strongest design opportunity
Making information easier to use today, while keeping its context, ownership and handover clear for tomorrow.
- Connect every screen to the requirement it serves, especially BR-03 to BR-06 for sharing and transfer.
- Check the assumptions with teachers, SENCOs and data protection and IT stakeholders.
- Test failure paths as well as success: wrong recipient, missing items, stale notes and permission limits.
- Measure a baseline before setting any target or claiming impact.
This project shows a proposed end to end workflow and a plan for testing it. Its value depends on safe, understandable and measurable improvement, not on mock-ups alone.