The Education and Training Foundation commissioned the National Development Team for Inclusion to write this report which articulates the concept of Mainstream Plus. Mainstream Plus as conceptualised in this context was developed by the Institute of Public Care in their Commissioning Model for Ordinary Lives (2017). The Autism Education Trust has taken the model and applied it to the way they work in local areas across England.
Traditionally, the approach to supporting children and young people has been to focus on the child and their diagnosis and to provide interventions. When an intervention for an individual child does not work it is usually because not enough attention has been paid to the environment and the values embedded within the setting. The Mainstream Plus approach recognises the need for specialist services, early intervention, and short-term therapeutic intervention but it emphasises the need for support aimed at system leaders and the workforce that results in culture change. Specialist services, early intervention and therapeutic intervention all focus on individual children / young people and their immediate circle. These interventions are crucial, but they do not result in the systemic, sustainable culture change required to ensure equal access to a positive education that supports wellbeing for ALL children and young people.