Following this, the discussion and conclusion summarise the main points and revise the initial hypotheses and offer recommendations for further research.

With a strong focus on teaching in order to meet learners’ individual needs, growing class sizes, resulting in a broader range of mixed abilities, and an added increase in the integration of learners with specific educational needs (SEN), it is increasingly more difficult to find a classroom that does not have at least one learner with a specified learning difficulty, whether this is diagnosed or not. Meeting the needs of children with SEN requires commitment, energy, professional knowledge and skills, not to mention cooperation with class teachers, specialists within the educational institute and the local community, notwithstanding a very close working relationship and cooperation with the parents and caregivers of the learner. Berthelsen and Walker (2008) suggest that this cooperation enhances strong ties between parental involvement and children’s academic and behavioural success, and may, additionally contribute to a greater level of performance. This support network is fundamental in ensuring the appropriate design of instruction to support learners’ linguistic and academic development (Sánchez-Lopez, Young, 2018).

Perhaps, at this point, it is pertinent to question why it is that today’s classrooms seem more challenging, in this regard, than to those in the past. One reason may be the advancements in modern medicine and diagnostics, leading to more complex learner needs and the added awareness of the necessity to meet these. There are also growing concerns over the mental health within the young, as well as the adult population. This has taken an upward turn, particularly since the COVID 19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, resulting in home, online schooling, often delivered by non-academic professionals (parents and/or siblings), social isolation and increases in anxiety. Many of the social repercussions remained, for some, once these restrictions began to be lifted. Educational institutions have suffered enormously from this face-to-face hiatus, with group dynamics, levels of confidence and general learner training demonstrating a noticeable back slide. Finally, the impact of having a greater awareness and sensitivity to the issues and a more open and inclusive approach to education and classroom communities in general, cannot be dismissed.

The amount of time and energy focussed on learners with personalised learning needs can be disproportionately high (Packer, 2017), however, as Hammarberg (1998) stated, back at the end of the last century, every child has the right to the opportunity for education and success. This is not a new phenomenon. Some require more targeted investment in order for this to happen, as the range of specific educational needs (SENs) is very broad, and while SEN learners have generally been observed, for research purposes, among monolinguals, they are just as salient within bi and multilingual language learning communities.

Initially, in order for learners to receive directed educational support, a formal diagnosis of a disability was required by specialised support services (Lightbrown, Spada, 2020), however, support has now been extended to include gifted and talented (G and T) learners, who are considered to have significantly greater abilities and display greater potential to develop exceptional abilities (Delaney, 2020), however, these are the learners who are ironically, often left ‘alone’, while teachers focus more on those with greater developmental needs. Learners with English as a Second/Other Language (ESOL) requirements-often refugees and/or asylum seekers, also require various additional support. Hence the term SEN cannot be restricted to learners requiring additional support, as the continuous linguistic and academic development of G and T learners can be as challenging as the development of those with specific support requirements, as the engagement and development of all learners, through differentiated instruction, is currently one of the most prominent challenges in many mixed ability classrooms.