The government should create new national standards for alternative provision and set an expectation that all students in the sector are registered at a state school, according to a report.
The New Schools Network also warns that a government decision to potentially rethink going ahead with 20 alternative provision (AP) free school projects risks students being placed in unregistered or low-quality provision.
The charity has produced a report that makes a series of recommendations to ministers on how to promote and expand the AP sector.
It comes as the government is set to publish a schools White Paper, which will be focused on increasing inclusion by creating more specialist places in mainstream schools.
Meg Powell-Chandler, director the New Schools Network, said: “High-quality AP schools are not a retreat from inclusion, but a necessary part of an inclusive system for pupils whose needs cannot be met elsewhere.”
The report calls on the government to consult on national standards for AP, which would be “based on evidence, with clear expectations about educational quality and successful long-term outcomes, and Ofsted should inspect against them”.
It also urges the government and the Education Endowment Foundation to sponsor research into effective practice in AP, and says findings of what works should be disseminated through behaviour hubs and the DfE’s new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams.
And the New Schools Network says that local councils should only be able to fulfil their section 19 duty in state-funded institutions. This duty requires councils to arrange suitable, and normally full-time, education for children of compulsory school age who are not attending school because of illness, exclusion or other reasons.
The report, published today, says every pupil in AP should be registered at a state-funded school, with the school able to commission support from external providers and be held accountable for it.
Fears over free school pipeline
The New Schools Network raises concerns about the DfE’s decision last year surrounding 20 new AP free schools that had been expected to open.
The government has said that councils in the areas where the schools were planned have the choice between proceeding with that school or receiving funding to create alternative places elsewhere.
The report notes that half of these AP free schools were for areas where there are children placed in settings that are not registered schools, because of a lack of provision.
It calls on the government to fund the completion of the 20 AP projects and sponsor further waves of AP free schools that will be “explicitly designed to test and scale innovation, supported by rigorous evaluation”.
Ms Powell-Chandler said: “The 20 free school projects in the pipeline have already been delayed, leaving vulnerable children without the specialist support they need. They need to be opened as soon as possible.”
She added that AP free schools “outperform other types of state-funded alternative provision, with better attendance and stronger outcomes post-16”.
This week Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire became the first local authority to confirm that it would proceed with one of the planned AP free schools on the list of 20.
The for a school for pupils aged between 8 and 16, which will be run by Delta Academies Trust.
A Vlog investigation last year found that AP leaders wanted ministers to use the long-awaited schools White Paper to shift the sector’s focus towards supporting pupils before, rather than after, exclusion.
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