Voice for Learners is a campaign group created by the parents of a leading online school. We are calling on the Department for Education (DfE) to establish an efficient pathway that offers families an accredited online school of their choice, if their child’s needs cannot be met in a mainstream setting.
The problems with providing support to children with special educational needs are well rehearsed: a rapidly increasing number of children are requiring specialist support which is typically accessed via an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – an adversarial system which is failing families and pushing local authorities to financial collapse.
For members of our group, online school has been a life-changer. Our children may have struggled with the mainstream environment because their needs were not being met, but they are otherwise willing and able to learn.
We came together when we realised our shared experiences were common – and that we were lucky because we either had the money to pay privately for an online school or the persistence, skill and luck to gain funding via our local authority.
Alternatives to traditional school
The Department for Education introduced an online education accreditation scheme (OEAS) in March 2023 to “reassure children, parents and local authorities of the quality of education and safeguarding arrangements offered by online providers of full-time education”. Accreditation is awarded after an Ofsted inspection.
Ministers have a marked antipathy to online education and see this as a problem with children and families, not with mainstream schools
Online schools, accredited under this scheme, represent a solution for at least some of those children who struggle with physical school settings, at a cost a little higher than mainstream per pupil costs and less than any specialist support. Inclusion, the DfE’s preferred solution to the SEN crisis, is much easier in the online environment. One online school we know has 60% of pupils on its SEN register but they are taught, transparently, alongside other pupils. All the teachers are trained to support special needs.
We want all SEND pupils to be able to benefit from this alternative way of learning.
What is a virtual school?
Accredited online schools have many of the features of mainstream schools: children attend live lessons online, they attend assemblies, they go on school trips, they have a range of social opportunities, they take yearly assessments, and formal examinations such as GCSEs and A-levels. There is an option for public examinations to be taken at home, under tightly controlled conditions.
Children are given more control of their education with a learning management system that guides them through work outside of live lessons (often called flipped learning), and any missed live lessons can be caught up on later by watching a recording. Accreditation requires strict safeguarding measures to be put in place.
Online schools are also a great option for elite athletes and performers who can fit education around training schedules and rehearsals, as well as families who move around the world because of work or military service. Some families in our school have chosen virtual education as a lifestyle choice because of the flexibility it offers.
Ministers remain wedded to mainstream
As a campaign group we have met with the DfE and our MPs. We have also provided written evidence to select committee inquiries covering our experience as parents of children for whom the mainstream has not worked, describing how accredited online schools have benefitted our children, and highlighted how cost effective this approach is when compared to other specialist provision.
For some MPs the very existence of accredited online schools is new, and they are curious to learn more. Some admitted they have a large amount of casework relating to school absence.
But ministers remain stubbornly wedded to mainstream education and talk about increasing inclusivity to address the SEND crisis. We fear this is simply an effort to cut costs. They have a marked antipathy to online schools and see this as a problem with children and families, not with the system.
They have accredited our online school, and others, but see this provision only as a temporary measure before children can return to the mainstream. We hope that the conversations we are having with DfE will lead to a change in attitudes.
Most importantly for us, our children are happy, thriving and learning. They may return to mainstream education later but if they don’t, that is not a problem because they are learning.
This is what we want to be available for all families who need it.
*For more information, and to join our campaign group, visit https://voiceforlearners.online/, or email us on voiceforlearners@gmail.com. It is open to all, and not just families who educate online.
