Nearly 16,000 children in England learn in state-funded alternative provision (AP). These are educational settings for school-aged pupils who are unable to attend mainstream school. These pupils may have been excluded from their previous school, have a medical condition or find themselves without a school place.
There are around 333 state-funded APs in England, with a growing array of unregistered providers. While APs offer core elements of the national curriculum, they typically provide additional elements such as work-based qualifications and recreational activities like sports and art, as well as therapeutic pursuits. Class sizes are usually much smaller than in mainstream school, and many APs have a higher presence of support staff.
For all their efforts at innovation, AP settings are still heavily stigmatised. They face questions around quality, reports of abuse and concerns about how pupils do in life after they leave.
Some parents are reluctant to send their children to AP, feeling disempowered by the process of exclusion and limited by the school options presented to them. While adult voices on AP are prominent in these debates, pupils’ own insights have received far less attention.
We carried out research on the experiences of children in AP, working with young boys who remained on the margins of everyday life there, as well as young people who were more actively engaged in creative classroom activities.
Many of the students we spoke to in AP were acutely aware of their stigmatised identity. One spoke of how boys from his previous school saw him “as a freak” and that they think alternative provision is “for the stupid kids”. Others questioned the level of intellectual challenge in AP, calling it “baby school” and finding the classroom work undemanding.
What really stood out in our studies was the pivotal influence of peers. When young people had little trust in the professionals around them or had experienced bullying, their friendship networks became critical.
During creative activities, we saw close collaboration between young people, with particularly high levels of “affiliative agency”: supportive talk that emphasises social bonds. This helped young people keep each other emotionally and intellectually engaged when faced with challenging activities.
Rethinking alternative provision
Under the previous Conservative government, efforts were underway to “rebrand” AP as part of the special education needs system. With a new government now in place, it remains to be seen what will come of these plans.
On the surface this appears to be a constructive policy move, because it draws attention to AP and those pupils accessing these provisions. But the special educational needs system itself demands further reflection.
Nevertheless, the existing policy framework for special educational needs points us in some useful directions. The latest Code of Practice emphasises that pupils’ voices should matter.
In contexts where young people have limited control over how they are perceived and the decisions institutions make about them, educational practices that recognise and build on the existing reciprocity, trust and cooperation between young people can have a lot of value.
Today, the general trend is towards an increased emphasis on relational practices in AP: approaches to education that focus on building connections. This includes initiatives such as anger management and nurture groups, as well as trauma-informed practice, which takes into account the impact past trauma can have on a person’s development and ability to build relationships.
We have little doubt that a learner who is anxious or in a distressed state is likely to find it extremely difficult to concentrate in a maths or English lesson. These relational practices matter. But learning should also be a holistic and liberating experience for pupils.
Our research has found that young people in AP question their education but want to be challenged. The cognitive dimensions of the learning experience should not be downplayed for those in AP.
We are committee members of the Alternative Provision Research Network, a network of academics and people working in AP who are committed to social justice for children in alternative provision. This means rethinking AP in ways that incorporate children’s voices on their education and is also based on evidence.
In emphasising the cognitive, we do not mean simply trying to improve the GCSE grades of children in AP. We mean consulting with the pupils themselves about what truly matters to them when it comes to learning. The signs are that pupils value a challenging curriculum.
Claire Kinsella is affiliated with the Alternative Provision Research Network which a network committed to a social justice agenda for children in Alternative Provision. See: https://www.apresearchnetwork.com/
Craig Johnston is affiliated with the Alternative Provision Research Network, which highlights issues of social justice for disadvantaged children and young people.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
