- Two-thirds of alternative provision leaders are concerned about the impact of poverty – with a third of settings located in England’s most deprived areas
- Special schools and alternative provision lack vital information needed to meet pupils’ additional needs across education, health and social care – despite supporting some of the most complex children
- Funding and staffing pressures limit support, with more than half of special schools reporting staff shortages
- Commissioner calls for guaranteed access to specialist services for every child, embedded social care support in schools and better post-16 options to improve vulnerable pupil’ long-term outcomes
Special schools and alternative provision settings are fighting an “uphill battle”, often serving children in some of the most deprived areas of the country while lacking the vital information about their needs to properly support them, the Children’s Commissioner has warned.
Dame Rachel de Souza’s latest report provides, for the first time, a comprehensive national picture of resources, staffing and social challenges across state-funded special schools and alternative provision (AP) settings, like pupil referral units.
Despite the vital and often undervalued role these schools play in supporting children with complex and varied additional needs – those with disabilities, behavioural challenges, at risk of criminal exploitation or otherwise unable to attend mainstream school – these settings are operating under mounting pressures from funding shortfalls, workforce shortages, and weak coordination with wider health and social care services.
Today’s report, Special and Alternative Provision Sector Report: The Children’s Commissioner’s School Census, builds on Dame Rachel’s previously published Children’s Plan, a state of the nation of England’s schools based on responses from around 90% of school leaders. It follows similar themes, with leaders in special schools and AP settings raising concerns about the availability and coordination of wider services in the community and the impact this has on their pupils’ lives.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said:
“By and large, the educational reforms our schools have experienced over the past 15 years have transformed outcomes for many children, but they have not delivered for every child.
“Despite the efforts of the brilliant and skills professionals who work there, special schools and alternative provision settings are shouldering the burden of deep-rooted social problems without being given the full information or support they need. Too many assumptions are made about these children, and too little is known about the challenges they face beyond the school gates. Let me be clear, this is not the fault of school leaders – far from it, it’s the consequences of fragmented services and depleted children’s services, leaving these settings to fight an uphill battle.
“We must have a system that works for every child, including children with complex needs and difficult lives. The education system must be inclusive, where every school – mainstream, special and alternative provision – have the tools, data and joined up services they require to meet children’s needs. In special and alternative provision settings this can make a world of difference as knowing details about pupil’s lives can allow these schools to address the wider challenges and barriers that children are facing.”
Across England, more than 1,000 state-funded special schools and 334 AP settings educate around 180,000 children and young people – just two per cent of the school population – but they often deliver some of the most intense, life-changing support for children whose needs cannot be met in mainstream schools due to illness, exclusion or other challenges.
Special schools can offer a lifeline by providing tailored teaching and specialist support for pupils with complex needs, who may have fallen out the education system. Previous work by the Children’s Commissioner has shown the importance of AP settings, and how for some children these settings are their first positive engagement with education.
Yet despite this work, around two thirds of special schools and AP settings could provide only an estimate of the number of their pupils on mental health waiting lists or living in unsuitable accommodation – making it challenging for schools to provide targeted support for pupils’ additional needs.
Two thirds of special schools are already at or above capacity, and data from the Commissioner’s School Census found that that 84% of AP leaders cite funding shortages among their top barriers to delivering support, much higher than in mainstream schools (51%).
The report’s key findings include:
- Staff shortages: Over half of special schools (54%) say staffing is one of their top concerns. Recruitment of teachers, therapists and allied professionals remains one of the main challenges.
- Unmet social care and health needs: Two thirds of schools were unable to report timely mental health or housing information on pupils, exposing serious gaps in coordination between education, health and social care services.
- Poverty and local deprivation: Two thirds of APs (67%) list poverty as a top concern, with many schools offering free food provision and counselling to pupils. A third of APs operate in the most deprived fifth of areas of England.
- Pupil engagement: Over half of APs reported pupil engagement (54%) and parent and carer engagement (63%) as barriers to delivering support.
- Post-16 pathways: One in five special schools identified post-16 support as a top concern, 40 times higher than among mainstream schools (0.5%). Outcomes for AP pupils remain poor, with one in four young people not being in education, employment or training after leaving school (NEET).
Both sectors reported challenges with staff recruitment, weak coordination between schools and local services including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), housing and children’s social care, as well as high rates of poverty and unmet social care needs impacting pupils and their families.
Special schools were the most likely of all school types to employ speech and language therapists, family liaison officers and school nurses – but there remained unmet demand for social workers and family support staff.
Responses to the Commissioner’s Big Ambition survey showed that children in special schools were more likely to enjoy school (76%) than their peers in mainstream school (64%), but that less than half of those in AP settings (47%) enjoyed school.
The Children’s Commissioner is calling on the Department for Education to set out a clear national framework for special and alternative provision, guaranteeing every child access to core specialist services, and ensuring better integration between schools and wider children’s services. This should include:
- A guaranteed national offer of specialist support ensuring every school can access speech and language therapy, educational psychology, family liaison and mental health teams.
- Embedding social care and poverty support within schools via school social workers, breakfast and food provision, and family support staff.
- Strong post-16 and careers pathways so every pupil has meaningful transition planning, work experience and local partnerships for employment – reducing the risk of them becoming NEET.
- Expanding enrichment and outdoor learning opportunities in APs to support engagement, wellbeing and aspiration.
- Improved data sharing and coordination through the promised national unique ID for children to support cross-agency understanding of their needs and improve the information schools and settings hold about their pupils’ needs.
- Investment in workforce and infrastructure to address shortages and modernise facilities as demand continues to rise.
