Shazad Ali on managing reintegration from alternative provision.
The need to support young people at risk of falling through the cracks in the education system has never been more urgent. Since the pandemic, we have seen a sharp rise in social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) challenges, such as severe anxiety, and in undiagnosed learning difficulties among students, leading to stubbornly high levels of persistent absence across the country. In this context, online alternative provision (AP) has become crucial, offering students a pathway to continue their education and helping them re-establish a constructive, positive connection with learning.
Online AP opens the possibility of building highly personalised learning journeys for students, enabling teachers to easily track progress and identify gaps ensuring they are still keeping up with their education even while not in school. Of course, the goal is to have our students back in the physical classroom, interacting with staff and peers and enjoying their time at school, but we also want to ensure they are not falling behind and missing out on important learning.
We engage our students in a phased approach, using our two trauma-informed and nurture-based internal AP settings on-site as appropriate to each student’s individual needs. The crux of this approach is a predictable, well-structured timetable, offering a clear path for the student to attend four lessons each day, five days a week. Regular meetings with the student’s caregivers are held to ensure everyone remains aligned and informed. Initially, students will solely access their learning using a secure online AP platform with a carefully designed academic programme. The aim is of course to keep them continuing to follow the curriculum, but a crucial part of this stage is to re-establish positive learning habits and reset students’ ability to build and maintain positive relationships with their teacher—online AP allows this to take place on a one-to-one basis. This is so important for students experiencing SEMH challenges, for whom larger classroom settings can be daunting at this point.
For many of our students with SEMH needs, being physically present on the school site can be a huge source of anxiety, so we make every effort to reframe being onsite as a positive experience. This can mean small steps, like inviting the student to come and spend time at the school during quieter periods, perhaps taking a walk around the grounds to rebuild familiarity. Similarly, it can be helpful for the student to have an informal, in-person chat with their teachers to forge those positive relationships.
Following initial weeks using online AP from home, students will continue to do so while on school grounds. Gradually, this will be staggered towards more in-person lessons and more time spent in larger group settings. For some students, it can be effective to encourage them by offering extra time in afternoon wraparound sessions focused on their preferred topics, such as cooking or hair and beauty. This creates a bridge that naturally leads them to spend more time with teachers, enhancing their engagement and comfort in the school environment, while building their confidence by helping them explore their passions.
One of the main changes I believe must take place is reframing our mindsets as educators. The reintegration process is a vital part in supporting our students to make positive, constructive choices. It is our role as their teachers to help them. We know that engagement in education is critical in setting young people up for success. The return to mainstream classroom learning is made all the more difficult if teachers hold on to negative labels and past judgements of the student as being challenging or a troublemaker. As much as reintegration is about ensuring the student is equipped with the skills and habits to thrive at school, it is also about making sure that the school environment is ready to embrace them with a clean slate for a fresh start.