Myth-busting online AP

Online alternative provision expert and headteacher of Academy21, Clare Brokenshire, debunks the misconceptions around online AP and reveals its transformative potential

Our Expert

Clare Brokenshire

Head of Education, Academy21

• Area of expertise – Managing staff and ensuring the smooth running of Academy21
• Best part of my job – Having discussions and sharing decision-making with a wide variety of our stakeholders

Myth 1: Online AP students will never return to school

When it’s right for the student, reintegration into full-time, mainstream schooling is Academy21’s ultimate goal. We work in partnership with schools and local authorities to achieve the best outcomes for each pupil.

Allowing a student with EBSA (Emotionally-Based School Avoidance) to spend time learning in a different environment can often be the best start in helping them back to it, by giving them space to break the pattern of disengagement and work through challenges.

As our recent Ofsted report notes, “Pupils’ attendance improves, and evidence shows that the approaches taken enable pupils to make progress and, in many cases, successfully reintegrate back into their school or other educational placements.”

Myth 2: Online learning is not quality approved

Although the sector was once unregulated, Academy21 is now proud to be the first accredited online alternative provision.

We have supported the DfE’s introduction of the new OEAS (Online Education Accreditation Scheme) for several years, and the rigorous standards they have set will be a helpful validation for schools looking to use online provision for their students.

Indeed, the DfE recommends that schools now only use accredited online providers.

Myth 3: The quality of teaching is reduced when online

Online classrooms do not negate quality in the slightest. All Academy21 teachers are fully qualified, highly experienced and well versed in working with vulnerable students.

As part of the leading Inspired Online Schools group, we have 20 years of experience and best practices in online education.

This means pupils get all the benefits of following a broad, quality curriculum, plus the interactivity, expertise and personalised attention of small, live virtual classes with their class teacher, and powerful learning technologies that support their progress.

“All Academy21 teachers are fully qualified, highly experienced and well versed in working with vulnerable students.”

Myth 4: If students don’t engage in school, they won’t engage online

For many students, the mainstream classroom can be a challenging environment – whether sensorily, socially, or physically.

For these pupils, engaging online can actually be far easier. Academy21’s classes are also 100% live, so there’s always a teacher on hand to make sure each pupil is focused and participating.

In our student voice surveys, 9 in 10 students say they feel more confident in their learning since joining Academy21, giving them the perfect springboard to reintegrate or progress.

Myth 5: Online learning is unsafe

Safety is, understandably, a crucial concern for schools, and something we take very seriously at Academy21. Thankfully, with a safeguarding-first approach and the right systems in place, online learning can be robustly safe and secure.

In our recent Ofsted report, for example – which found Academy21’s safeguarding to be effective – inspectors favourably highlighted our secure learning platform, close pupil supervision, recruitment practices and online student safety training as key factors underpinning our comprehensive, proactive safeguarding process.