Pictures by Mo Ibraham, Artwork Paolo Feroleto
SEND Green Paper
Nisai has 25 years’ experience of delivering online education to marginalised and vulnerable young people – pioneering support to individual learners, both in and out of school, using online and blended learning models. We have been part of the wider ‘Alternative Provision’ ecology. Now we are also pioneering through our non-profit action research and educational projects at the Nisai Education Trust.
An initial look at the Green Paper brought something of a sense of relief. In many ways it is a pragmatic and positive response to some of the problems that had been ‘baked into’ the 2014 Act.
Trying to create a more transparent and fair system of funding, really listening to the needs of children and parents, increased respite places, better local planning, delivering a common system for EHCPs, revising expectations around professional qualifications - these are all changes that everyone in the sector would want to see delivered.
Common frameworks
The changes around AP within the wider system include a proposal to create a bespoke performance framework. This is a welcome development and I hope that this will bring an opportunity for all Alternative Education and specialist providers to be part of quality framework that recognises the invaluable work they do with young people.
There has already been work on establishing commonly understood delivery standards for non-traditional providers through the Online Education Accreditation Scheme (OEAS), proposed by the DfE and developed by Ofsted working with some key online groups.