External training for pupils should be regulated, says Ofsted

20 Jun 11
Vocational training provided outside schools for children at risk of exclusion is not properly inspected or regulated, education watchdog Ofsted has said.
By Mark Smulian | 21 June 2011


Vocational training provided outside schools for children at risk of exclusion is not properly inspected or regulated, education watchdog Ofsted has said today.

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This training, for example in motor mechanics or animal care, is known as ‘alternative provision’ and is used to prevent exclusion and rekindle children’s interest in education.

Ofsted said an investigation had revealed that the work was valuable, but there were ‘very limited safeguards to ensure such provision is of good quality’.

It urged the Department for Education to consider requiring all alternative providers, whether in the private or voluntary sector, to register with it.

It also said local authorities should ensure that all alternative provision used by pupil referral units was of a suitable quality.

There is no requirement for the majority of alternative providers to register with any official body and no consistent arrangements to evaluate their quality.

Ofsted head Christine Gilbert, said: ‘Alternative forms of education can bring huge benefits for many young people who are struggling in school or not attending regularly.

‘It can encourage and even inspire them to learn. However, it is essential that this kind of provision is held properly accountable and is of good quality.’ The report found that alternative provision supported students and was valued by them where schools or pupil referral units selected the training carefully.

But some schools and units regarded alternative provision as separate from their own work and had poor arrangements for helping students to catch up with their studies.

Don Smith, headteacher at Paget High School in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, a school surveyed for the report, said: ‘Alternative provision always works most effectively when regular contact is maintained with the pupil and they still feel part of the school rather than becoming detached.’

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