One answer to funding crisis in special needs education - offer online education says Devon based headteacher

The headteacher of a new online school believes one answer to the funding crisis in special needs education is for local authorities to offer online education as an addition to mainstream schools.

Lisa Boorman, headteacher of Queen’s Online School says the recent Institute for Fiscal Studies report stating that supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England will cost the government an extra £3bn a year by 2029 if the system is not reformed, is very worrying.

“The Institute for Fiscal Studies has also highlighted that under current projections there will be an extra 220,000 children and young people with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) by 2029.”

Ms Boorman, who was headteacher of a successful secondary school in Devon for ten years, is concerned the mainstream system just won’t be able to cope. She believes parents should be offered, at the point where they are choosing secondary school, an additional option: high quality online education.

“It is a credible, cost-equivalent alternative to traditional provision, and for many families it could make all the difference.

 “For some young people the sheer scale of mainstream schools is overwhelming,” she explains. “Add in neurodiversity and the result can be anxiety, depression and withdrawal. We need different doors into education.”

With more than 25 years in mainstream education, Ms Boorman is adamant that online learning could help many children, but only if local authorities are prepared to allocate budgets towards more flexible approaches designed to support hard-to-reach young people.

She’s convinced tens of thousands of children will continue to slip through the cracks of the current system unless it’s overhauled and she believes that for some pupils, the traditional classroom will never be the right environment. Online schools like Queen’s, Ms Boorman says, can give them a second chance at education and a future full of possibility.

 “It requires innovation and compassion. Local councils and government must recognise that online learning is not a second-best option and might genuinely be a lifeline. If we are serious about giving every child a fair start, then we need to fund and promote these alternatives as part of the mainstream system and give parents the choice as soon as they start looking at secondary schools for their child.”