Eileen Field , head teacher of Accipio Learning’s online learning environment for students who have been excluded, have medical issues or have committed an offence, writes for 24dash.com.

As the UK faces what some financial pundits regard as the most significant economic recession since the end of the Second World War, efficiency savings are back on the political agenda.

The Chancellor has announced that an additional £5 billion in public service spending cuts will need to be achieved as a result of the current economic downturn and the Children, Schools and Families Committee has warned that authorities need to plan for a much more austere future. 

Faced with some of the toughest targets yet, local authorities will need to look at every possible avenue when it comes to tightening their belts and education will be one area where cost cuts will be sought.

However, with the increasing pressure to raise achievement, they need to make savings without this having an impact on learning.

In fact, there is the potential to make considerable savings whilst improving the standard of education for one of the most vulnerable groups of children – those who are not in school because they have been excluded or they have complex educational or medical issues.

In one authority, e-Learning has become a highly effective part of their strategy for managing alternative provision for children not in school.

The authority has enabled pupils who, for whatever reason, cannot attend lessons in a mainstream setting to log on to an online learning environment which provides scheduled learning in a range of subjects, such as GCSE or basic skills courses.

Lessons are delivered in real time by highly skilled teachers trained to engage children with emotional, behavioural or educational needs in what they are learning and the scheme has been highly successful in boosting the individual achievement of many pupils.

Although not intended as a cost-saving exercise, the authority has reported that the introduction of live online learning has reduced by a third the amount they spend on providing a place for pupils not in school. Other councils have achieved similar significant savings by making online teaching accessible to pupils in their area.

Managing alternative provision in this way could be particularly effective in authorities providing support for National Challenge schools (those with less than 30% of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at A* to C, including both English and maths).

Some virtual schools offer a high standard of learning provision and are staffed by teachers with the expertise needed to boost achievement and raise the aspirations of disillusioned learners.

The introduction of an online school can also make it simpler for authorities to support schools in meeting their obligations under the new 6th day cover legislation, which requires schools to provide their pupils with 25 hours of teaching each week from the sixth day of their exclusion. 

Traditionally, authorities have managed exclusion by using home tutors, employing specialist teachers to work with individual children in school or placed pupils in Pupil Referral Units.

Whilst these methods all have their place, the online school is playing an increasing role in ensuring that excluded pupils or those at risk of exclusion get the learning support they need to achieve their full potential. 

The use of this type of innovation is all the more relevant in these turbulent economic times, with councils under growing pressure to deliver the best possible quality of teaching and learning, in the most cost effective way.

www.accipio-learning.com.