Alternative provision remains a largely uninspected and unregulated sector. There is no requirement for the majority of alternative providers to register with any official body and no formal arrangements to evaluate their quality.
Alternative providers that offer only part-time education do not have to be registered. Ofsted says this remains a concern and means that pupils can spend all or the majority of their week at a placement that receives no external inspection or regulation.
Non-statutory government guidance for independent schools suggests 18 hour threshold [LINK] but Ofsted may interpret full-time in alternative provision differently.
For example if the child at one alternative provision is not able to attend an additional setting during school hours Ofsted may deem the provision to be “full time” as it is delivering all or substantially all of a child’s education.
Alternative providers may be part of a chain or a very small one-off establishments, and can be public, voluntary or private sector. In one area the local authority may take responsibility for commissioning and placement while in other areas schools might work in isolation to find and commission their own provision. Some providers have a very specific focus, while others teach many of the subjects found in any school curriculum.
Pupils attending alternative provision sometimes spend time with a number of adults, usually employees of the placement but also members of the public, which has the potential to make them vulnerable. Pupils may also have to find their own way to placements and in some cases travel long distances by public transport.
Some local authorities do have a list of providers but have played no part in checking the suitability or quality of those included.
A provider only has to be registered as an independent school if it caters full-time for five or more pupils of compulsory school age; or one pupil who is looked after or has an EHCP.