Navigating a changing landscape in SEND and alternative provision

By Sharon Smith, Assistant Head of T&L – Quality | 10 Dec 2025

The national conversation surrounding education is shifting rapidly. Policy reform, rising complexity of need and evolving expectations of schools are reshaping how we think about teaching, learning and inclusion. In recent months, this has been especially visible across debates about SEND, attendance, wellbeing and the role of Alternative Provision (AP) in a system under pressure.

Significant policy developments are on the horizon: the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the delayed SEND White Paper expected in 2026 and new non-statutory standards for AP, revised DfE guidance for AP, combined with the ongoing Curriculum and Assessment Review, the APPG Inquiry into the loss of the love of learning… all reflect a sector grappling with systemic strain.

National data paints a stark picture of increasing complexity, with SEMH needs rising and an estimated one in five young people experiencing probable mental health issues. Around 8% of children have active referrals to mental health services, and urgent referrals to crisis teams have tripled since 2019 . For students with SEND, the system remains overstretched. Around 1.4 million pupils have identified SEND and significant weaknesses persist in external provision, workforce training and inter-agency coordination. Only 46.4% of new EHCPs were completed within 20 weeks in 2024, and thousands of children waited more than a year, sometimes two, for key assessments and support plans to be finalised. This is not a landscape that any of us can afford to ignore.

Curriculum pressures add another layer. International and national reviews warn that curriculum overload is limiting deep learning, disproportionately affecting vulnerable learners and contributing to disengagement. The Curriculum and Assessment Review (2025) calls for a reset, with a greater emphasis on depth and coherence rather than sheer coverage, and government responses acknowledge growing concern about excessive content expectations.

Conversations across the sector:
what we are hearing

Back in the summer, I published a paper, Alternative provision: the surge in demand and the role of remote online learning in creating capacity examining the national context based on secondary data analysis, before exploring the perspectives of leaders and practitioners on the use of remote online learning as a model for meeting demand. 17 participants from schools, local authorities and non-mainstream settings shared their views on the challenges they’ve faced in meeting needs, overcoming barriers and meeting the surge in demand of alternative provision.

Surrey SEND conference

Over recent months, I’ve drawn on this evidence as I have contributed to and learned from a series of events at national, regional and local levels. In the last fortnight alone, these included the Chairing the BERA Alternative Education SIG Meet and Discuss event, attending the NASEN and Nisai national roundtable on Alternative Learning Provision in a Digital World and facilitating the Surrey SEND Conference workshop, Rethinking inclusion beyond the classroom: supporting reintegration through online learning, where Tute worked with school leaders and SENDCOs to understand local challenges and opportunities. It is a privilege to work in partnership with leaders in all areas of research, policy and practice and something I am so grateful to be a part of.

Despite their different scales and audiences, these spaces share common themes:

Inclusion that extends beyond place and focuses on meaningful participation.

The rising need for flexible learning models that complement mainstream provision rather than replace it.

Attendance barriers that are often rooted in wellbeing, unmet need or curriculum misalignment.

A growing recognition that partnerships between schools and AP providers must function as one team supporting the whole child.

Digital access as both an enabler and a challenge.

A strong message from young people themselves: they want support, positive relationships and opportunities to learn in ways that feel relevant, safe and motivating.

These discussions reinforce that AP is not an endpoint. It is part of a mesosystem that supports continuity, belonging and reintegration when mainstream pathways feel inaccessible.

Tute’s contribution:
a model that works

In each of these spaces, the question is not simply whether online learning can support vulnerable learners. It is how well it can do so.

Our evidence continues to show strong outcomes in the areas you would expect, such as progress, engagement and attendance, but we are also keen to examine outcomes in their broader sense. How do students experience learning, do they enjoy their education provision, do they feel supported and valued in their lessons? 4 years of data collection and over 7000 student responses help us to answer these questions:

Safety, trust and positive relationships are the foundations of learning and they are especially crucial for young people who have experienced disruption, exclusion or emotional barriers.

A narrative persists in education that success is binary, driven by exam outcomes that sort students into winners and losers and label schools along the way. This is unhelpful at best and damaging at worst. Our work shows that it is never too late for students to reconnect with learning, rediscover their curiosity and achieve meaningful progress. Pathways can be diverse and still high quality, and online provision has a significant role in expanding these opportunities.

We continue to hear questions about whether pastoral development can flourish in virtual spaces. This is something we take seriously. Through form groups, our SHINE council, extracurricular clubs and new research partnerships, we are strengthening our approach to social and emotional learning. I am particularly pleased that our collaborative study with the University of Chester has recently received ethical approval. Belonging: Fostering Positive Connections in Safe Spaces will examine the experiences of full-time online learners aged 11 to 16, and will help shape future practice in meaningful ways.

As ever, our work evolves through listening. Students, parents and practitioners all shape how we refine, strengthen and innovate our provision. More will follow in the new year too; opportunities to contribute to upcoming publications, national and international conferences and, most importantly, fostering connections across the sector are very much underway.

NASEN and Nisai roundtable

BERA SIG meeeting

What this means for partners

For schools, trusts and local authorities navigating an increasingly complex environment, several messages are becoming clear:

The landscape will continue to shift nationally and locally as need rises.
Flexible, adaptive and evidence-informed provision will be essential.
Digital education is becoming central to widening access and addressing persistent barriers.
The intersection of SEND, wellbeing and digital inclusion will not recede; it will define the next phase of educational reform.
Partnerships that encourage shared learning, responsiveness and whole-child approaches will be critical for sustainable solutions.

There is often a narrative that education has not changed since the Victorian era. This is only partially accurate because it ignores the innovative and deeply thoughtful work happening across schools and AP settings every day. The challenge now is to connect these efforts rather than allow them to develop in isolation, uniting the voices of those pioneering so that the discourse can be steered from a position of both theoretical and experiential knowledge.

At Tute, our vision is simple: an education system that enables any child, anywhere, to fulfil their potential. Bringing people, ideas and evidence together across mainstream, special, remote, alternative and informal learning enriches the whole ecosystem and ensures young people receive the education they deserve.

Looking ahead

The national landscape will continue to evolve, and AP will remain a critical part of that story. Tute is committed to contributing constructively, learning openly and innovating with purpose.

If you would like to explore these themes further or discuss how online AP can support your context, you can find more including case studies on the tute.com website, countless resources on the Partner Hub or connect with me directly.