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Writer's pictureNatasha Lee

Does distance learning have a place in mainstream schools?

'Gosh, no!' I hear you cry, but please hear me out...


First, let us look at the stats…


It’s the year 2023: we live in the UK where there are currently 32,163 schools. Of these, 3,079 are nurseries or early-learning centres, 20,806 are primary schools, 23 are middle schools and 4,190 are secondary schools. There are 2,461 independent schools, 1,546 special schools, 57 non-maintained special schools, and 348 pupil referral units (PRUs), according to BESA (British Educational Suppliers Association).


That’s a lot of schools, right?


I have worked with Open Study College since 2020. We are a distance learning college based in the Midlands. What exactly is distance learning I hear you ask? It’s the process of learning a course, achieving a qualification, or education outside the traditional route or learning environment of a classroom – we take the location out of learning, and offer flexibility, to put it bluntly.


We partner up with hundreds of schools in the UK of all types: Primary, Secondary, and Special Schools in particular. We help to up-skill the staff with various Teaching Assistant, HLTA, and SEND qualifications, to better equip teaching colleagues – in particular, the support staff to better support their pupils.



Just last week, I visited a school in Birmingham, whom I have been in discussions with, for several months now. This school partnership is close to my heart, as the first-class staff work extremely hard to provide an alternative, safe and productive, educational environment for children with barriers, aged 12-16.


By working in an environment that is potentially hostile, unsettled, and where rules and boundaries are often enforced, pushed, and crossed, I take my hat off to the teachers and support staff that dedicate their time, patience, and teaching skills to an alternative provision school to ensure that children with behavioural challenges, alternative learning abilities, and socio-economic barriers, also get a second chance or opportunity to achieve an education too.


I had the privilege of meeting two young ladies who were actually excited at the prospect of leaving school with a genuine qualification, in a sector that they want to work in or are interested in. They were 15 years old. They were sassy, but knew what they wanted which I have to applaud – a lot of young people at this age still do not have a clue.

It only takes that first stepping stone to get started...


When I was younger, 'alternative provision' - was a phrase rarely heard. Today, more than 1.2 million children (or about 15% of all students in England) have some kind of special educational need, but only about 253,000 have special educational needs statements or education health and care plans. This number is from over 2 years ago, so you can only imagine how much that figure may have inflated by now…


Once upon a time, it would be unheard of that a child with learning, behavioural or social barriers or abilities could achieve and be given the best chance and opportunity to achieve qualification/s.

By providing alternative provisioning to pupils, we get to help young people, albeit, challenging today to be the successes of tomorrow, to get a second chance to achieve, learn or gain knowledge in a subject or topic they can actually use in the real world.


Education can often be the difference between opportunities to positively progress or making another choice, which can involve making the wrong choice, often leading to a life of crime or self-destruction. It sounds extreme, but you only have to speak to a prison educator to confirm this is true, not in all instances, but there is certainly a pattern or correlation between the two.


Being able to provide some of the pupils with Childcare Level 1 & 2, Ofqual regulated, CACHE qualifications and other vocational and academic qualifications means so much, not just to the students and to the teaching staff, but to us, at Open Study College as well.


The teaching staff are happy as they are being supported, engaging their students and getting the positive outcome both the child and the school need and deserve.


What’s important is that the child achieves, gains confidence, skills and knowledge - whether this be through distance or direct learning. However, collaboration in Education is always a Positive Situation.


So I ask you again, does distance learning have a place in mainstream schools?


What are your thoughts?

To learn more about distance learning and how it can benefit your educational setting check out Natasha's regular guest blogs HERE


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