Lecturer Awarded Grant for Research Study Aimed at Improving Alternative Provision
By Education Correspondent
A university expert has landed new funding to tackle one of education’s toughest challenges – how to better support children who cannot attend mainstream school.
Dr Craig Johnston from UWE Bristol has been awarded £5,000 to research how Alternative Provision is being used across a group of schools run by Esteem Multi-Academy Trust.
The project will focus on five of the trust’s schools that provide specialist support for pupils unable to attend mainstream classrooms due to exclusion, illness or special educational needs.
Dr Johnston hopes the findings could help transform how Alternative Provision is used across England’s education system.
He said: “I am delighted to receive this funding. There remains a surprising lack of systematic knowledge across the sector about how Alternative Provision is used in practice – both operationally and strategically.
“This project allows us to bring clarity to an area that is under-examined. The impact will be practical, helping trusts develop more coherent and inclusive approaches, but it also has wider policy relevance.”
The one-year study – titled Reimagining Alternative Provision in the Context of a Multi-Academy Trust – will dig into the policies, structures and day-to-day practices that underpin Alternative Provision across the trust’s schools.
Researchers hope to identify what really works when it comes to keeping vulnerable pupils engaged in education and helping them reintegrate into mainstream schooling.
Around 50,000 pupils – roughly one per cent of the UK school population – are currently educated in state-funded Alternative Provision.
But approaches can vary widely between schools and academy trusts.
Some use it as a short-term intervention with clear plans to return pupils to mainstream education. Others rely on it more reactively, often in response to behaviour challenges or pressure on school resources.
Dr Johnston warned that if Alternative Provision is poorly managed, it can have serious consequences for young people.
“Young people who experience exclusion are disproportionately represented in youth justice and safeguarding systems,” he said.
“Without strong reintegration, high-quality provision and sustained support, there is a continued risk that educational disengagement becomes entrenched – increasing vulnerability to exploitation and criminal involvement.”
Esteem Multi-Academy Trust runs 14 schools, including eight special schools, five Alternative Provision settings and one mainstream infant school with a high proportion of pupils with special educational needs.
The trust’s Alternative Provision schools will form the core of the research.
Jolene Carter, Director of Research and Development at the trust, said the partnership could help shape future guidance across the sector.
“The Esteem Multi-Academy Trust is delighted to be working with UWE Bristol on this important research,” she said.
“By opening our Alternative Provision academies to collaborative enquiry, we hope to contribute to a stronger understanding of effective practice that will benefit the wider education sector.”
