Multi-Agency Partnerships across AP and SEND systems

Project title:

Multi-Agency Partnerships across AP and SEND systems: Investigating ‘Collaborative Working’ in One Local Authority to Inform an Effective Alternative Provision Performance Framework

“There is limited research that investigates the collaborative working and partnerships that exist with practitioners across agencies supporting students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Alternative Provision.”

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Project proposal:

Youth with SEND are disproportionately represented in Alternative Provision (AP) settings, with 80% of students in APs having SEND, as compared to 15% of all school age students (Mills and Thomson, 2018; DfE, 2018). Improving educational transitions and Post-16 outcomes for students with SEND in AP is an entrenched social justice and equity issue in the UK (OCC, 2021; Owen et al., 2021; Malcolm, 2022; SEND Review, 2022). In light of the recent SEND Review (2022), the government has proposed a dramatic reform of the AP and SEND systems with multi-agency partnerships as a core strategy to address the consistently poor outcomes of students with SEND overrepresented in AP (SEND Review, 2022).

Despite research into experiences of youth in AP and promising practices for transitions (Owen et al., 2021; Malcolm, 2022) there is limited research that investigates the ‘collaborative working’ and partnerships that exist with practitioners across agencies support students with SEND in AP. With the proposed reforms to the AP sector, emphasis on multi-agency partnerships to provide consistency and meet the individual needs of youth (SEND and AP Improvement Plan, 2023) and development of national standards and a national framework for AP in 2025, this study will investigate the ‘collaborative working’ practices across multiple agencies in one Local Authority to inform policy and practice.

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

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