Flexischooling children with special educational needs: Findings from a UK parental survey

Griffin,, J., Paxman, J., Purle, K. and Lawrence, C. (2024) Flexischooling children with special educational needs: Findings from a UK parental survey. European Journal of Special Needs Education. ISSN 0885-6257

Text Lawrence_Flexischooling children with_2024.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 12 June 2026. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (585kB)

Abstract

There are significant gaps in the literature on the rationales, organisation and outcomes of flexischooling arrangements for children with special educational needs (SEN). This exploratory, survey-based study aimed to address these knowledge gaps by investigating the experiences and perspectives of parents and carers in England, Scotland and Wales who flexischool children with SEN. Findings indicated that, on average, participants’ children attended school three days per week and were home-educated on the remaining two days. The majority (94%) of the children in question were reported to have neurodevelopmental conditions, with autism being most prevalent (61%). Participants’ reasons for requesting flexischooling predominantly related to children feeling overwhelmed, stressed, anxious or unable to cope in the full-time school environment. The majority of participants whose children had previously been registered for full-time attendance reported improvements in their child’s wellbeing, anxiety levels, behaviour, ability to attend school, participation in school, learning engagement and learning progress. Negative outcomes, particularly regarding quality of friendships, were reported for certain children who had 2.5 days or more out of school each week. Most participants indicated flexischooling to be a valuable arrangement for their child’s improved access to, and success within, the traditional school setting.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an author accepted manuscript of a paper published on 12th December 2024 by Taylor and Francis in the European Journal of Special Needs Education. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Divisions:	School of Teacher Development
Depositing User:	Clare Lawrence
Date Deposited:	02 Dec 2024 11:37
Last Modified:	13 Dec 2024 12:00
URI:	https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/1186

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