Last month Associate Professor Clare Lawrence from our Secondary PGCE team met with members of Ofsted including Head of Research and Evaluation Richard Shiner, to share insights into the provision of Flexischooling. Clare shared her ongoing research, including two recent research articles (Lawrence, 2025; Griffin et al., 2024) to discuss this provision for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Flexischooling is a formal, shared education arrangement made between parents and schools where the child receives a blend of part-time school and part-time home education, together making up the child’s full-time education. Such an arrangement can only be requested by parents, with the final decision regarding it resting with the headteacher. It may be requested to meet specific and individual needs in children that may be perceived by parents as not being fully served by mainstream education.
Ofsted became interested in flexischooling after Chief Inspector Martyn Oliver suggested that they did have a “proper handle” on the practice.
“I was delighted to share my research on this important subject with members of Ofsted”, Clare reported. “It is a tremendous opportunity to share our BGU research findings together with those by academics from the Netherlands and Germany and focus and community groups such as The Relationships Foundation and Beyond the Flex with Ofsted, and to come together to better understand the reasons behind parents’ desire for this shared education”.
Clare has offered to continue to work with the Ofsted team to further their developing understanding of this approach.
References
Lawrence, C. (2025). Making the spoons last longer: Parents' views on flexischooling with their child with special educational needs. British Journal of Special Education.
Griffin, J., Paxman, J., Purle, K., & Lawrence, C. (2024). Flexischooling children with special educational needs: Insights from a survey of parents and carers. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 1-17.