Finding the voice of students engaging in online alternative provision via digital data collection methods.

The number of students accessing Alternative Provision (AP) in the UK is growing and the ways in which such provision is facilitated is evolving with the use of EdTech. However, there is very little evidence of such provisions being evaluated in terms of their educational impact nor regarding the way in which students engage with them. This results in the voices of students participating in AP being further marginalised by being out of mainstream education, as they fail to be heard by their educators, schools or local authorities. Within this exploratory paper digital data collection methods are shown to offer a solution to this problem and reveal student voice insights into how they engage with and experience one specific form of synchronistic online AP. This study provides evidence of how student voice can effectively be collated in order to provide an opportunity for marginalised student voices to be heard. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic Student voice is a critical tool in both engaging students and student engagement.There is a preference in students to give anonymous feedback and this facilitates more honest, open responses.AP uptake is increasing.There has been little evidence of any effort to obtain student voice from students in AP.What this paper adds Gathering student voice from students in AP is critical to assess how students view and respond to their provision.Digital data collection facilitates AP student voice; students both younger and potentially more vulnerable to disengagement can have their voices heard more easily.A substantial majority of students in AP who have left mainstream education perceive online learning delivery methods to have positive impacts.Implications for practice/pedagogy Practitioners should strive to ensure AP students have avenues through which they may have their student voices heard to gain insights into the effectiveness of the provision from a student perspective.Anonymous feedback, which enables students to be confident in expressing their views, even when verbally expressed, can be facilitated through digital data collection methods.Use of live, online interactive lessons are a valuable form of AP worthy of further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]