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The Education Act 1996 places a legal duty on local authorities to make arrangements for the provision of suitable education for all learners of compulsory school age. This includes education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) for children who are unable to attend school due to illness.
To ensure all children of compulsory school age who are unable to attend a mainstream setting receive a suitable education, the Welsh Government has published the 'Education Otherwise than at School (EOTAS) Framework for Action'. This framework sets out the actions the Welsh Government is taking to improve EOTAS provision and improve the outcomes for learners who access EOTAS provision. The EOTAS Framework is currently being implemented and it is, therefore, too early to consider how effective the actions are in achieving their aims. However, we will be putting in place plans to ensure the impact of these actions is kept under review and that we reflect any learning in our future work programme.
The Welsh Government has also published, ‘Support for Learners with Healthcare Needs’. This document contains both statutory guidance and non-statutory advice to assist local authorities, school governing bodies, education settings, education and health professionals and other organisations to support learners and ensure minimal disruption to their education. This includes advice on supporting learners in hospital settings.
The Welsh Government encourages innovative approaches and collaborative working between the education setting and the hospital teacher or home teacher. Technology can be a useful means of supporting learners wherever they are accessing education and when monitoring and developing EOTAS provision the
local authority should seek to ensure new developments are taken on board.
Through effective co-operation with hospital staff, local authorities are best
placed to decide on the most appropriate means of ensuring pupils in hospital receive access to suitable education appropriate to their health needs.