One of the most significant education-related court cases for many years has just ruled that local authorities will have to pay for private tuition for students where their schools do not provide statutory entitlements such as languages.

The case, which was brought on behalf of Lancashire schoolgirl Kim Snape, had the backing of Lord Adonis. It may now mean that hundreds of thousands of students who stand to miss out on studying subjects from across the curriculum will have to be funded to take these courses by their local authorities.

While this may be a groundbreaking case, which looks to be a boon for tutors, we suspect the DfES will not be making any new specific funds available to local authorities in the short-term to fund students demanding courses. Schools will then either have to find savings elsewhere or perhaps a more radical solution would be to fund extra-statutory entitlements by the government, clawing back some of the money from BBC jam, the underspend on BSF, etc.

Many schools may decide, rather than paying for tutoring, to offer students access to specialist courses online as a way of meeting their obligations. Unfortunately with eLearning credits due to end in August 2008 the issue will still boil down to funding. Perhaps this is an opportunity for an innovative production/software company to develop advertiser-supported courses, as these would at least be cheaper.