kids who stay home to be educated will only achieve the same level as the parents teaching them

"kids who stay home to be educated will only achieve the same level as the parents teaching them. Usually we want our kids to do much better than we did and have better futures than us. it's only natural.. If the parents achieved degree level at college/university, then their kids should be fine with home studying.. However if they were near drop outs that barely scraped by in school, then the kids have no hope."

False, at odds with the research. Actually kids from homes with less educational achievement show a greater advantage from being home educated.

Alan Thomas

Paula Rothermerle sp

and others
 

All my children went to secular school! You can't offer them as good an experience! And update on our home ed outcome.

"All my children went to secular school and grew up having faced trials and tribulations of what a school experience offers. There are limitations to home schooling and a child needs to experience all aspects of life to develop and that includes the good the bad and the ugly.. Your child cannot achieve its full potential sitting in the house"

Sorry this is from Loose Women, not sure she meant secular school but she was sure she was right.

You don't know this, you didn't do it. No child can experience all aspects of life we live in too varied times. If you didn't home educate you can only speculate on the limitations of home education.

"My neighbours kids are home schooled and the children spend more time running round the back garden and walking the dog."

Ah you know unless you watch them 23/7 you can't really know. There is no such thing as school time in home education and learning can happen any time. walking my dogs is one of the most social things I do. My own child would have looked like she had no school time cause she didn't, she learnt through exploring things she found fun. It is called autonomous education. She is now doing a levels at college and shocked that her friends have had that timetable all their lives while she has run free. 

"Interesting.. What a shock she will get when she enters the world of work.. That's what school prepare children for."

She is doing 3 A levels, Maths, Further Maths and Chemistry alongside tennis coaching lol. She is a level one coaching assistant and has already had paid work. She got on to those courses with no previous formal learning just her own love of exploring the subjects. She is up and out and does not miss lessons, it is her choice, her investment, if she wanted to leave she could, if she wanted to be late she could. She isn't, she doesn't want to, it is all her own very passionate choice. Why would a child that could do that not be able to hold down a job. Stick to your rigid ideas if you must but she could probably run rings around you on most subjects and certainly in having an open mind and being interested in the truth and not prejudice. (Many people were engaging with this woman who just was not listening)  Children are not lazy sods unless coerced and forced, left to make their own choices they are almost always amazing! She is my fourth child so I know about school and I still have the scars from protecting my kids from very wrong assumptions regarding the capacity of neurodiverse children who develop in a completely different way. 

She is also a volunteer peer tutor to a mature student who has seen her marks rise three levels after only a couple of weeks of her help. You really really do not know what you are talking about. She has been asked to be part of the interview process for many new appointments and he college has gone out of its way to allow her to study these A levels as she has no GCSE's. They have created a workaround, her mentor has done some autonomous learning to make sure she can stay. She is typical of the home educated children I see news of, moving on to formal education in the groups and amongst my many fb home ed friends. This is the expected result of home ed. And you would have to look very hard to find a home ed adult who is not working, running their own business, thriving at uni or following their dream.

"Good teachers make sure children are learning at their own pace, while still being stretched - and any teacher worth their salt can make the learning fun."

I think teachers are more and more handicapped by government demands that do not align with what we know about child development, in fact go entirely opposite to it. That may have been true once although in a childhood where I was often in staff rooms as my school had different holidays to my mother's and my own schooling and my four kid's experience I do not recognise that claim to be true, it is harder now than ever to do that. Teachers are drowning in directives and paperwork and all that matters to their masters is what the statistics look like. But however good they are it would be hard for them to match an education tailored exactly to the child's needs, preferences and developmental level.  

"I speak from experience when as a teacher I have had to help children to catch up with their peers."

"Well we've never met any teachers like that. Most just don't want them to fall behind, but again what are they behind of."

That shaming phrase, fall behind, fall behind an imaginary norm, all children are unique, that norm will be at the wrong place for most of them although some are resilient enough to manage. Home educated children are rescued from that shaming blaming system. It is a shame if some have to go back, especially if it is not a choice but circumstance but there is no way of knowing if they would not have been more "behind" if they had stayed in school. Many children in schools are behind this imaginary marker of success. It is not the kids who always match this norm who do best in life, I feel sorry for those who excel at school and find that actually life is nothing like it.

 

Why are schools monitored?

As a home educator you do not have to inform the council if you never register at a school, education is a parental responsibility even when delegated to the state. 

Home education is exactly equal in law to school education. 

Schools are registered and monitored because they are paid out of the public purse to educate other people's children. 

Parents of home educated children are not spending taxpayers money hence no oversight. 

Home educated children are subject to the same child protection laws that all children are.

So you are telling me that daily they get to discuss their beliefs with others and challenge their upbringing?

That is so not what happens in schools. In many schools children who tried to do that would be bullied. But yes, not every day maybe except with their parents and why would that be necessary. But yes they do - if they want to - we are interested in our child's education we are not brain washers we have no home ed curriculum that every child must follow.

Suitable Education

There is no definition of suitable, not the detailed chronological achievement linked definition that those who think all parents are unsafe to do the best for their kids would like. They don't dare because again it would apply to schools also, many of which are self evidently not providing a suitable education to many children and certainly not one suitable "(a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and
(b) to any special educational needs he may have" It would be very difficult for an LA bod to judge and they actually have no power to do so. They do not know the aptitude or needs of the child. And the norm is a prejudice towards education that looks like school and most home education doesn't and is all the more successful for it.

If they had a proactive duty to ensure they could be sued  by all the children and parents they let down. It would be difficult to do so because education is a parental duty and parents who send their child to unsuitable schools are breaking the law. Odd that there is no call to prosecute them though as they are by definition likely to be in far greater number.   

At primary level perhaps this does not matter so much because it is believed that children at this level are not able to master the material at such complex levels as, say, secondary children are

Well this is where school is wrong for so many children, children like mine are very able to but they are not able to write it down till secondary level, or not sufficiently to demonstrate the sophistication of their understanding. They have problems transposing numbers so make mistakes in simple maths but later go on to understand complex proofs and logic with relative ease. Primary school especially is abusive as performance is all that matters, performance and stats. School tells these children that they are unintelligent and a failure and how many never learn different, I had no idea of how very wrong they were about me until well into my 50s. Home ed lets the child learn and teach through conversation, hard to imagine how school could match it. Perhaps if it became a resource to help children answer their many questions rather that shut up sit down keep still stop talking. Due to my own dire and abusive education where I was blamed and shamed for having a different brain not a plodding sequential one but a leaps and spurts and make odd connections one I have protected my children from the damage schools do to people like us. We are the wrong shape for mass teaching, but I have learnt a lot about learning and child psychology and development in the process. Good luck with your Phd, it would be wonderful if a change that protected neurodiverse kids from plodding repetitive curricula and being profoundly misunderstood could could be instigated but you must know that government usually go in exactly the opposite direction of what quality research suggests would be efficacious.

Thing is children who are home educated can play through the primary years and pick up everything that is taught so laboriously to the children trapped in the classroom for so many hours, so many years, as a bi product of play and curiosity.

And answers to questions and challenges - I rather think promoting "hate of a minority group" is a bit pejorative and a tad on the hysterical side."

 No it's not, not at all, have you noticed how much is in the news right now about a child let down by social services many years ago. A child about whom there is no SCR, a child whose parents have not been prosecuted. 

It is duplicitous, the child was not hidden, he was let down an neglected by the state. The parents were not prosecuted so it is not obvious that it was abuse, it is sad and perhaps support could have made a difference but the social work dept did not know the law around their own job. They failed a child that had been reported to them, they had every power to insist on seeing the child but they didn't bother. Nothing to do with education but everything to do with poor quality badly trained social workers. 

It is manipulation to distract from authority failings, many many

And they want to meddle in home education rather than improve the poor services that failed him. Doing so would fail him again and all children who die because of incompetent and poorly trained child protection agencies. 

It is a con to make them look like they are doing something but that something wouldn't touch on the actual problem, it would remove attention and funding from it. If you were a home educator you would know that these unwarranted attacks are constant and always with no actual evidence. 

 It is immoral and promoting wasting money direly needed by LAs like Pembrokshire to properly train their social workers or recruit people capable of learning. It is politically motivated, and promoted by agencies like the NSPCC who have been trying to get control of us for years using lies and manipulation seeing a rent seeking and mission creep reward.

All these SCRs in 2016 and the NSPCC push for registration and monitoring because of 7 over 6 years involving home education where every single one was a known child let down by government agencies just as this child was.

And they know this because they have published them all. 

Starting to put some of my comments made on media discussing registration of home educators here, this is for those who have swallowed The Badman Report whole.

Graham Badman's report was thoroughly debunked by far sharper minds than his including Graham Stuart in the select committee inquiry into the report.

 Q13 Mr. Stuart: In any case in which a child is known to be on a child protection plan, will it, by necessity, mean that that child is known to the local authorities?

Graham Badman: Yes.

 Q14 Mr. Stuart: So, if the numbers that were formally known about were approximately double your best estimate, it would take us back to almost precisely where we started, at the average of the population as a whole.

Graham Badman: I'm sorry, I don't understand the question.

 "Q15 Mr. Stuart: Well, if there are twice as many children in home education than are formally known about, which by definition includes all those for whom there is a child protection plan, it would suggest that, roughly speaking, you were back to 0.2% of the home-educated population having a child protection plan, which would put them in line with the national average.

Graham Badman: I think that it propels the figures the other way. It would actually make the proportion higher, because they are already included in the overall population and in the subset of the population, which would mean that the percentage will be fractionally higher. It works the other way."

Worrying that he was a maths teacher in a previous life.

"AFTER the report had been issued and roundly criticized by home educators, Badman conducted a third survey of LEAs to try to get a larger sample size.  Badman claimed that this third sample was representative, but Stafford argues that it in fact was biased toward urban areas.  Stafford here pulls out all the stops, for his concern is not so much about what all this means for home education but that government policy is being made on such flimsy grounds."

I could produce many many other links, the report was trying to produce policy based evidence and used quotes in a very misleading and dishonest way.

This is the submission by the church of england.

"24 Our submission was, naturally, designed to be read as a whole, but following the publication of Graham Badman's report, officers in the Education Division were disappointed with the impression left by the selective use of our submission.

25 We are concerned that the quotation from our submission used in the report appeared to have been selected to support the terms of reference of the review, which, whilst acknowledging that parents have a well-established right to educate their children at home and indicating that the Government had no plans to change that position, appeared overly concerned with the possibility of home educating being a cover for abuse, barriers to safeguarding responsibilities and possible changes to the regime of monitoring and support of LAs.

26 In fact, we specifically stated that in making prevention of abuse under the cover of home education the main reason for the Review has the effect of tarnishing the reputation of the many parents who choose to home education their children from the best of motives."

Even the police are not allowed to force a child to see them alone, social workers are only allowed to with evidence of harm.  To allow council workers with no training in either home education or child welfare to have the same power would be very dangerous and open to abuse. 

There is nothing in the law around home education that stops social services doing their job, a register would not help when social services already know that the child exists and have been warned about it and do not act on the information.

Urgent: Safeguarding consultation in Wales ends 25 October 2013. Threat to Home Education

There is yet another potential attack on home educators in Wales only months after Leighton Andrews scrapped his ill thought out plans for registration and monitoring.

Dog with a bone comes to mind, I wonder who is determined to get this through, does Wales have its very own Ed Balls? 

The consultation is here and I urge everyone to complete it. Make it onerous for them to keep trying this on, they have had their answer but don't seem to like it so ignore it introducing the proposals through the back door of a safeguarding consultation hoping we will not notice the threat to us hidden in there.

This is very similar to the situation in England leading up to the Badman Review where there were multiple consultations held any of which could have damaged the freedom to meet children's individual needs.

You can sign a petition against the muddying of education and welfare in Wales.

Below Jayne Palmer outlines some of the concerns for home educators in Wales and gives guidance on filling in the consultation.

"Points you could include in your consultation response

2.7

Responsibility for safeguarding children who are educated at home by their parents or carers, or who are employed, is not solely an education issue. These matters are best dealt with by a multi-agency approach and should be addressed in locally agreed procedures in accordance with the principles set out in Safeguarding Children: Working Together Under the Children Act 2004

The Childrens Act 2004 refers to children missing education not Electively home Educated children. It further refers to vulnerable groups to which EHE children don’t belong. Parents retain responsibility for children and should not suffer interference unless they fail in their responsibilities.

2.12

Makes the same error as 2.7 and fails to acknowledge parents are the primary care takers of children under the 2004 act.

3.121

never enter the education system because they fail to start appropriate 

provision at the start of compulsory school age (there is no requirement for 

parents to inform local authorities of the fact that they intend to educate at 

home if the child has never attended school); 

are withdrawn by their parents who elect to educate at home and both 

parents and the school fail to notify the local authority; 

EHE children are fully engaged in education and parents take up their responsibility to educate children from the age of five as required in law, hence no failure to start education occurs just because a child is not in school. Where children are withdrawn to EHE it is the schools responsibility to inform the LEA and no requirement exists in law that applies to home educated children.

Evidence collected in 2012 from Welsh Local authorities shows that EHE children are less likely to be at risk than school children are. 

3.124

The purpose of the duty is to make sure that children and young people 

who are not registered pupils are identified and that effective monitoring systems are put in place to ensure that those children or young people are provided with ‘suitable education’

This give the impression that there is a duty to monitor EHE families and no such duty is in existence

3.149

ensure ongoing monitoring and tracking of vulnerable groups including those who have been excluded from school; Looked After Children and those registered as receiving education otherwise than at school; 

This needs to be explained clearly many LEA’s’ do not understand the difference between EOTAS and EHE."

Who needs Ed Balls, Gill Kilner on categories of Home Educator

I am very glad to see Gill blogging again, I have learnt so much from her careful analysis over the years, I am however appalled at what has driven her to the keyboard!

It has come to my attention that, according to a well-known fellow home educator, we are all categorised as follows:

• "Pleasantly mad but thinking and competent;
• The Real Loonies aka two short planks;
• The God squad (very strict religious and we barely ever talk to them or hear of them);
• Fluffy (very autonomous but a little vague);
• Yes sir no sir (UK homeschoolers and their ilk who do everything they are told by the LA and live in a bubble);
• The pioneers (people like xxxxx [name deleted] who were doing it ages ago);
• The last lot (xxxx, xxxxx, [more names deleted] etc who were us 10 years ago); and..."

You can read the rest here.

Education Committee - Fifth Report Support for Home Education

The report is now published and I and a fair few of my facebook friends stayed up to read it, it was late!


The submissions from most of us are missing even though there was originally a link.  I emailed the webmaster and received this reply:

Dear Maire,

Thank you for your email.

We have contact The Stationary Office who look after this content and the link was added in error. It has been removed and will be republished on the 20th December.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Yours sincerely,

Webmaster | Parliament Website | webmaster@parliament.uk

Why?  There has been various speculation about the methods used to produce the report!  My 

favourite,, "copy and paste is so last year".

Again I have not read it carefully yet, trawling things with a fine tooth comb is not my forte.

A few things noticed on first pass:

"2.  We believe that the case law definitions of 'suitable' and 'efficient' education are sufficient, and encourage local authorities to use these as required. However, some aspects of existing guidance require clarification, and we recommend that the Department for Education undertake a review of the guidance concerning home education, working with local authorities and home educators to iron out any tensions. (Paragraph 15)"

So it looks like those new guidelines we have all strenuously opposed are coming anyway.  :( more time taken from our children answering yet more consultations.

A facebook friend and Bruce got a mention in the report, the friend (who made a very good point) unfortunately renamed and with  typos introduced into her comment!  Why are they not just cutting and pasting?  Bruce for his suggestions about mandatory training and certification of EHE officers; he has yet to check whether his contribution has been accurately reproduced.

The committee clearly found this shocking:

"12. Local authorities have a responsibility to follow the law, and to be seen to do so. Considering evidence that only thirty [out of 152] do not currently have ultra vires statements on their websites, regarding home education, we urge all local authorities to undertake a swift review of their own material, and to ensure that their policies reflect the guidance available."  (information obtained by Alison Sauer)

Liking this:

"Whilst Government guidance sets out the role of local authorities with regard to home education, we heard evidence that some authorities are acting outside the law. We urge all local authorities to undertake a swift review of their own material, including websites, and to ensure that their policies reflect the guidance available"

and this:

"It is not the role of the local authority to routinely monitor wether a suitable education is being provided, and local authorities should not act as if it is, or cause parents to believe that it is.[8]."


And The Guardian has reported it and not suggested we might be trying to hide something which is good.

I am hoping to see analysis from other bloggers more skilled at the task in the near future and will be watching my sidebar for it.

Consultation on the revised statutory guidance on children missing education for local authorities

Just had a very quick glance at what I assume is the revised guidance although it didn't seem to be labelled as such.

This bit jumped out immediately, could be helpful or could be problematic.

"Children with statements of special education needs can be home educated but the relevant local authority must provide the special educational provision specified in the child’s statement."


It is a very simple consultation form, very different from the leading questions and hidden agenda of the ones we are used to.

Consultation Response Form Consultation closing date: 15 February 2013 Your comments must reach us by that date.

Department for Education statutory guidance for local authorities in England to identify children not receiving a suitable education  Consultation Response Form

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes, primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998.

If you want all, or any part, of your response to be treated as confidential, please explain why you consider it to be confidential.

If a request for disclosure of the information you have provided is received, your explanation about why you consider it to be confidential will be taken into account, but no assurance can be given that confidentiality can be maintained. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department.

The Department will process your personal data (name and address and any other identifying material) in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, and in the majority of circumstances, this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties.

Please tick if you want us to keep your response confidential.
Reason for confidentiality:

Name
Organisation (if applicable)
Address:

If your enquiry is related to the DfE e-consultation website or the consultation process in general, you can contact the Public Communications Unit by e-mail: consultation.unit@education.gsi.gov.uk or by telephone: 0370 000 2288 or via the Department's 'Contact Us' page.

Please tick the box that best describes you as a respondent.

	Local Authorities		Governing Bodies		Head Teachers
	Youth Offending Teams		Other

Please Specify:

1 Do you have any comments on the draft guidance?

Comments:

Thank you for taking the time to let us have your views. We do not intend to acknowledge individual responses unless you place an 'X' in the box below.

Please acknowledge this reply 

E-mail address for acknowledgement:

Here at the Department for Education we carry out our research on many different topics and consultations. As your views are valuable to us, would it be alright if we were to contact you again from time to time either for research or to send through consultation documents?

Yes

No

All DfE public consultations are required to meet the Cabinet Office Principles on Consultation

The key Consultation Principles are:

• departments will follow a range of timescales rather than defaulting to a 12-week period, particularly where extensive engagement has occurred before

• departments will need to give more thought to how they engage with and consult with those who are affected

• consultation should be ‘digital by default', but other forms should be used where these are needed to reach the groups affected by a policy; and

• the principles of the Compact between government and the voluntary and community sector will continue to be respected. 

Responses should be completed on-line or emailed to the relevant consultation email box. However, if you have any comments on how DfE consultations are conducted, please contact Carole Edge, DfE Consultation Coordinator, tel: 0370 000 2288 / email: carole.edge@education.gsi.gov.uk

Thank you for taking time to respond to this consultation.

Completed questionnaires and other responses should be sent to the address shown below by 15 February 2013

You can respond to the consultation by completing the response form and emailing it to SchoolAttendance.CONSULTATION@education.gsi.gov.uk or sending it by post to:

Department for Education
C/o Juliette Duah
Behaviour and Atendence in Schools Division
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT

There is a consultation document here.

Might need to have a look at this when it comes out.

Support for Home Education - Education Select Committee report published 18th December 2012

Press Release

No mention of the submissions so don't know if they will be published at the same time.   Hope it is a pleasant surprise.

Education Committee

PN38

Select Committee Announcement

12 December 2012

For Immediate Release:

SUPPORT FOR HOME EDUCATION

Publication of the Committee’s Fifth Report of Session
2012-13

The Education Committee publishes its Fifth Report (HC 559-I) at 00.01am on Tuesday 18 December: Support for Home Education, Session 2012–13.

Hard copies of the Report will be posted on Tuesday 18 December to those who gave oral evidence to the original inquiry.

Embargoed electronic copies of the Report can be supplied upon request to Government departments, media and witnesses who gave oral evidence from 10.30am on Monday 17 December.  Non-media requests to educom@parliament.uk by 9.00am on Monday 17 December. 

All media enquiries should be addressed to Hannah Pearce, on 020 7219 8430 / 07917 488162 (pearcehm@parliament.uk).   

The report can also be ordered from The Stationery Office (tel: 0845 702 3474) or from the Parliamentary Bookshop (020 7219 3890), or can be viewed on the Committee’s website from 00.01am on Tuesday 18 December 2012.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Committee Membership is as follows: 

Mr Graham Stuart (Chair), Conservative, Beverley and Holderness

Neil Carmichael, Conservative, Stroud

Alex Cunningham, Labour, Stockton North

Bill Esterson, Labour, Sefton Central

Pat Glass, Labour, North West Durham

Charlotte Leslie, Conservative, Bristol North West

Ian Mearns, Labour, Gateshead

Siobhain McDonagh, Labour, Mitcham and Morden

Chris Skidmore, Conservative, Kingswood

David Ward, Liberal Democrat, Bradford East

Craig Whittaker, Conservative, Calder Valley

Specific Committee Information:  educom@parliament.uk / 020 7219 6181

Media Information: Hannah Pearce pearcehm@parliament.uk 020 7219 8430 / 07917 488162

Committee Website: www.parliament.uk/education-committee

Watch committees and parliamentary debates online:  www.parliamentlive.tv 

Publications / Reports / Reference Material: Copies of all select committee reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St, Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474).  Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 2 hours after publication) and much more, can be found on www.parliament.uk

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Leicester and Leicestershire Local Authority Elective Home Education Departments

Would do well to study Lancashire Local Authority's web site.  As would the majority of Local Authorities who mostly bend he law to suit their purposes.

Educating Your Child At Home

Main Details  FAQs  Contacts   Downloads

Main Details

Most people choose to send their children to school to be educated, but you are legally entitled to educate your child at home.

You don't have to be a teacher, operate to a timetable or follow the national curriculum (although you're perfectly at liberty to do so if you wish).

If your child has never been to school or you are new to the area you don't have to tell us. 

If your child is registered at school you will need to send a letter to the head teacher informing them that you wish to educate your child at home.  We will then contact you to and ask for some basic information.

Please note:

• Where a child is registered at a school as a result of a school attendance order parents must ask the local authority to revoke the order.
• Where a child is placed at a special school under arrangements made by the local authority, parents need to contact us to ask for the child to be removed from the school register.

If you would like to talk to one of our Elective Home Education (EHE) support workers about your decision to home educate or you would like any further support and advice about any information on this site please contact us.

This was not achieved without a tremendous amount of work from Local home educators over a considerable amount of time and a willing and enlightened (by them) EHE officer, however it is a tremendous achievement and all LAs should take note.

If you are trying to work with your LA to establish a more truthful and respectful relationship this is an excellent example of how it could and should be done!

The history of the negotiations and actions involved in reaching this point can be found here.

More on the situation in Wales and The Consultation - Guest post from Jill Harris

Although I did not see the permission to post this till the consultation was over I still think it is well worth blogging Jill Harris' response.  This is an extremely comprehensive answer and rebuttal of their questions and I think it may be very useful as a source of arguments if WAG press on regardless.

*Question 1: Home Education Register *

*STANDARD VERSION **QUESTION 1 **--****DO YOU AGREE THAT A REGISTER
SHOULD BE KEPT AND THAT IT SHOULD BE A REQUIREMENT TO REGISTER IF A
PARENT ELECTS TO HOME EDUCATE? *

Plain English Version Question 1 Do you agree with our proposal that
requires children educated at home to be included on a register?

Disagree

*Comments *


There is a misconception amongst some that the existing system is one of
a voluntary register, but this is completely inaccurate -- what we
currently have is a system of compulsory notification of de-registration
from school. The parents are simply required to notify the school in
writing that they no longer require a place for their child, and the
school is then required to notify the council that they are therefore no
longer eligible for funding for that child. This is merely to comply
with the contractual processes, and there is no requirement for the
parent to inform the council of the decision at all, since it then
reverts to a private family matter.


I do not believe there is any justification for a formal register, or
record of any sort, regarding how parents fulfil their duties. To do
this for educational provision makes no more sense than to do so for
diet or health care -- would a register of those with special diets in
each area be considered necessary? Or of those choosing to use
alternative health services? It might make it easier to provide council
services, but that is nowhere near enough justification, legally, for
providing for routine official records of a private family decision.
This would be an unwarranted intrusion on the right to a private family
life -- if there is no evidence of concern, then there is no
justification for the council to even request personal information, or
to have any forced role whatsoever. It is the provision of schools that
is the legal responsibility of councils -- the provision of education is
the legal responsibility of parents. Home education therefore only falls
within the remit of council responsibility where there are specific
concerns.


The premise behind this proposal is based on a false interpretation of
the law. The WAG proposals state that :-

"Section 436A of the Education Act 19962 places a duty on LAs which
consists of two parts. The first part requires a LA to identify (so far
as it is possible to do so) all learners of compulsory school age in
their area who are not on a school roll. The second part requires a LA
to establish if such learners are receiving a suitable education. In the
remainder of this document we describe this duty as 'the section 436A
duty'."


Whereas what section 436A actually says is :-

"(1)A local education authority must make arrangements to enable them to
establish (so far as it is possible to do so) the identities of children
in their area who are of compulsory school age but---
(a)are not registered pupils at a school, and
(b)are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school."


The second "part" does not therefore require councils to establish
/whether/ children are receiving a suitable education, it simply
requires LAs to establish their identities if they are /not/. It
(legally) requires an "appearance" of them /not/ being in receipt of an
education that is suitable. This is entirely different, and concurs with
the presumption of innocence -- the main concept underpinning all UK
law, and included in current WAG guidelines. There is therefore no
existing legal basis for routinely identifying or recording educational
provision, and to propose changing this would require a far more
substantial change in law than is being suggested. With no legal basis
for any such "register", there can be no enforceable duty on parents to
register that their child is or will be home educated.


As I have said above, introducing legislation that requires parents to
inform the council about their own parental duties risks contravening
international laws regarding a right to a private family life -- if the
parents choose not to use council educational services, then education
remains a part of their private family life.


The plain english version of this question does not refer to whether it
should be a duty on parents to register, which has significant
additional legal implications to those of just being "included on a
register". This is a huge difference, and has potentially excluded those
relying on the "plain english" version from the opportunity to be
consulted on this aspect.


*Question 2: Failure to register*

*STANDARD VERSION QUESTION 2 -- DO YOU AGREE THAT IF A PARENT FAILS TO
REGISTER OR PROVIDES INADEQUATE OR FALSE INFORMATION THEN THE CHILD
BEING HOME EDUCATED SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO ATTEND SCHOOL? *

Plain English version Question 2 - If the parent fails to register their
child, does not give all the information we ask for or gives false
information, should their child have to go to school?

Disagree

*Comments *


Apart from the fact that I simply don't agree with the basic presumption
behind this question, it presupposes that school is the best option
whilst any dispute regarding this runs its course, which in most cases
simply isn't true. It imposes a huge change on the child, and will, in
many cases, result in significant distress and disruption to their
education.


There are may foreseeable circumstances where the information that a
parent has provided could be subsequently, or subjectively, considered
"inadequate", or where the information, or the information required, has
changed, and could therefore be considered "false". Changes in what
information is required, or in what form, would lead to disputes and
legal challenges, as the whole idea is likely to substantially infringe
on the right to a private family life.


Allowing the council to impose a default option in cases where there are
no specific concerns that might warrant such, places the council in a
decision-making role that far exceeds it's legal remit, and would
therefore leave the council open to legal action both as a principle,
and also in light of any negative impact on the child of this
imposition. This proposal again demonstrates a lack of understanding of
the basic delineation of legal responsibility regarding something that
is a clear parental responsibility. There must be specific concerns for
a council to over-ride such parental responsibility.


There is a vested interest in enforcing such a policy as there is a
financial benefit to the schools and the councils, should children be
required to attend school (schools will then receive per-capita funding,
whereas councils receive no per-capita funding for home educated
children). This would be an unacceptable influence in decision-making,
and especially in using this as a default option.


*Question 3: Working together*

*STANDARD VERSION QUESTION 3 -- DO YOU AGREE THAT HOME EDUCATING PARENTS
SHOULD ENGAGE WITH THEIR LOCAL AUTHORITY TO ENABLE THEM TO ASSES THE
SUITABILITY OF THEIR HOME EDUCATION PROVISION *

Plain English version Question 3 - Do you agree that parents should work
with their local authority to make sure home education is meeting their
child's needs?

Disagree

*Comments *


Certainly not, and I do not see how councils can possibly hope to do
this? Suitability in this regard (in law) relates to the individual
child, and their age, ability, aptitude and any special education needs
they may have, not to any generic concepts of /a/ "suitable education".
Unless councils are going to spend the ridiculously disproportionate
amount of time and money required to do this satisfactorily on such an
individual level, they are certain to find themselves in endless
disputes regarding what is suitable for each child. To do this
routinely, in the absence of any indication of concerns or shortcomings
makes no legal, financial or moral sense whatsoever. One of the main
advantages of home education is that it can be tailored in exactly this
way to suit each individual child, and since international law
recognises that parents should be assumed to have the best interests of
their child at heart, it would again invite legal challenges to
routinely impose an assessment by the very people whose services the
parents have chosen not to use. The conflict of interests are clear. To
suggest that anyone other than the parents is best placed to make the
decision as to what is suitable for their child contravenes
international law, as well as the existing general responsibilities of
parents. It is very clearly beyond the extent of the powers of the state
in circumstances where there are no specific concerns.


The plain english version of this question refers to the idea of
"working with their local authority", the legal implications of which
are far less significant than of the LA assessing the education. Again,
this is a huge difference, and has potentially excluded those relying on
the "plain english" version from the opportunity to be consulted on this
aspect.


*Question 4: First meeting*

*STANDARD VERSION QUESTION 4- **DO YOU AGREE THAT THE INITIAL MEETING
BETWEEN THE LOCAL AUTHORITY AND HOME EDUCATING PARENT SHOULD TAKE PLACE
IN THE MAIN LOCATION WHERE THE EDUCATION IS BEING PROVIDED? *

Plain English version Question 4 - Do you agree that the first meeting
to join the register should take place where the child is going to be
home educated?

Disagree

*Comments *


Again, this is a presumptive question, as I do not even agree that such
an initial meeting should routinely take place. Also, this fails to take
account of the right to a private family life, and would give the
council substantially more powers to enter the home of perfectly
law-abiding home educators, than the police would have when there is
actual evidence of crime!


It's incredibly insulting to try and pretend that it's not family homes
that are being talked about here for the vast majority of children. With
home education, education remains part of parenting, rather than being
"contracted out" to a school, and so to give routine access to the
family home in this way would again contravene international laws
regarding family privacy.


*Question 5: Annual review -- place of meeting.*

*STANDARD VERSION QUESTION 5 -- HOW OFTEN SHOULD THE ANNUAL MONITORING
MEETINGS WITH BOTH THE HOME EDUCATOR AND THE HOME EDUCATED CHILD TAKE
PLACE AT THE MAIN LOCATION OF EDUCATION? *

Plain English version Question 5 - Parents, the child and local
authority staff will meet once a year, to talk about the child's
development. How often should this annual meeting happen at the place
where the child is being home educated?

Never

*Comments *


Again, this question assumes agreement that there should even be annual
meetings, which I don't agree with, and I don't agree either that
meetings should ever be required to take place at the family home unless
there are specific concerns that justify this intrusion on family privacy.


The real question here though, is the implied assumption that the child
be required to meet with the council annually. I would see this as a
gross intrusion on the child's rights, and tantamount to unlawful
detention. /(//*Detention*//is the process when a state, government or
citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom of liberty at
that time). /To introduce powers to detain a child in this way in the
absence of any suspicion of wrongdoing would clearly contravene
international laws.


International law also requires an assumption that parents are acting in
the best interests of their children, and there should therefore be no
routine questioning of children in this way. Again, this would give
councils more rights than police! Many children, especially those who
are very shy, or who have experienced bullying or phobia at school would
likely be seriously distressed at this proposal, especially since it
appears to not be something the child could opt out of. It would be an
incredible infringement on a child's rights to force them to even attend
such a meeting, especially if it were to be conducted without their
parents present. Again, this is way beyond the powers of the police in
circumstances where there is evidence of actual abuse, and yet this
proposal relates to a routine process involving families where there are
no concerns at all.


International law also requires parents to make decisions regarding
their children, on the basis that children are not yet able to make
decisions for themselves, nor to fully understand the consequences. It
is as meaningless, and pointless, therefore, to ascertain a child's
opinions about home education, as it would be to ask school children
whether they wish to be forced to attend school. I am not aware of any
evidence that home educated children express dissatisfaction, and it
would certainly be far, far less common than the number of school
children who resent and struggle with the compulsory nature of their
school attendance, the intense focus on testing, the fragmented approach
to learning, the dominance of certain subjects, the lack of provision
for different learning styles and needs etc. There is no explanation of
any perceived benefit or aims of such questioning in the proposals,
which makes this an even more extraordinary extension/contravention of
existing laws.


*Question 6: Refusing registration*

*STANDARD VERSION QUESTION 6 -- DO YOU AGREE THAT REGISTRATION SHOULD BE
DENIED OR REVOKED IN THE LIMITED SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES SET OUT IN THE
CONSULTATION DOCUMENT? (NOT SUPPLIED IN THE CONSULTATION RESPONSE FORM
SO NEED TO CROSS-CHECK WITH THE CONSULTATION DOCUMENT
*_*http://wales.gov.uk/docs/dcells/consultation/120902registeringmonitoringen.pd\
f*_*which
appears on the consultation page described as "Registering and
monitoring home-based education" pdf) *


*[ From the consultation document page 6. The LA would only be able to
refuse a new application or revoke an existing*

*registration in a very limited set of circumstances:*


. *if the parent fails to satisfy the LA that they are fulfilling their
duty under*


*section 7 of the Education Act 1996*


. *if the LA becomes aware of new or existing welfare or safeguarding
issues*


*that affect the suitability and effectiveness of the education provided*


. *if the parent fails to cooperate with monitoring and/or reasonable
requests*


*to monitor.*

*]*

Plain English version Question 6 - Should parents be refused
registration or have their registration overturned, if: the education
offered does not meet the child's needs, or puts the welfare or the
safety of the child at risk? parents will not let the local authority
check that the child's education is suitable?

Disagree

*Comments *


I don't believe there should even be any such a thing as "registration",
but that isn't actually what is being described here anyway, which
actually amounts to "licensing". I don't agree with that either, and
don't agree that the council has the right to prevent the parents from
pursuing their choice regarding education unless there is proven harm to
the child in doing so.


To over-ride the parents in this way (with no need for even a suspicion
of concerns at any stage) massively shifts primary responsibility away
from the parents and towards the state, in a way that perhaps hasn't
been thought through? The implications are huge, and warrant full
consideration! This would be an extremely costly and litigious position
for a council to be in.


Existing laws already provide for a school attendance order where there
are specific relevant concerns, so the only role of this provision is to
reduce the decision-making process to that of a council official, rather
than a court, which would clearly lead to many more disputes than at
present. I think the potential for this whole process to result in
lengthy and costly legal challenges, and to tie up many parents and
council officials in bureaucratic and legal disputes has been hugely
underestimated.


Introducing welfare or safeguarding issues here conflates education and
welfare in a way that is extremely unhelpful, both for children, parents
and councils, and has already caused enormous problems in serious case
reviews. It is far more efficient for issues of concern to be dealt with
separately, and to completion, by those properly trained in each area,
and for existing laws and procedures regarding welfare to be
appropriately enforced. The level of subjectivity and the power that
this proposal would confer on education officers will again give rise to
many legal challenges and unnecessary conflict.


Given the personalised nature, legally, of the suitability of each
child's education, any attempt to regulate this, and any occasional
changes made to council requirements will inevitably lead to a number of
families falling foul to this through no fault of their own, and to the
detriment of the suitability of the education they are able to provide
to their child, resulting in protracted disputes which will cause
significant distress and disruption to children and their parents. As
tempting as it may be to more tightly define what the WAG considers
acceptable regarding suitability of the education, there is a reason
that this is not done - it prevents exactly the level of personalisation
that the law is intended to enable, and causes unnecessary restrictions
and unwarranted bureaucratic interference in a process that is not even
raising any evidenced concerns. Home education has been shown again and
again, even where there is no formal structured "lessons", to be at
least as effective, if not more so, than the "one size fits all"
approach of the school system. The inevitable end point of such a course
of action is to gradually progress to the point that children can only
be educated in the ways that schools are allowed to educate, as that is
what is defined as "suitable" in a mass, generic system. In fact it is
the suitability of provision in relation to the practicalities of mass
instruction and supervision that is the largest factor in this, whereas
home educators can be far more diverse, flexible and responsive. It is
exactly that kind of generic approach that so many home educators are
perfectly legally stepping away from, and rightly so, as it does not
(and can never) provide an education that is suited to each individual
child. Parents who are able and willing to make the sacrifices required
to home educate are able to individually tailor and adapt the education
in a way that does not, and should not, attempt to duplicate the mass
school system, and which can enable a child to develop and excel in
their specific talents, whether academic or not. Home education can also
enable children to direct their education in ways that take it beyond
any limitations of their parents experience/knowledge, and to maintain
either a longer-term diversity or a specialisation that schools cannot
hope to deliver. Many world experts and entrepreneurs have either been
home educated or have proclaimed themselves as self-educated.


It makes no sense whatsoever to enable children to be educated
"otherwise" than at school if this can only be done in a way and at a
place that is exactly equivalent to school, or to empower council
officials to subjectively, forcibly and with extremely limited knowledge
of the child, decide how a parent (of whom there are no concerns) may
fulfil their parental duties. Again, international law (and current WAG
guidelines) requires that councils assume parents to be educating their
child appropriately unless there are specific indications otherwise.
Councils should not be able to define what is considered "suitable" in
order to acquire powers to intervene, where existing evidence indicates
neither need nor benefit of doing so.


If not co-operating with a "reasonable request" were included as
sufficient grounds for refusing a license to home educate, then this
would give far too much power to potentially adversarial council
officials. There are already considerable differences in how councils
interpret the existing law, so adding an open clause like this would be
far too open to abuse. What would be "reasonable" would again be open to
legal challenge. It looks increasingly like these proposals are largely
about intimidating home educators by appearing to place the balance of
power regarding a simple parental decision in the hands of the state, in
an almost open-ended way. To do this as a routine measure, in the
absence of any concerns would be quite remarkable, and would create a
very dangerous precedent.


*Question 7: Notice of registration*

*STANDARD VERSION QUESTION 7 -- DO YOU AGREE THE AMOUNT OF TIME TAKEN
BETWEEN RECEIPT OF APPLICATION TO REGISTER AND NOTIFICATION OF
REGISTRATION OUTCOME SHOULD BE NO MORE THAN 12 WEEKS? *

Plain English Version Question 7 - Parents should be told within 12
weeks whether they can educate their child at home.

Disagree

*Comments *


I don't agree that there is any legal basis or justification for any
form of licensing or registration regarding home education, and would
certainly question what benefit would come of any time frame? It seems
more likely to me that it would be used against parents, meaning that
they only had 12 weeks to "convince" the council official that they
should be "allowed" to home educate, in which case it would probably be
very easy for that person to frustrate their efforts beyond this time
limit, should they be so inclined. This would result in a situation
where the previously identified default position of school would
presumably be applied, and the parent would therefore be prevented from
educating their child in a way that they have identified as enabling
them to fulfil their parental duties, purely because of bureaucratic
inefficiency or obstruction. This would be entirely inappropriate, and
would again result in many avoidable legal wrangles, since the parent
has both the right and the responsibility to determine the nature of the
education provision, unless there are specific indications that they are
/not/ providing an education that is suitable to their child.


*Question 8 -- Any other comments*.


Responses to consultations may be made public -- on the internet or in a
report. If you would prefer your response to be kept confidential,
please tick here:


Existing provisions are perfectly adequate regarding home education, and
there is no established problem where they are followed properly,
although unfortunately many councils do not do so. Setting up a system
that is based on assumed conflict and parental negligence, and
unwarranted state intrusion cannot possibly improve the current
situation. The amount of money these prioposals will cost -- both in
terms of staff time and legal challenges could be far more sensibly
spent. We are talking here about a group of people who almost
exclusively fully abide by the law, achieve better results both
academically, economically and socially for their children than most
schools, and who currently cost the state absolutely nothing. There are
rarely any actual concerns (as opposed to rumours of concerns), or
School Attendance Orders, and where these do occur, they are usually not
upheld in court, as they are often based in a mis-application or
misunderstanding of the law. Although it might seem unbelievable to
councils that they don't have a way of knowing how many, or how children
are home-educated, neither do they know how many have special diets, or
use alternative health care. There is no good reason for a council to
even know, let alone monitor, how parents intend to fulfil their duties
unless there are specific grounds for concern. The role of the council
is to act as a safety net for where there are genuine and evidenced
problems. If the council were to begin routinely investigating and
monitoring families as to how they parent, then that would be a huge
culture shift that I hope isn't intended by the authors of these proposals.


In summary, these antagonistic proposals turn the presumption of
innocence on it's head, undermine the right to family privacy, and place
primary parenting responsibility in the hands of the state rather than
the actual parents. All of these are only justifiable in exceptional
circumstances, not as a routine measure for perfectly law-abiding, happy
families.


The consultation document says that :-

"Under the current system when a concern over the suitability of home
education provision is raised, LAs can find it difficult to gather the
evidence needed to verify the accuracy of the concern."

but these proposals are not merely attempting to address the gathering
of evidence when a concern over provision has been raised, they are
attempting to check every aspect of the education of all home educating
families, in order to rule out the possibility of unidentified concerns.
The area that generally causes "concern" on the part of councils is
their belief that they have a duty to routinely "check" whether the
education is suitable, and no identified process to do so, rather than a
duty to intervene only when there are specific concerns that the
education is /not/suitable, in the same way as with other areas
regarding council intervention in parental duties. This is a completely
disproportionate response to a concern on the part of councils that they
do not have as much power to routinely investigate as they would like.
They already have powers to intervene where there /are/ specific, actual
concerns, and the processes are clear and effective. The proposed
unprecedented, routine infringement on privacy, and the reversal of the
presumption of innocence for home educating families will contravene
several international laws, incur substantial and unnecessary costs, and
irrevocably destroy trust between home educators and councils.


The existing law is perfectly adequate, enabling parents to choose to
remain directly responsible for providing education for their children
in whichever way they feel best prepares each individual child for life
as an adult. Home education is a choice with considerable time and
financial implications for the parents, but as international law
recognises, parents have the biggest personal investment in the future
of their children, and are strongly motivated to help them do well.
There is no justification for routinely assuming that parents who home
educate do not fulfil their responsibility at least as well as those who
choose the route of mass education.


With no actual evidence of need or benefit for these proposals, the WAG
is at risk of committing itself to an unprecedented level of unjustified
expenditure, unwarranted invasion of privacy, and inevitable protracted
legal challenges at a time when parents of school children are rightly
becoming increasingly disillusioned with the performance and practices
in schools, both regarding academic outcomes, and duties of care
regarding bullying etc. Since the evidence is clear that home education
has a proven track record on both these accounts, it seems that the
agenda for these proposals is far more likely to be driven by a simple
desire to increase regulation and powers for state intervention, the
consequences of which will be completely disproportionate, both for
parents and councils. Since the basis of these proposals is actually a
mis-interpretation of the law, as explained in the answers to Q1, Q3 and
Q5, then it would seem better to clarify to councils that they only (and
should always /only/) have powers to intervene in parental duties where
there are specific concerns, and that, as with all other parental
duties, they do not have a right to routinely investigate whether
parents are fulfilling their duties regarding education.


The basis for the state routinely investigating provision in schools, is
that it is responsible for such provision /on behalf/ of the parents ie
it has contractual responsibilities, and therefore has a role in
enforcing quality control. Where parents do not "contract out" their
responsibility for the actual provision of the education, and choose to
home educate, this remains a private family matter, and is no concern of
the state unless it "appears" that the parents are /not/ fulfilling
their duties. Schools who comply with what the state has determined
"suitable" provision of education, are in a clear legal position, since
the onus is then on the parents to take action if they feel this is not
"suitable" for their individual child's age, ability, aptitude, etc. It
is also worth noting that parents actually remain legally responsible
for their child's education even when they do contract out the provision
to schools, and that schools rely on this to avoid liability for
"failing" children. To introduce measures that shift the balance towards
the state having primary responsibility for education would indeed be a
significant shift both legally and financially for councils, and should
not be done on the back of a simple lack of information regarding a
matter for which they have no legal remit in the first case.


There is another great response here as well.