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.

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.

Response to Fifth Request for Information on Home Education form Leicestershire Elective Home Education Team.

I sent this letter to Leicestershire CC in June 2010 when they requested information from me for the fourth time, I call that monitoring funnily enough which they are not empowered to do, and I hoped I had seen the back of them.  

When I received a letter in April this year I was very tempted just to shred it but I had a lot going on so took the easier route of responding with no additional information,

Dear Ruth

Thank you for your letter of 5 4 2012 requesting information about Beth's education.  I can assure you that it is progressing well.  For our philosophy and approach please refer to previous correspondence.

Yours sincerely 

...........

i received a thank you for this so maybe it allows them to tick a box, not sure what I will do next time, maybe send them the guidelines.