The government will revise its guidance on home education, the academies minister Lord Agnew has said.
According to the minister, the Department for Education plans to draft and consult on revised guidance documents on elective home education for local authorities and parents.
The changes will make clearer to councils the powers available to them and will inform parents about their rights and responsibilities.
It will be “an opportunity for all stakeholders to put forward their views”, Agnew said.
Central collection of numbers of home-educated children in England is hampered
The minister told the House of Lords this afternoon the number of pupils educated at home had increased and that parents’ reasons for choosing home schooling were “more varied” than in the past. He said the variation raised “questions about the adequacy of the current arrangements for ensuring that these children receive a suitable education”.
In July, an investigation by Schools Week found that more parents were home educating their pupils to avoid prosecutions for poor school attendance.
Ten of the 33 councils that gave reasons for home education mentioned behaviour, threat of prosecution, or risk of exclusion.
The “primary reason” for home education has “changed from ideological or religious reasons, to concern for their child’s welfare or unresolved difficulties relating to behaviour or attendance”, said North-east Lincolnshire council at the time.
Parents have a legal right to educate their children at home but there are is a lack of certainty around their obligations beyond that.
For example, parents are not obliged to tell councils, which are responsible for the education of all children living in their areas, of their choice.
As a result, councils encounter “difficulties” in tracking pupils making it difficult for them to fulfil their duty to identify children who are not receiving “a suitable education”, Agnew said.
“As a consequence, central collection of numbers of home-educated children in England is hampered.”
A “concerted effort” to make existing legal arrangements work more effectively is needed, he said, but councils have also called for changes to the guidance.
“We are all too aware that the department’s current guidance dates back to 2007. That is because the law has not changed. However, the types of children moving in and out of home education have changed.
“We have been talking to local authorities about this, and their view is that revised guidance would be helpful.
“In particular, there is a need to ensure that, where there is genuine cause for concern about a child, local authorities are clear about the powers open to them. Parents need to be clear about their rights and, importantly, their responsibilities.”
Lord Soley, a Labour peer and the orchestrator of today’s debate, said the lack of a system of registration for home-schooled pupils had “troubled me for some time”
“The issue is not whether some parents can do it well. It is about how we help those who cannot do it well and protect the rights of the child.”
“councils, which are responsible for the education of all children living in their areas” No they are NOT. Parents are responsible for the education of their children.
Further thoughts.
There are now very definitely two kinds of Home Educators. First there are those who genuinely want to do it for philosophical reasons. These families are motivated, they do their research, they network with other Home Educators and they don’t need ‘guidance’ or monitoring from the state.
Second, there is the rapidly expanding group of families effectively FORCED into Home Education. They do the best they can, but they really wanted their child to go to school. These families DO need help, but the help they need requires some serious changes in the school system which will require significant funding. Better support for SEND. Better support for pupils in danger of exclusion. Schools prevented from ‘off-rolling’ to make their exam results look better (change how the league tables are calculated as a first step?) or just to get rid of a ‘problem’.
Sometimes families which start in group 2 move to group 1. They find that Home Education is the perfect solution and they wish they’d tried it earlier, even never sent their child to school in the first place. That’s wonderful. For those who don’t LAs need to be ready to help, either with making Home Education work, or with getting the child back into the system in a way that works for them.
You’re going to see massive opposition to more regulation from group 1 because, as I said, we don’t need your ‘help’. We don’t want your ideas of when our children should learn to read or what subjects they should be forced to study. How we educate our children generally does not fit the school model at all and it works.
Meanwhile group 2 is crying out for support and not getting it because £££££££
Parents have the right to home educate. But there needs to be a register of home educated children to avoid children disappearing from the radar. Most home educating parents do so because they think home education is the best for their children. They have nothing to fear from registration. Just as parents have to register a child’s birth, they should register for home education.
LAs have a responsibility for child protection. Sometimes this means protecting children from their parents. Home education shouldn’t be used as an excuse hiding abuse or neglect.