Parents given money to home educate

[pixiemoon]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/7989254.stm

I haven't seen this being discussed anywhere? As a lurker on things HE related I'm interested to hear what people think. Does this set any kind of precedent?

[julienoshoes]

It is interesting, a case to watch.

It will be interesting to see if they come under the rules of being assessed as a small school-essentially off the top of my head, more than five children (of different families) being educated in the same place for most of the education.

Personally I am not interested in funding at all, of any sort.
With funding will come strings
'He who pays the piper calls the tune'
I don't want anyone coming along and telling me I have to do this or that............I think along with funding comes a request (quite reasonably IMO) to see value for money for tax payers money being spent.
That will mean assessment, monitoring.
I am not interested.

The system didn't work for my children when they were in school.
I don't want it imposed on my family life.
Since leaving school they have been free of such monitoring. Free to discover the joy of learning for themselves.

[Tangle]

They got over £10k for 6 children and the parents expect that to last for the "rest of the term" . What on earth are they going to do with that amount in 4 months? Too right that as a tax payer I'd want to know there was value for money if that's the kind of amounts being handed out!

[bigdonna]

it said in the mail it was a one off payment!

[AMumInScotland]

The BBC article says "The £10,000 grant will help parents pay the £100 a week per pupil to educate the children at home" - so they're paying for tutors with the money, at a rate of £100 per child per week.

I do think it sets a very strange precedent - personally, I'd have liked some help with things like exam costs, but as Julie says most HE families will not want the kind of strings that LEAs would attach to the money.

But TBH these don't sound like very typical HE families - they are families who want to send their children to school, will do so as soon as they get places they're prepared to accept, and are paying tutors to cover the gap. Nice for them that they're getting financial help, but what about all the other families who are HEing "temporarily", or wish they could do so?

[ellingwoman]

Surely then all parents paying private fees could have the same reason and need reimbursement?

Bizarre

[nappyelite]

? Why would we expect to be paid to raise our own children?