Is HE on the rise in the UK?

[GumballCharm]

It seems like it! I sense a shift in attitudes....people are more open.

I have always been open to it and may HE for 2 years in a year or so when we travel abroad...I am interested by people's changing attitude to HE...has anyone else noticed a rise?

[Saracen]

It's impossible to say for sure. But there is some evidence that it may be.

Here is data from some LAs in England compiled by Fiona Nicholson, showing how many HE children each LA knew of in their area for the years 2005-2009. edyourself.org/articles/lalinegraph.php Apparently not all LAs had the data requested, and not all responded to her requests made under the Freedom of Information Act. The data here only represents about a fifth of all LAs in England, so it may not be representative. Not only that, but the figures only include children the LA knows about, often not including those who have moved house since being withdrawn from school or those who never attended school. Anyway, FN's calculations show that over that five-year period, total numbers of HE children who were known to those LAs which responded rose from about 7000 to about 10,000. That is a very substantial increase. I make it about 8% a year!

If I recall correctly, both Education Otherwise and HE-UK report an increase in the number of enquiries by families considering home education. I don't know about the other HE charities.

I'm sure home education is featuring more prominently in the press too these days, but that could just be a reporting fad which reflects people's interest rather than reflecting actual numbers of home educated children.

[GumballCharm]

I don't think Saracen was suggsting HE wasn't a positive thing Betelguese

[FionaJNicholson]

Just to say that 59 local authorities is between a third and a half of LAs in England.

edyourself.org/articles/lalinegraph.php

[Saracen]

Oops I forgot you were on Mumsnet Fiona! I should have left you to explain your results yourself!

Thanks for the correction! I thought there were three hundred odd LAs in England but I don't know where I got that idea.

[GumballCharm]

Oh I just wondered why you seemed to be defending HE Betel

[exoticfruits]

I don't think that anyone will ever know-they don't have to be counted.

[Suckstobeme]

I will HE in the future.

[exoticfruits]

LEAa are helpful if you don't treat them as the enemy! Unfortunately many people won't even cooperate enough to be on a list. They won't even talk to the LEA!

[Saracen]

exotic, I'll agree with what you say if you'll qualify it with "some LEAs".

Other Local Authorities treat some HE families very badly indeed. Seeing the consequences to some of these families has led me to advise caution in the first instance and to suggest that it's safer to stay off the LA lists at first. It's always possible to approach them later on if you want. But if you volunteer to go onto their list and then they turn out to be bullies, you can't just get your name taken off their list.

My own area is not too bad. I "only" know of two families who are in deep distress at the moment as the result of LA heavyhandedness, while there are hundreds of others who seem to be content with their LA involvement. But that is two too many. Those two families would dearly love to vanish from the LA's list and get on with educating their kids in peace.

[BertieBotts]

I'd love to home educate but would go mad (and probably end up homeless, as skint!) doing it full time. I wish there were small, collaborative, autonomous/HE type schools which were run by parents on a rota basis. In fact I'd love to set something like this up but no idea where to start.

[BertieBotts]

Yes, but what do you do with them if you want to work or study or whatever yourself? That is what I meant by doing it full time, sorry.

I wonder if it's possible to do full time school, but also encourage autonomous type learning in the evenings and weekends? I love learning and always did but it was definitely hindered and for a period squashed by the whole way schools are set up. I'm not against the idea of school, just the system needs completely redesigning.