Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think if you home educate a child, you (the parent) are the educater?

181 replies

greytartan · 12/06/2015 22:24

I have absolutely no issues with Home Ed and in fact see it largely as a positive.

What I am upset about is the fact a student of mine has been withdrawn from the school I teach at to be educated at home. As indicated above, I am supportive of this if the parents feel it is right.

However, I apparently have to set her work, and mark it,

Surely that's not right? As if she is educated at home then - well, as the name suggests!

Or AIBU?

OP posts:
GoblinLittleOwl · 13/06/2015 10:08

You cannot teach a child by simply setting work and marking it, certainly not for the period of time you have been doing it. You need far more background information and face to face liaison; somebody must be with the child when it is working and they need to co operate with you. It seems to be a very strange educational establishment you are working in, to refuse to give you appropriate information.
Record all this, in case this child's results and progress are counted in your assessment profiles; if you are setting work the child must be on roll.

LikeASoulWithoutAMind · 13/06/2015 10:08

Hugely unprofessional of you to post this here OP.

greytartan · 13/06/2015 10:10

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Fairenuff · 13/06/2015 10:21

grey what do you say about checking with your union?

Original poster
greytartan · 13/06/2015 10:25

Thanks. I am not a member so not an option!

OP posts:
Fairenuff · 13/06/2015 10:28

Anyone can join a union in the uk. Are you in the uk?

Original poster
greytartan · 13/06/2015 10:29

Of course they can, but I have never been so inclined. Thank you for the information, though.

OP posts:
EdithWeston · 13/06/2015 10:34

Sorry to sound bossy, but it's seriously unusual for a British teacher not to be in a union. How would you secure and pay for legal advice if there were a complaint against you?

You can choose one that has a non-binding approach to strikes, if that's what bothers you. But unless you come from a wealthy background or have lawyers with relevant expertise in your family, I'd urge you to have a rethink.

windypolar · 13/06/2015 10:35

I can't comment further on the child's level and your not being able to gauge (could you not have assessed at the beginning), as you can't, and probably shouldn't provide the details here.

I think you've been given good advice, but I'm not sure what more we can do beyond more speculation, as we simply don't have the facts. You need to ask somebody for clarification.

Original poster
greytartan · 13/06/2015 10:36

Thank you. Not being in a union is an informed choice and I do have access to legal advice, which I won't discuss further on here (but am happy to via PM).

I agree it is very difficult to gauge things without knowing relevant information, so really you are all in the same position as me!

OP posts:
ilovesooty · 13/06/2015 10:40

I agree with what others have said about union membership. You work somewhere with poor line management communication, you're told to increase your workload for an extended period and this might impact on your performance review. If you've chosen not to have union protection that sounds incredibly short sighted.

ilovesooty · 13/06/2015 10:40

X post. Perhaps you need to access that legal advice then.

Original poster
greytartan · 13/06/2015 10:41

No, I have chosen not to have union protection, not no protection. I certainly don't wish to turn this into a union bashing thread but they are not very helpful IME.

OP posts:
cansu · 13/06/2015 10:45

for those who say does it matter and how hard could it be? Setting homework based on what has been taught in class is one thing. It is not possible to teach a child through the provision of worksheets. Teaching involves explanation, demonstration, modelling, discussion and questioning. Even when setting cover work there is a limit to how much can be usefully set in this way. OP You should not be doing this. The LEA should be providing a tutor if the child is unwell, but still on roll. If she has been withdrawn to be home educated then the parents should be teaching their child. You need to get answers and stand up for yourself in this situation.

Fatmomma99 · 13/06/2015 10:45

Right, I hope this is going to be helpful.

As others have suggested, in England (where I am) it makes a massive difference as to whether the child is on the school roll or not. You should be able to look this up yourself, or office staff should be able to help you. If the child is on roll, then they should receive a coded mark in the register. There is a particular code for children who are part of the school but can not be at school (for example, if they have a medium to long term illness). But of the conditions about receiving this particular code is that work is provided and marked by the school.

Assuming this child is on the school roll, you have a responsibility to set and mark the work. However, I don't think (if this is the case for this child) you need to be TEACHING it - that is the role of the home educator. And if the work is to too poor a standard, say more work needs to be done/the work needs to be repeated.

If this child isn't on roll at the school, then I don't think you have any responsibilities at all.

However, only 5 weeks to go. Why don't you limp on to the end of term and kick up an objection if it continues into September?

Good luck.

ilovesooty · 13/06/2015 10:48

If you have access to protection why has this situation continued for so long?

SpringTown46 · 13/06/2015 10:50

If the child is still registered at the school, then they are not being 'home-educated' in the eyes of the law, and the school still has responsibility for that education. Your issue is with your management and how they are delegating this responsibility to you.

TheHumourlessHarpy · 13/06/2015 10:53

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

windypolar · 13/06/2015 10:56

I agree it is very difficult to gauge things without knowing relevant information, so really you are all in the same position as me!

Well no, because you have the ability to gain that information and ought to have done so much sooner The main concern and driving force being that the child is not receiving an adequate, or satisfactory, education in your subject (not saying this is your fault).

EvilTwins · 13/06/2015 10:56

OP, I am sympathetic. I have had to deal with similar (ish) situations this year with 2 year 11 students who were removed from school by their parents for different reasons. Parents insisted that their DC were set work and that they still sat their GCSEs, but, in one case at least, the parent consistently referred to "home educating" the DC. IMO, neither one was being home educated as the school was still setting and marking work. After trying for some time, I requested that both were withdrawn from the subject I teach at GCSE as it was simply impractical to continue to set work for it. The school supported me.

Original poster
greytartan · 13/06/2015 10:58

Happy to discuss on PM sooty but at the risk of taking the thread massively of course, I answered a poster who asked about legal protection. Anyway, I think 'leave it' is the best advice. I was extremely tired, cross and generally out of sorts last night, and a tiny bit pissed for the first time since 2011. As such, when yet another email regarding this situation donged into my inbox I groaned, inwardly and outwardly.

It isn't a primary school harpy ... that would be why four years, IF I hypothetically had the class from now until they left. Which I won't because I'm leaving myself. Thank Christ!

OP posts:
Fairenuff · 13/06/2015 10:58

grey are you in the UK?

Original poster
greytartan · 13/06/2015 11:00

Windy, I am afraid I don't - not from want of trying. I do wish people would stop blaming the schools issues on me. If you work in a well organised and structured school with supportive management maybe it's difficult to imagine someone who doesn't. But to be honest I am, despite trying hard to keep my patience, slowly losing it, which is doubly frustrating as its what many aggressive posters wanted in the first place!

Limp on. Work harder. Indeed! In fucking deed!

OP posts:
Original poster
greytartan · 13/06/2015 11:00

Yes I am in the UK!

OP posts:
Goldmandra · 13/06/2015 11:00

My DD missed virtually all of Y8 due to being unable to cope when starting high school, being assessed and diagnosed with ASD and then going through a statutory assessment.

For a lot of that time CAMHS were telling us to keep her at home due to concerns about her mental health but she still needed to be educated. The school should have been sending work home but that happened just once in the whole year, in response to a letter from our MP. No doubt the teachers felt that to give her any chance of accessing some of the curriculum being followed by her peers during that time was not worth their time and effort.

Luckily my DD is exceptionally academically able and when she returned in Y9 was able to step back in without much difficulty. She had spent a good portion of her year at home learning and completing projects which interested as the school curriculum wasn't available to her.

So she was out of school and being educated at home but that wasn't a matter of choice for us and she would still have benefitted from being given the chance to complete some of the work had anyone been kind enough to send it for her.