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

[greytartan]

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What I am upset about is the fact a student of mine has been withdrawn from the school I teach at to be educated at home.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?

OFF course.

Christ my spelling is abysmal today/tonight.

If management are failing in their role(s) there are procedures you can follow.

Yeah, if they exist!

You could almost be talking about my child, only he hasn't been off that long.

In our case the school and ourselves have agreed it's best he stays home and they provide work for him due to a combination of health issues and the fact they have been unable to support him with his asc needs. Teachers have been asked/told to send work home, they don't know details re health etc. And one teacher did ask in an email to me what the issues were and when he was expected back... So the school aren't keeping staff informed, they also have a huge issue with turnover of staff,numerous supplies and have admitted this is affecting my son badly.

They have now got a plan and we are working on him going back on a part time basis, believe me I would far rather my son could attend school properly supported, but it's been a bloody nightmare and continuing to attend school was affecting his physical and mental health.

They do exist. Is it a private school that you work in or state?

gold that is ds2's situation as well. It's been a nightmare and yrs it seems it's far too hard for teachers to send work home, he had had two maths worksheets he did in half an hour, some geography and one Spanish worksheet, nothing else has been forthcoming, despite being told it would be.

Fair if you want any other details PM me. It isn't a private school.

5 sorry to hear this situation. It is pretty difficult sending it home.

If the school accepts that this child is unable to come into school because of illness - which could include being unable to cope because of something like severe anxiety - then it is the duty of the council to arrange home tuition. Simply asking teachers to send homework home is not adequate because the child is not being taught. Really the parents need to get legal advice about enforcing their child's right to education.

OP, I would suggest asking for a meeting with the head, local authority representative, parents and maybe people like the Head of Year and, if relevant, the SENCO, about a proper home tuition arrangement.

I don't need to pm you grey for simple clarification. I don't know why you aren't using the usual channels to sort this out. You are in a mainstream, uk state school and we do have procedures and law that must be followed.

You say you don't need a union and you have legal cover, so just get on with it and start finding out where you stand. You seem to have done nothing about this since the start of the school year and now, five weeks before the end you're asking for advice?

I know. You'd almost think I had a load of other stuff to do as well!

If I explained our current situation re management it may make the school and thus child identifiable - yes)

I don't think it's wrong of grry to post on MN about her problem. She's hardly given any identifying facts. If people didn't post to MN about their personal work/school/whatever situations then there wouldn't be much to say.

It's not a sustainable situation just 'sending work home' like this and to do it properly and meaningfully takes too much time.

However I do think it's v odd you haven't asked why and what the plan is, and that you don't have senior mgmt or a union.

Don't think that because I haven't had any answers I haven't asked!

I am aware it's difficult for the teachers, I have many friends who are teachers, they however are appalled at the treatment ds2 has had at school. We have had to fight tooth and nail to get even the most basic and simple support and reasonable adjustments made due to his asc and other health issues. He isn't entitled to tutoring at home without medical support, but his medical issues are under investigation with no diagnosis at the moment, this doesn't change th fact that he is in pain and can't cope with school. Oddly enough being in constant pain affect his behaviour as well and makes it harder for him to cope at school and that stress makes his health issues worse. It's a vicious circle.

As his parents we are fighting tooth and nail to get him appropriate support and access to education, including legal advice, help from parent partnership etc. We are not keeping him at home for fun! The school have said they will provide work so they should do, if the teachers struggle with this then you speak to your manager, I am sorry but that isn't my problem.

I have been made to feel a complete pita parent for pushing to get my son proper support, fgs what happened to every child matters. Luckily like gold my ds2 is bright and capable and we are ensuring he does stuff at home and so he should be fine to catch up. But my child is entitled to an education and we shouldn't have to fight for it.

I am sorry you are finding it hard, but you aren't entitled to know exactly why this child isn't at school, we have kept the school informed of ds2's medical issues, but it is shared on a need to know basis and we haven't gone into details, nor do we have to. If you are not getting support from your school and management team then you need to address that, rather than moan about having to support this student. If you had come on and said aibu my school and management team are failing to support me so I cannot support my students properly I would have said Yanbu. But you are moaning about the student essentially and actually you are failing the student by nor going to management and ensuring that you and therefore the student are getting the proper support they need.

Tbf if your school is anything like the school my son is at I can see why you can't ask for/push for support, I imagine it's an awful school yo work at, hence why the good teachers are leaving in droves. But hey Ho that's how it works in academies it seems, particularly those run by a certain 'inspiring trust'.

Oh don't be so daft - of course I'm not moaning about her. The endless emails asking for work when I've just sent some off - yes, a bit! But I am not moaning about her personally!

5 weeks. 5 weeks. 5 weeks ...

The title and premis of your thread is moaning about her/her parents and saying they should be responsible for educating her. So that is exactly what you are doing. If you are being told to send work home she is obviously still on the school roll and their responsibility, she may be at home but she isn't technically or legally being home educated. I have home educated and believe me what you describe isn't home ed, nor is the situation I am in with my son.

If you have a problem with sending work home, emails etc (againthis could be us... I have an endless email trail with the school and teachers, when they bother to reply...) then speak to your manager at school, take legal advice if necessary but tour issue is with the school and not this child or her parents.

Well yes but when I am told X is being home educated but I need to provide the work it does get a tad confusing. Of course, that's clearly happened because of the term home educated which I evidently interpret differently to others. I think we've gone through everything else quite thoroughly, but wish you the best with your son.

It's probably just a minor slip of the tongue.

They'll have meant 'X is receiving their education at home for now'.

Well I wouldn't use the term home educated to describe our situation, though I am trying to ensure he is still educated and have got back in touch with local home ed groups etc ad he needs social contact and can benefit from the various activities they offer. I am choosing to do this as it's best for my child, I am not compelled to. Legally he is still on the school roll, as it seems is the child you are supporting with work. Again it seems the school is at fault for using the wrong terminology buy I guess it's just easier for them to say that.

The issue really is with your school, is it an academy Btw? I am just wondering which trust it is and if it's one that I know of then I am not surprised at the lack of support. Whether you wish to complain formally is up to you, but it would probably benefit this student if someone did.

Yep I think it sounds like an academy or one that is being forced to become one. That's a shit situation to be in op and I am sorry you are struggling. The system is crap and teachers are struggling through no fault of their own, sadly the government doesn't give a shit.

You don't come across as very nice in this thread.

I'm probably not, but luckily the thread isn't 'AIBU to think greytartan is a bitch'.

Agree with you there 5

crispy - not helpful.

I don't think it's possible to understand unless you've been in this position - it's a real "damned if we do, damned if we don't" situation. Setting work, over a long period of time, for a student you never see is difficult and time consuming. Yes, every child matters, but creating work and resources for one who is not in school takes a lot longer - the other 29 also need attention.

It's a difficult situation for all concerned but that one child's needs do not trump those of the other 29 in his/her class. I think the OP has been treated unfairly.