Why do people fear Home Educators so much?

[sebumfillaments]

Not a TAAT but inspired by the other thread, I was stunned by the level of vitriol aimed at home education. Is it all borne from fear and ignorance?

Home Ed isn't about replicating school. And education isn't (in our case) about gaining qualifications from an institution to increase their value in the workforce!

So why so much animosity?

there is no legal obligation for a parent to inform an LEA that they are living in their area and HE-ing whatsoever.

that is, frankly, unacceptable imo.

zzzz

I can see for children needing/wanting to learn in the traditional way or those needing help and support would gain from this.
In this sense I can see it adding value to the child's education.
However, for others it would do nothing.

Drspouse ""and then we took the school to court and the LEA settled and found them a place in a fabulous new school and the teacher was fired" not "and then we gave up on school".

No. We shouldn't have to take the LA to court in order to access a suitable education. Non SN kids' families don't have to do it so why should we? FWIW we are in the middle of a tribunal case against the LA, we will win, the LA have really tried it on but to get to this point it's cost us £4k and this is for one small but important point of law.

We are not applying to go to a wonderful school which would ideally suit our child, because it doesn't exist. If it did, he would be there. There is nothing we wouldn't do to make things better for him, and if we could buy our way out of this, we would. But we can't.

It is sad that parents contributing to this thread actually think that experienced teachers would have nothing to contribute to a home ed parent. Our team were all SEN trained and spent most of their time with individual children in schools or helping clsss teachers with strategies for SEN children. The team leader was immensely experienced in SEN, running the peripatetic team and home ed. We also ran a Traveller education service too. I know lots of parents don't want help but we also had a monitoring duty, but not fine tuned as it would be today. Now I would consider it is vital for the safeguarding of the children. The "witches" were our difficult client group. Most parents were happy with the visits and engaged with our service. I do not believe any child or parent is so special or different that free advice should be ignored.

Our budget was heathy but lots of the schools would have said their budgets were not. It just depends how you decide to cut the cake. Nearly all the education budget is devolved to schools now and if they don't want to buy support services, they don't buy support services. Years ago the LA could be more supportive of schools but it took a share of the budget to do it. The schools now want and get virtually all the money.

Bubbles
Hey there's been one convert, but alas we don't H.ed anymore.
I can see it working in some instances and it would be great if it was offered to those who chose.
It really would have been unsuitable for mine, but that's not to say it doesn't have worth

Bubblesbuddy, sadly, the SEN trained teachers I have come across are incredibly well meaning but very few "get it". I lost count of the number of times I had to explain masking, why he might appear ok but actually he was right on the edge, how a bloody reward chart wouldn't help anyone and how his behaviour and reactions were rarely a choice.

I'm not an advocate for full-on testing and intervention to see whether all HE parents are doing it exactly as the LA would wish. But at the moment there's no requirement even to answer the question "where is your child?".

Some children just disappear completely, thousands of them.
www.google.co.uk/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/education-38145058

I dont think it's fait to conflate home ed and child exploitation/forced marriage. I do believe firmly in safeguarding, but I'm not convinced that an education department which is so woefully failing thousands upon thousands of families, is the place to start.

And I say it's families who are being failed because this affects us all. I cant work because my children's additional needs mean that firstly they have a lot of appointments, and secondly, they couldn't tolerate a school and then childminder, which is what i'd need in terms of childcare if I returned to work. School has made them unwell. And as a result our family income and lifestyle has been drastically affected. Brasty and others said repeatedly "because I have to work." What the eff do you think the rest of us live on? This wasn't a choice we made as such, it was thrust upon us.

zzzz

It sounds exhausting and I can't imagine what it must be like for you.
I don't believe all children should be in school, but I believe all children should have the support they need to reach their potential.
I understand your philosophy of keeping an open mind, I did take advice and listen to others I think it's important.
At the end of the day though if mainstream school doesn't suit your child for whatever reason, H.ed can help them reach their potential.

I'm sorry sebum, but the extremely liberal UK regime on HE and the total lack of records kept is one of the reasons (far from the only one) why thousands of children can disappear, or be locked in unregulated schools, or be taken abroad for forced underaged marriage. It's not the fault of legitimate Home Edders, but it is not irrelevant to the question of how HE should be overseen and recorded.

YellowLawn - I agree

I find it sad (for many reasons, including what this tells us about the education system) that many HEers would see no value in getting support from an experienced teacher. Good teachers don't just churn out NC stuff, they are experts in child pedagogy and all sorts of things that would equally apply in most HE settings

zzzzz - surely knowing that a child even exists is a fundamental pre-requisite for CP?

If you've seen the child and talked to them, it means they're not in religious study school ten hours a day. It means they're not pregnant. It means they're in the country. It's a low bar, but since children can simply go missing under the current system it's a start.

Well, TBF Winter, they could still be in religious school most of the time or early stage pregnancy, but yes, it does provide a very basic check that there isn't a cause for concern. Again, I'm not sure why any reasonable parent with nothing to hide would object to it. If they don't want the officer to come into the house for some reason, they could arrange to meet in a cafe or library or some other public place.

And it also allows the child to know that someone outside of their family or community knows that they exist, should they ever need to seek help

How are employees of the LEA qualified to carry out welfare checks?
Are welfare checks taken out on schooled children during the holidays.
Mine has a 10 week long summer holiday, plenty of time for Lord knows what to be happening.

I was home educated.

I got to follow my passions and learn what interested me and blah blah blah.

but you know what? I am terrible at doing things I find dull or compulsory because I never had to growing up.

I hate going to work and have never really enjoyed any of my jobs because I can't just stop doing them when I don't want to. I am 36 now and have been working since I finished university and can't see this changing.

Sorry to report heron98 that I went to a jolly respectable gels grammar school, and yet am exactly as you describe yourself! I couldn't even be arsed to go to university. 😊

I don't FEAR home educators. I don't think about them much at all really but when I do, they slightly irritate me because it seems they think their children are just too special for the system that's good enough for everyone else.

I think too many people home educate, not as a positive, educationally-driven choice, but because their child has social or emotional problems and cannot cope with everyday school life. Perhaps parents should support the child by dealing with their issues rather than pulling them out of school and leaving their issues unaddressed?

Ha! Likewise Heron, that's isn't the fault of HE or your parents. I went to some very lovely private schools followed by a grammar and tbh, am exactly the same as you.