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?

I agree that schools are not perfect - state schools are not perfect, private schools are not perfect, religious schools are not perfect, HE educators are not perfect. So lets focus on the CHILDREN, and think about how to deliver a universal level of care and safety to them all.

I suggested something along those lines upthread and was told it was unworkable.

If we, as a country, struggle to find ways to protect schooled children from specific, known dangers (such as some very suspect, tiny private schools that OFSTED have commented on) and societal ills (trafficking or FGM, for example) then why are we not looking at those more closely instead of going after the largely uneventful HE community for ill-defined reasons?

Can you show us any evidence that "we" are NOT looking at those more closely? And who exactly is "going after" the HE community?

I suggested something along those lines upthread and was told it was unworkable

It is.

At a minimum, I think we need:

• Compulsory registration of all children, followed up at random to establish true whereabouts.

• Physical visits to all non-mainstream-school settings (private schools, religious schools, homes) on a regular, unannounced basis. Named person to have the same responsibility in every mainstream state school, or across a group of schools - to regularly report on every child's whereabouts and apparent physical welfare (the registration CP rules that apply to mainstream state schools already allow a degree of oversight that other sectors do not yet match)

• Compulsory vetting and barring screening of every adult who leads or facilitates any form of education activity with any child unrelated to them, renewed every 3 years.

(Compulsory registration of all children would be a good basic start.....)

Maybe @cantkeepawayforever and @notevernotnevernotnohow should fight it out between themselves.

At a minimum, I think we need:

- Compulsory registration of all children, followed up at random to establish true whereabouts.

Yes. Completely. I find it hard to comprehend why any competent, caring parent would object to this.

- Physical visits to all non-mainstream-school settings (private schools, religious schools, homes) on a regular, unannounced basis.

Ofsted and other inspection bodies do visit schools and suspected schools (and nurseries, homes being used for child minding, etc), and have moved more towards unannounced visits in most sectors. It's important that we are clear what they are actually inspecting (educational provision, premises, H&S, CP including extremism...?)

Named person to have the same responsibility in every mainstream state school, or across a group of schools - to regularly report on every child's whereabouts and apparent physical welfare (the registration CP rules that apply to mainstream state schools already allow a degree of oversight that other sectors do not yet match)

What would they be reporting? I'm happy with reporting by exception, as this seems the most proportionate in most situations

- Compulsory vetting and barring screening of every adult who leads or facilitates any form of education activity with any child unrelated to them, renewed every 3 years

The DBS regime already does this to a certain degree. What expansion is needed?

We register births, deaths and marriages, and councils know (broadly) which adults are living in their borough, but there's nothing that records which children are living in the same house AFAIK

The problem with HE is that we very rarely get the childs view. Those that impose HE on their children are not going to admit their getting it wrong, and its not until the children of these experiments grow up and go into the outside world will we ever know the truth.
Its interesting that the few survivors who do venture onto HE boards usually get shouted down.

the birth certificate only shows that a child has been born.
it doesn't give the address or nationality. it's not even proof of ID

Everyone is different and vaule things differently. It would be dull if we were all the same so its really down to personnel choice and expectations

I was selfish and have only chosen to have one child so she goes to school to be around people her own age

"Are you alright with unannounced inspections of your homes/parenting/educating, or is that just for those that HE?"

Schools have 24 hours notice of an OFSTED, I think. So no, not unannounced, no.

Less and less, Betrand. The model where the lead inspector calls from the car park of the school is becoming more the norm (though most still do get 24 hours notice)

Home Ed families regularly get door stepped with no notice at all.

"Home Ed families regularly get door stepped with no notice at all."

Do they? Under what legislation?

There are all sorts of children who duck under the radar and it is very difficult to keep track of them. Children come from abroad to live with relatives/friends. There are many young adults we believe to be slaves, effectively. Children attend schools which are not accredited - usually religious schools. Ofsted is trying to close them down. Ofsted inspects outstanding schools every 7 plus years.

THe truth is that friends, neighbours, teachers, social workers have to be the eyes and ears for children. Parents and carers are not always what they should be and keeping children away from others is a problem. It sometimes veers too much towards the "parent" owning the child. It is very easy for a child to arrive from abroad and not go to school, not have a Gp etc.

Obviously people who have nothing to hide should be happy with visits (from whom I'm not sure) but keeping tabs on some children is difficult e.g. Traveller children, religious sect children, lone immigrant children, dysfunctional family children etc. Unless people co-operate it is extremely difficult and expensive to track everyone down. However where abuse is suspected the people spotting this have at least now been trained.

DBS covers most instances but not family. Most abusers are family. Most abusers haven't been caught so are not on records.

As a nation we have been far too lax about the whereabouts of children in care who can then be abused. We have been far too lax on families taking children out of school and not following up. Girls go off abroad and are not seen again. They go for weeks on end in term time. With what consequences? Every child who starts at school should be followed up regarding another educational setting if they leave. Again it is an expense but necessary and not an intrusion if everything is legitimate.

zzzz yes. My friend is a barrister who specialises in representing home ed families. Where I live, not going to name it on here but it's an area where they're notorious for their over zealous approach to families who choose to home ed, door stepping is a regular occurrence passed off as a benign "just in the area" approach. Similarly letters implying that contact with them is compulsory rather than requesting it.

So you say "I''m very sorry, it's not convenient. How about next Monday at 10.00?"