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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think there should be an approval process to allow parents to HE?

407 replies

abacucat · 29/09/2018 13:54

Children's education matters, it is incredibly important and affects the rest of their life. I think it is fine for parents to Home Educate, but I think there should be an approval process before parents can HE. This will check the parents are actually capable of doing this.

OP posts:
Ihopeyourcakeisshit · 30/09/2018 14:08

My friend home edded her dc after bullying problems.
I doubt she would pass MN criteria for being qualified, but she guided her dc through 9 GCSEs largely A grades with a couple of Bs.
I don't like the link between HE and neglect.
I agree with the poster upthread who mentioned having a parenting test instead.

cantkeepawayforever · 30/09/2018 14:13

piss poor state education system

Piss poor for who? As I said before, every single school is probably failing a very small number of their pupils at any given moment - and one could argue that is to be expected in the current scenario where there are far too few places in Special Schools with genuine expertise.

However, an accusation that the whole state education system is so poor that it fails all children all of the time is, I would argue, as inaccurate and offensive as saying all HE children are abused.

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 30/09/2018 14:24

Tbh our education is based on producing good little workers. Breadth not depth education can be inadequate for the students at the top and the bottom and with inadequate funding it is getting worse year on year. It is perfect for very few children.
Lots of parents who pull their children have children who have Sen where there is little to no funding.
Ds’ school has a lot of Sen children and in between inaquete and poorly trained Sen staff and inadequate a lot are being let down.

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 30/09/2018 14:27

Our council has just got a beating from ofsted for their Sen coverage too though and from my limited dealing with them I have to agree that in our area that they aren’t fit for purpose.
With budgets dropping and a crisis in teacher retention I think it is going to worse not better.

cantkeepawayforever · 30/09/2018 14:29

There is an enormous gap between saying

'The system is perfect for very few children' and
'The whole system is piss poor '

I would agree that no system - indeed, no part of life - is perfect all the time for everyone. I would agree that SEN provision is, in places, poor and getting worse, whatever its starting point, for reasons of lack of funding and lack of places in special schools.

I would disagree that this makes the entire system 'piss poor'.

MaisyPops · 30/09/2018 14:33

I don't like the link between HE and neglect.
If that's a reference to my points regarding safeguarding then I'll clarify.
HE does not mean a child is neglected.
HE does mean it is more likely for neglect or abuse to go unnoticed as it is much easier to avoid professionals trained in safeguarding when your children aren't going to school each day.

It's why one school I know of has separate initiatives to keep traveller children (especially girls) on the roll even if it messes with their figures for ofsted. Once those girls get off rolled and home educated no education takes place. They cool and clean and get fixed up so they marry as soon as they hit 16. The support workers speak openly about the rate of domestic violence in the traveller community and for some girls they get taken out of school from y7. These are my girls who will grow up knowing about empowerment or boundaries or that they could have dreams for themselves. They will learn they keep a clean house, look pretty, pop out children by stand by your man. (Obviously this is not all travellers but it's a well known issue for the community in our region).
By trying to keep some educational engagement for those girls, the school is able to keep a safeguarding eye and hopefully give these children more options than having kids from 16 whilst having the literacy level of a 7 year old.

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 30/09/2018 14:34

A system where the education that you get is based on your postcode or parents income (in terms of house prices) is not exactly great either and neither is a system where the government is forcing all schools to become academies when a lot of the organisations want to line their own pockets isn’t great either.....

flirtygirl · 30/09/2018 14:34

Every few weeks someone links he and neglect and or abuse, big surprise.

More children are failed by schools. Fact
(and not just on the obvious numbers but per hundred etc, in true comparison)

More professionals involved in school educated children's day to day and still miss chances to pick up on neglect/abuse. Fact.

More children are abused within school, search for the thread about children being raped at school and little done by the dfe. Fact.

Home ed children are out in the wider community and seen by drs, dentists etc. Fact.

But yes please start another thread about home ed and abuse/neglect.
Oh small minded people.

Cyclingpast · 30/09/2018 14:35

There are children in school who can't string a sentence together or read at 12, or who are neglected etc. So when that happens to home educated children why is the fact that they are home educated to blame?

Original poster
abacucat · 30/09/2018 14:38

How many on here sound...

Maybe we should make safeguarding procedures compulsory in private schools?
Why when children in state schools are still being abused, it obviously did not work there.

Thankfully Government disagreed and made safeguarding in private schools compulsory.
Unlike some here I put childrens rights above parents rights. Children should always come first.
And no socialisation does not happen from attending a scout group once a week. Children need to spend considerable time with their peers.

OP posts:
cantkeepawayforever · 30/09/2018 14:39

I suppose I would also turn the question round and say 'Is HE perfect for all the children who are HEd, all the time?' and 'Are there no HEd children who are being let down by home education?'

My view is that we should work towards education and safeguarding arrangements which are as good as society can possibly make them for EVERY child, wherever their education takes place, whatever their needs, and whatever community they come from.

This will require changes to state education, private education, special education, outreach education, LAs, academies, political policy...and yes, home education too.

redsummershoes · 30/09/2018 14:41

I'm currently considering moving to a country where a) homeschooling is illegal and b) a yearly medical by a paediatric gp is mandatory.

this country often comes up very high on pisa tests and they also score very well on general health and happyness (however you can measure that)

so what's going wrong in the uk?

Original poster
abacucat · 30/09/2018 14:42

cyclingpast That is very very rare unless considerable SEN is involved and is why SATS were introduced.

OP posts:
IStandWithPosie · 30/09/2018 14:43

And no socialisation does not happen from attending a scout group once a week

Again, you’re showing your lack of anything even close to involvement with HE families or communities if you think a once a week scout hall appearance is the extent of socialisation for HE children. You clearly haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. I would suggest you ask some local HE groups if you could tag along for some of their activities but I can’t see they would be keen given your very obvious contempt for what they do.

Original poster
abacucat · 30/09/2018 14:43

redsummershoes An annual compulsory paediatric check up sounds a great idea,

OP posts:
Tomorrowillbeachicken · 30/09/2018 14:44

South Korea comes high on PISA but also has a huge teen suicide rate.

Original poster
abacucat · 30/09/2018 14:44

Posie Of course that is not the case for all HE. But yes I have talked to plenty of HE adults for whom that is the extent of their socialisation with peers.

OP posts:
Original poster
abacucat · 30/09/2018 14:45

Posie Also suspect we know each other in real life in which case you would know that I know much more about HE than you suppose.

OP posts:
IStandWithPosie · 30/09/2018 14:46

What socialisation was my son getting from under the coats in the cloakroom for 5 hours a day?

Original poster
abacucat · 30/09/2018 14:47

I think the point of school education should be about breadth. Because it is introducing children to lots of subjects, then they can decide where to specialise.

OP posts:
IStandWithPosie · 30/09/2018 14:47

What makes you think we know each other? Confused

Racecardriver · 30/09/2018 14:49

I think that all HE children must be registered same as children in school and must sit the same standardised tests as kids in schools to measure progress.

user1471590586 · 30/09/2018 14:50

I have never been pro HE however lately I'm wondering whether I would be better off home schooling my son. He is on the SEN register but the school are telling me they haven't the budget to have a ta in the classroom more than 2 afternoons a week. My son just isnt getting the support he needs. The school just fob we off all the while. And in terms of qualifications I suspect I'm better qualified than some of the teachers at the school.

Racecardriver · 30/09/2018 14:50

I will add that I knew many people who were hone educated at some point. They were all well socialised and many went to secondary school on scharlshipsto good private schools. I am pro homeschooling as an option but think that the interests of home educated children must be protected.

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 30/09/2018 14:54

User147 it might be worth looking at applying for a ehcp or getting in touch with sendiass