To think that families who choose to home educate should receive government funding?

[PinkyU]

It costs the uk government(s) circa 75K to educate a child from 4/5-18.

AIBU to suggest that families who HE (home educate) should receive a percentage (50%-75%) of this to aid in their ability to provide learning opportunities for their child, given that it would still save the government money?

Do you think more families would HE if it seemed more financially viable?

I’m torn. I can see that part of the plethora of reasons school education exists in the format it does is to allow for (potentially) two adults to be working full time and paying tax, so the money saving aspect may fall down there.

From another perspective, accepting government involvement financially may come at the cost of government involvement concerning how and what the child should learn which is the antithesis of what HE seeks to do.

I do think that part funding HE would allow much more access to learning opportunities which would hugely benefit the child.

What do others think?

(Rambling over)

No. By the same logic anyone who does not use a service should get 'cashback'. Childless people, people who are well and never use the NHS etc etc.

I haven't used the fire service in my entire working life. I still pay towards them.

I feel that I’m seeing a lot of “why should they get when I don’t”.

I would say only if the home educator agrees to follow the curriculum closely. Ultimately, this, rightly or wrongly, is considered the most efficient education to provide, so should be adhered to by home educators if they want to receive the equivalent funding.

As very few parents are able to provide that level of education, because for a start, few have received the training required to teach, and as it would require another budget for people to monitor that accurate education is provided, it is not a cost-effective proposal.

@PinkyU

I feel that I’m seeing a lot of “why should they get when I don’t”.

I feel that you’d like some money to support your educational choices and are only answering posters who agree with you. As I said upthread, no, you shouldn’t receive money for HE. In the same way that I don’t get a tax rebate for educating my child privately. We can both choose to use the state provided service, we both opt out. To our own cost.

No. Many HEers know bugger all about education

I would be very happy for GCSEs and A-levels to be funded for HE children. That seems entirely fair.

I would not support general funding to be spent at the parents' discretion, unless there were proper systems in place for accountability and quality assurance, and robust measures to deal with parents who are not doing a good job. Parents who didn't want to submit to inspections etc could opt out of receiving the funding.

I respect the right of parents to make a choice about how to educate their children, but on balance, I think the majority of kids are best off in school, so we should not be creating financial incentives to home educate. However, some financial assistance with clear quality standards attached to that would not be unreasonable.

I think it's a different scenario for children with disabilities whose needs cannot be adequately met by the state. We need to improve options and support for those families, but I think that's a wider issue than funding for HE.

The difficulty comes in those that 'HE' without the actual 'E' part... I know HEd 12yos with maths skills and knowledge below that of most 7yos I know, 12yos without SEND I should point out.
There are also cases such as Kyra Ishaaq which are utterly tragic and entirely unavoidable if there were proper checks on HE or HE was not permitted, as it is in Germany.
I know lots of clever, hardworking, knowledgeable young people that have been HE too, and I know it's a broad spectrum.

In particular, as @doubleshotespresso says, there are families forced into HE through lack of provision, and that is entirely wrong. My own family are very fortunate in that we could afford to use independent schools rather than HE when schools could not meet my children's needs, but that is beyond the means of 95% of the population, and should not be the situation families find themselves in.

Just to add, the cost of any infrastructure that was put in place to quality assure HE and to deal with cases where parents were not providing an adequate education would need to be met from within that budget per pupil. It would be quite costly to inspect individual families, so any money left for the parents to spend would probably be quite limited.

Where would the money come from SEND is already not funded properly and you are suggesting taking money away From the general education pot to fund ,in the main ( I'm aware this is not always the case) people's individual choices

@TheGonnagle I’m sorry you feel that way. I’ve tried to answer posts that I’m drawn to, of course that will create bias. I tend to avoid posts that are obviously hyperbolic or petulant because I don’t want the thread to become derailed.

Some posters have broadened my thought process by raising points around SEN, I found that interesting so I’ve responded more to that. Conversely posters saying “what about me”, I don’t find interesting.

I think of the child, the ones who are able to tell their teachers that things aren't quite right, perhaps are dirty or have unexplained bruises.

We offer early nursery funding to educate and protect the most vulnerable from an early age. State education is not perfect but it safer than unregulated HE

No given that children who have sen are not having their education adequately funded.

If a child is not in school because there is no suitable placement then that is different and they should have funded 'education other than at school', something that already exists but not given to all the children that need it ( because parents usually need to fight for it).

@x2boys I wonder though wether incurring the cost of families moving away from school education might force some accountability for failures within schools, LA and the government?

In the sense of sometimes you can only see something is broken/inefficient when you avoid using it.

@paralysedbyinertia that an interesting point you make about the cost of reviews or auditing to be met from a HE budget rather than the LA, however I think that using a standardised curriculum or learning outcomes is quite diametrically opposed to the usual ethos of HE so I’m not sure that would work, but of course individualised reviews would also not work.

No. The government already provides an education for every child. If you choose to home educate, that's on you, like choosing to send your child to private school.

No, the government provide education. If you wish to home educate your children that's fine. Why should others pay for it?

I'm an abusive parent, and you want to pay me to keep my kids at home!! Winner!!

• disclaimer: I'm not an abusive parent

No but I do think that when there are children with SEND forced into HE because of a lack of provision to meet needs then the fight for EOTAS and the funding this brings should be more readily available and not such a fight.

No - firstly loads of neglectful parents would use it as an excuse to say they “home educate” and do nothing adding to our already overstretched social services.

Secondly if you go this path then people who access other private services should also get their fees paid. Why not give us a grant towards private school fees. Same difference you’re just passing on your grant to someone else.

No tax or NI for someone who uses private healthcare

Yanvvvu

The last thing you want to do is encourage HE with a financial incentive. Can you imagine the parents who would take advantage of this for some free money and not educate their kids?

@x2boys

Where would the money come from SEND is already not funded properly and you are suggesting taking money away From the general education pot to fund ,in the main ( I'm aware this is not always the case) people's individual choices

Actually SEND children with an EHCP are funded. Schools receive funds via a very detailed legal document , ours for example contains over 30 hours per week but due to exclusions school witheld monies in total for 27 months. Where did this money go? Schools need to be held accountable for their legal and financial obligations urgently

I think you mean well OP, but there is a risk of people taking their kids out of school for a payout and not actually HE them properly if there is a financial payout associated with it. School is so important for so many children who don't have supportive parents to nurture their learning.

@PinkyU but the state education system works absolutely fine for the majority of DCs, the unintended consequences of effectively incentivising HE could be terrible for many disadvantaged DCs.

Totally different for those whose DCs don't fit well into mainstream education or have additional needs that are difficult to fit into the standard model and there should absolutely be decent online provision and exam fees covered at the very least, but that's very different from not choosing to send your DC to school - in this case there is no alternative.

I think we also need to remember why universal free schooling was introduced and how life was before it existed.