To think that home education should mean one parent has no requirement to work under UC?

[Homeeducationproblems]

I home educate but I’m in receipt of carers allowance so I don’t have to worry but many of the parents in the groups we attend have children with difficulties who couldn’t manage school and because they don’t get dla or are waiting for a dla claim (it takes months) they are under extreme pressure.

I know that some people plan to home educate and yes if its a choice for NT dc from age 4 then I can see why they’d be expected to fund that/work alongside but there’s a huge groups of parents struggling to home educate children with difficulties and it seems as if they aren’t recognised and supported ?

AIBU to think that if you’ve had to de register for a child who can’t manage school and you are engaging with your LA home education department (a lot of home educators refuse to engage so there should be something in place where UC have it verified ?) that you should be able to get UC with no requirement to work?

The LA really don't want every child in school.

It's really common for LAs to pressure parents into home educating children for whom provision is scarce and costly.

And it's even more common for LAs to give not one single fuck that children are left with no school place for years on end, whilst parents fight and fight for provision and face the loss of their career and a massive drop in income.

I know a few people who are home educating due to bullying. Child who is neuro diverse gets picked on school does nothing for years variety of bullying.

"The last thing we want to do is to create an incentive whereby allowing children to be so badly behaved to be excluded multiple times means that the parent has 'no option' but to home educate."

If a child is excluded then the LA has a duty to provide education. For most children this would be in an alternative provision.

This would be impossible to regulate, and some would take advantage of it without actually having any intention of providing a suitable education for their children. It also wouldn’t have support in the HE community if it meant a formal register.

UC can use their discretion to turn off work commitments for those with caring duties whilst waiting for the outcome of a DLA claim, so this is worth pursuing and don’t give up if the first answer is ‘no’.

If DC can’t attend school and they are CSA the LA has a statutory duty to ensure they receive a suitable, full-time education once it becomes clear 15 days will be missed. No, they won’t do so unless forced, but parents can force the LA to provide provision. Parents can also request an EHCNA and pursue EOTAS. This takes more time, but again is possible. Parents can’t be compelled to deliver/organise EOTAS even if the LA has to fund someone else to do so.

I hope they're getting proper outside help for children who are only happy to be in a space with their parents and no one else

If that continues, they're never going to leave their mum's house, not even to go to work each day, and they're going to have a terrible shock when their parents eventually die of old age.

It's very easy for these problems to be left in the hope they resolve themselves, while in reality they just become more deeply ingrained.

It would probably mean a formal register for those home educating and checks as currently it’s all optional
Councils are going bankrupt. Schools are falling apart due to lack of funding.

No I wouldn't support a system that would be a short term benefit for a minority of people to the detriment of long term issues and the majority of the population.

In theory, yes. In practice, what would happen is feckless parents would withdraw their children from school and say they're home educating when they're not.

I really think an unintended consequence of this will be people home educating their children for reasons other than the best interest of the child. I am afraid there really are people who would do this.

I also think this will lead to massively increasing legislation around home learning to try and prevent it. So regular checks, portfolios of work. And i think these standards will mimic the school education people are trying to avoid because its wrong for their child.

What needs to happen is quicker diagnosis and support and access to DLA and better bullying responses.

I'd be wary of anything that shifted responsibility for educating children who can't access school away from the local authority and onto parents tbh. But I know there's a crisis in the provision of support and specialist placements so it's a real catch-22. I think Im on the fence with this one.

If I understand correctly what you’re saying OP, then I agree with you.

I think people who choose to home educate their NT children, for whatever reason, should have to fund it themselves as they currently do. However, I think there should be some funding available for children who it can be proven can’t cope with school - either because they have obvious neurodiversity that would render school unmanageable, or because they have tried everything that school can offer and not coped. In those situations, the parents often want their kids to go to school, never wanted to HE, may have to quit their jobs to facilitate it, just because their child finds school unbearable.

I’m a working single parent and my income is the only money coming into the household. If either of my children had been unable to cope with school, what would I have lived on while trying to home educate my kids?

But I think for this to work, it would have to be formalised. There’d need to be some kind of assessment to confirm the child couldn’t attend school. Either a report from schools that had been tried, or a psychology report if the child hadn’t tried school at all. It couldn’t just be left to the parent to decide that their child hated school and they wanted the HE money please!

I don't think it is the answer, I think we need the school provisions and for these jobs to be well paid and respected. The cost of regulating this would be astronomical and would be better off spent reforming the education system.

Sorry OP, it's a terrible idea.

I grew up, one of four daughters to a man who didn't believe in educating women, and wanted to give up work and 'live off the family allowance'.

Now imagine he was offered the chance to be paid to stay off work, plus he could avoid the cost of four school uniforms & four bus tickets, and he could avoid the interference as he saw it, of the school expecting us to be clean, tidy and fed.

Life wasn't great but with a policy like this, he would have had us fruit picking for cash. It would have been child slavery.

Children can be excluded from PRUs and other AP too.

There are no settings where it's impossible to expel a child (other than the youth justice system eg secure training centres)

I think people are just being let down to be honest. A lot if home schooled kids just don't have a suitable placement and in this case yes the parents need supporting with UC and the schools need to be better equipped to help these children while they wait for a suitable placement. They just want to get rid of the most vulnerable ND kids as they are just viewed as a drain on resources.

This government are failing vulnerable children. It's disgusting.

Research shows the huge benefits of children learning together and I think it is better to have an inclusive approach like the three tiered Finish system. Surely, many parents aren't educated in the field to actually be good enough to home educate.

LEAs need to provide proper support for children who have difficulties accessing education.

This is the issue.
Ideally, if you're child isn't able to attend mainstream school, that would be recognised and you'd be getting at least low rate DLA and carers, because it's unlikely that the only issue they have is in school, and even if it is, of the LA cannot provide a suitable placement, then there needs to be a safe back stop.

In reality, what's to stop disfunctional families where the kid likely has behaviour issues at home pulling the kid out cos the school are too much hassle, claiming DLA and carers and dumping th in front of YouTube all day

I'd worry that special school provision would be cut further because councils (?) would be pushing parents to home educate rather than pay for specialist provision.

Would the Home Ed community want more interference from councils ? I might be wrong but isn't that point that the National Curriculum isn't for everyone and the last thing you would want to do is have to prove that your child is being educated appropriately?

There will be people who use this to make money for the wrong reasons eg addicts and child abusers who will remain undetected by social services for longer as there's no teachers seeing signs of abuse.

I do not understand 'cant go yo schopl'. I thought yhe LA had a legal duty to peovide an education for every child?

I'll go with a different angle and say jobs such pay enough so people can have a choice. Weather thar be state, private or home educated.
If nobody needed uc then everyone could have that choice

You are suggesting that parents who have been through the school system, aren't educated enough to facilitate their own child's education. Which, doesnt really help the argument of 'school is best'
By 'educated in the field' I assume you mean teacher training. Which is mostly about delivering the curriculum to a large number of children at once. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves because the system is failing. A large portion of them home educate their own children. It's easy to see why.

You’d be really really surprised how many children don’t have a school place. Some move into area and are left in limbo, some were ehe and waiting, some permanently excluded, some still playing around with EHCP arguments and no provision.
Then you get the ones simply offered a place that can’t work, they are school refusing, on temporary timetables of half an hour or something.
Then the ones forced into home education because they are threatened with fines if they don’t attend unsuitable placements.
Then mental health issues.
Then ones who have a place so unsuitable their parents chose long term ehe rather than try to deal with the fallout….

Well making a parent feel elective home education is the only option is a very cheap way for an LA to discharge that duty!

Not every parent has the capacity to go through the process to get the LA to support an appropriate education. Even going smoothly the process takes a long time. You can fight for EOTAS which would fund the education part. I've yet to meet someone with EOTAS who isnt facilated by a parent not working though.

We had 1 year with LA tutors whilst awaiting a school place. They came 5 hours a week and we seem to have got the golden ticket. Everyone else got 3.

It's bad enough that people are having kids now just to get on the 16 hour per week bandwagon.
Giving these workshy wasters the opportunity to have children and do zero work really would open the floodgates.

They do exist. I have supported parents to get that provision. Yes, it takes time, but it is not lawful for the LA to rely on parents to delivering/organising etc. SEP in F. I don’t work full-time for various reasons but DS1 has full-time 2:1 via EOTAS.

5 hours is not a suitable, full time education. The LGO is clear on that. Parents can, and should be supported to, challenge LAs and enforce their DC’s rights rather than accept LAs acting unlawfully.