To think Home Education should be made illegal

[Viviennemary]

I would like to see a ban on HE except perhaps in a very very few cases and with good reason and under strict supervision.

Banning, no.

Strict supervision? Absolutely.

As someone who was home schooled I can tell you that not a lot of home schooling actually went on. Most of what we did was housework and looking after younger siblings. It was slavery pure and simple.

As soon as I turned 16 I went to college to get some GCSEs. Took me bloody years to catch up with my peers.

I think home education can be hugely beneficial when done well. A bespoke education, designed to work with a child's strengths and support them through their difficulties, can allow children to reach their full potential in a way that might not be possible for some children in a school environment. There are options for how to home educate - online school programmes, tutors, workshops, etc. - so it's not like all home educated children just run feral. I have several friends who have home educated children to high levels of academic achievement, as well as friends who were home educated and have gone on to do amazingly well academically and professionally. There are lots of positives to home education, just as there are challenges. When done well, it can be life-saving and life-changing for children and young people.

I agree with Sweden.

And yet you're not actually responding to the vast majority of posters on this thread who are very eloquently making alternative points. Nor really giving much away about your own thought process. Funny that.

I tell you what should be made illegal - smug homeschoolers / unschoolers either directly saying or if not, insinuating that parents who send their children to school are doing irreparable damage to their children, or at the very least not doing the best for their children. Fact is that very few parents are privileged enough to have the option of home schooling.

I completely agree with you op and can’t believe people are actually allowed to de-register their kids and provide their own unregulated “education”!

But firstly schools should become less obsessed with attendance stats and prosecuting parents who are already struggling and provide more support instead. Class sizes should reduce and the curriculum should change with more variety and skills learning for all. Obsessive testing and pressure should reduce and uniform should be more comfortable. Basically there should be more focus on reducing the areas which cause increased anxiety without the need to de-register.

Obviously there should also be increased provision of places in specialist schools for those with greater needs.

Oh and no one should be able to claim benefits to stay at home and provide this “education “ and for those that do there should be much more regulation over what is being taught, and should work towards specific qualifications if able.

Only my opinion

Not illegal, but you should have to have a good justification, like SEN or other disabilities that mean your child can’t access a regulated etc provider.

And those who do should have closer supervision.

Even outside of any abuse, I think children have a right to be educated alongside peers, and it’s not for the parent to take that experience away from them.

Obviously this all assumes a fair system for determining whether parents have established a justification etc

I don’t think it’s a right to HE at all.

I also agree with Finland re banning paying for education.

The only thing with the Sweden argument is that they have generally more progressive education. Although I believe Finland is rated as being the most progressive and holistic. They also have a totally different culture to us. And I’m jealous of it in many ways.

Where has ANYONE on this thread done that?

HE shouldn't be banned. It provides a safety net for CYP (particularly those with SEND) who have been abused in school. Priority should be given to reforming the schooling system.

Home educated children are educated alongside peers.

This is what I mean, a lot of people just don't understand how it works.

I am not sure if you have already been asked this, but how do you know? If there are no inspections or whatnot?

I’m simply quoting this absolute insanity so more people can see it 🤣🤣

Bettyboo, I don’t know what borstal you went to disguised as a high school, but this is so far removed from a “normal” experience that it’s like it was written by someone who was homeschooled and drip fed urban legends by their mum, to justify why she won’t send her kids to school

Well they have more time to take opportunities to visit museums, libraries, parks, go out in nature, visit sites of historic, scientific or nature significance.

I work at one of the above and see school kids and home educated kids, and kids who visit at the weekends and in the holidays with their parents. Oh, and the regular weekend club kids (who are a mixture). The home educated kids with the keen parents are here for longer, and are here more often by a significant margin. The schools who can afford a coach etc to bring their children (increasingly fewer schools in my area can), aim for one or two visits per key stage. We give school children a voucher to return for free with their families - we see less than 0.1% of them return. Statistically the home ed children are out and about more, at least some of them.

Where did I say it was on this thread?

The south of Italy has lots of Swedish home schoolers, who have felt strongly enough to leave. If nothing else, its shows how core the issue is to their lifestyle.

I am part of the HE community.
Just join a large HE face book group and say you are thinking of HE but do not know how you can, as you have to work. There will be lots of replies from people who are working.

I think people should have the right to home educate their children should they need/wish to do so. I do think there should be more oversight though to ensure children are a) safe at home and b) getting a reasonable standard of education that doesn’t place them behind their peers.

Completely illegal where I'm from (Germany).

If you homeschool in Germany, you will be arrested, children will be brought to school by police and sometimes even taken into care.

I know a lot of HE families. Most are unschoolers. Most of the children are ok and well looked after but not all of them. One is of such concern that multiple reports have been made to SS about them. SS couldn't care less really. We need to improve and fund the services that are already there - social services, schools, SEN provision and the police. Then people would let need to resort to homeschool so much and the concerns people do raise would get acted on

Perfectly put!.

I'm a former foster carer who has had quite a few children who had been de registered from school and were supposed to be home educated. Absolutely no education happened and in some cases I had teenagers who could not read or write. I have been shocked at the lack of monitoring.

We also have a family member who themselves went to a special school as a child due to a learning disability. They supposedly home schooled their child. What actually happened was the child was left to their own devices and is now late teens and desperately trying to catch up and gain qualifications. It was all down to the parents laziness in this case.

But I also applaud any parent who actively home schools and it works for them and their child.

Home schooling just very very much needs to be monitored.

why bother starting a thread when you are absolutely unable to engage in any kind of discussion. Did school not teach you that???? shame. should have maybe had a decent HE instead 🤷

I am all for homeschooling when it’s in the best interest of the child. I came very close to homeschooling DS and still would if his current placement failed as it’s the school that can best meet his needs.

BUT I do think there should be a lot more joined up working to ensure children are seen by a professional regularly and that what is observed is reported in such a way that children don’t fall through the net (that joined up system is also needed for those in schools though!).

The trouble with the schools I've experienced is that they are just not safe. 2 students in one of my local state schools took their own lives, due to bullying and gossip. I'm told by friends that their children have been encouraged to vape and smoke, exposed to indecent phone images and messages and cruel bullying. Even private schools have issues. One school near me years ago had a terrible record of abuse by teachers and a suicide which eventually came out in the news. If your children are sensitive or in any way vulnerable, and your choice of schools limited, then a parent is duty bound to protect them from this kind of environment. I wish schools were safe places, and I certainly hope there will be some efforts to make them so. Just look at the cases of children killing or harming other children - they quite often seem acquainted through the educational setting. It's just not good enough, and needs to be addressed.