A wave of illiterate “home schooled” children

[RedSkyatNight25]

Prepared to get torn apart, and I know many homeschool because the school environment isn’t right for their children (SEN, sensory issues - whatever else) and their needs aren’t met by school with a chronic lack of SEN placements and too much demand etc. I’m not naive to that. I also know some parents with adequate resource will ensure their children have a rounded education whilst being homeschooled.

But there seems to be a movement to homeschooling by people who are simply anti establishment with a point to prove. Their grammar and communication on social media tells me they’re not equipped to homeschool a child. Not least I think the socialisation and soft skills school provides are hugely important too. I suspect most of these parents either haven’t considered the benefits of school or hugely underestimated it, especially past primary are parents really equipped to teach ALL the subjects with sufficient skill if they lack the knowledge themselves? Are they not underestimating the skills and expertise of qualified teachers?

AIBU to think it’s really concerning? These are the next generation of our workforce and infrastructure. I personally think we are hugely privileged to live in a country with free education - I know it’s not perfect but I’m not convinced homeschooling is better for a vast majority.

I agree. You do hear about the person who was home schooled and ended up at Oxbridge etc but why is it that you hear about them? Because they're unusual!
It would be interesting to see, excluding those who are forced into homeschooling due to SEN, what proportion actually come out with qualifications similar to what they would have got in school.
Because people are very quick to jump down people's throats and say that homeschooling children can do qualifications - often saying better qualifications.

I know if I'd done it with my three they'd have been in the group getting A* in maths A-levels at 12yo but certainly for the younger two, getting them to do anything else, except possibly computing, would have been an uphill struggle, and I suspect we'd have compromised on forcing through English GCSE (for which I'd have had to use a tutor because neither me or dh would have been capable in it - despite both having top grades at GCSE in both Lang and Lit.) and done very little else.
At school dd1 got 16 GCSEs, and the other two got 12/13.

And that brings me to my next concern. I know that me and dh, despite me having a maths degree and dh having a doctorate and degrees in various science, would not be good enough to teach most subjects. We've both got a string of A grades at GCSE and A-level, but still would not feel up to it.

But the ones that I've seen/known where it has basically been parents deciding that they don't want to, even when I've thought initially they look like they're doing a good job I've seen a lot of issues:
Child of 8yo who can't read even their own name. Child whose (much recommended by homeschoolers) private tutor assured them they'd be getting top grades in English lang, getting a 3 (they found afterwards he wasn't the only child this had happened to). Children who are scared of seeing other children their age except in a controlled activity. etc.

But the thing that really makes me feel uncomfortable is that how many homeschoolers are totally against any check ups.

There's two things here.

Firstly that means that they're not fully secure in that they're doing a good job. Yes, it would be a hassle, but as they're always at pains to say how much easier it is to homeschool, then they should be able to cope with it.

Secondly, it's clear that some people will use "homeschooling" as a cover for how abused children. That is not saying that all homeschoolers are abusing, or even a majority. However some people will. And so people who are against checking up, are effectively saying it's more important to them that they don't have any check ups than a few children have the abuse stopped.
I mean when ds broke his arm, we had SS check up on us. And surely it's better that we have a few days of extra check ups than another child is sent back to abuse?
I would hope most people agree with that.

That's a very prejudiced view. What makes you think that home educated children don't have "proper resources available"? (And what makes you think that all schooled children do?)

I can't find the statistics for what percentage achieved the government target, but 45.9% achieved grade five or higher in Maths and English.

explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance/2023-24

There’s a married couple of GPs at our practice who are HS their 5 children for ‘religious reasons’. Which is sad as it’s doubtful they will have the opportunities their own parents have had.

My friend is head of education in a museum in a nice area. They have a very active (and somewhat aggressive) HS group who come in. She said they are extremely competitive with each other in how amazing and academically advanced their children are. She said the children are very confident and out spoken but actually no smarter than the local PS students who come in. The parents all like to tell her their child is basically a genius though.

DH has a PhD and did post doc research, I have a degree and a masters. Some of the GCSE work defeated us, especially the English Language, and I did extremely well at school, some of it has changed so much in 30 years. Even in DHs subject he was a bit lost as different to his knowledge of it.

And some sort of assessment of parents who want to home-school. You’d think that ought to go without saying.

I think a lot of these kids have dropped out of the system tbh, so there wouldn’t be much data. They’re just ‘home educated’. No one checks.

Where I live homeschooling is quite popular, and I can immediately think of at least two families I know whose children are almost illiterate at the age of 9/10.

They do a lot of forest school, whittling and making bows and arrows etc, but they are woefully unprepared for the world of work.

It’s a national disgrace but the legislation seems to be so lax.

According to the Education Act parents are responsible for ensuring their children receive an education, so shouldn't it still be the parents that go to prison? If you decide to send your child to school you are just getting someone else to educate your child for you.

(I don't actually know the answer to your question!)

They ask for a yearly report IF they’re known to LA. I would like this to be compulsory for all home educated children. I know people who have moved to a different county so they can be ‘unknown’ to a new LA. Some request samples of work (my county does not), but they do not have to be provided across England at least, not sure about elsewhere in UK. So it’s very easy to lie in a report, and it absolutely happens.

There most certainly is going to be a future generation of adults with little or no education. In my experience it is not at the fault of the parents, it is the system that has failed them. 8 years I've been fighting to get my child into school, with numerous tribunals. The La's are disgraceful, they want to save their budgets, so they refuse to act lawfully. We aren't an isolated case, this is happening all over

I'm not sure if your statement provides enough reliable data.

That's an excellent point! So yes, under the ludicrous idea that parents should be prosecuted if their children don't reach the arbitrary standard, that should apply to parents who outsource their children's education to schools too.

I'll tell you what drives me mad. People making judgements on us who can't even get the sodding name correct of what they're talking about.

Homeschooling in the UK is when a child is registered at a school and completing the school-set work at home.

Home education is the correct legal term for what you appear to be slating.

I'm assuming you're not slating my family, as I am a former teacher with a PGCE. I imagine that passes your 'test' that I am competent enough to home educate my children.

I'm wondering if you've even bothered to look into the stats from the ONS on the amount of children who leave school who are illiterate?

I always find it amusing, that the people who are the most vocal and judgemental at home educators, are the ones who know the least about it (and can't even get the name correct).

Another point, school education in the UK is not free, we pay for it through our taxes, then school parents pay even more on top with the constant begging for funds from the schools.

It's heartbreaking when children are taken out of school for the wrong reasons, usually parental beliefs - and these are usually the very children who benefit most from being exposed to diverse kinds of people and beliefs, as they would be in school. In some cases that includes basic science.

It's also heartbreaking when children who may have SEN but could also potentially thrive are instead doomed to fail in mainstream school because of the strict rules and lack of flexibility. This isn't to criticise teachers - it's impossible to provide the kind of education some of these students need with the numbers, funding and resource available.

I think you've identified a real issue but it's part of a wider problem where children in need of support, whether that's being in school or not being, slip through the net.

Most who unschool don’t even know what it is. ‘The father of unschooling’ whose books they’ll praise was deeply upset his words had been misinterpreted and he simply meant not in school system. But formal education that didn’t look like school.
To do unschooling properly is an exceptional amount of work, very difficult if you have more than 1 child and no cleaners etc.
See also Charlotte Mason. Most don’t understand it and call themselves CM/CM inspired because they go on a nature walk, don’t do workbooks and read aloud to their child. They pull very blank and confused looks when you try to talk to them about Charlotte Mason. Many are actually unschoolers

I'd be much more concerned about the wave of illiterate children leaving state schools.
And the wave of children with SEN getting no education at all in schools.

That affects hundreds of thousands more children than those being home educated.

PersistentRain · Today 12:43

There’s a married couple of GPs at our practice who are HS their 5 children for ‘religious reasons’. Which is sad as it’s doubtful they will have the opportunities their own parents have had.

Why is it doubtful?

Your DBIL is atypical, and your anecdote isn't meaningful in terms of whether formal education is a good thing or not. What you describe is absolutely not the fate of most people who went to uni and got a first-class degree. Whatever he's being held back by, it's not being highly educated.

My friend does it and her kids can’t read or write. She does it because she doesn’t agree with the curriculum - YANBU

I idly wish that there was such a thing as part-time home schooling, because I think it would make more sense for us to have school focus on academic rigour and more time for us to focus on things like cooking, baking, swimming, money, cultural experiences on the fifth day.

But hey ho.

I think it is very sad for the children, but I don't feel it is a concern for wider society as it still is a tiny proportion of children that are home educated in this way. What I think is more disconcerting is the number of non-qualified staff teaching classes in school, who have weak English skills and poor general knowledge. If schools were properly funded, those children who struggle at school would be properly supported through alternative provision within schools and every class would have a qualified teacher every day.

Totally agree, it’s something that really worries me. I’m a teacher myself and we don’t home educate, but I’ve joined a couple of Facebook support groups for home educators because my DS is autistic and we had some really low points with school over the last year including school refusal. I felt that we were on the verge of potentially needing to explore home education if it got much worse (thankfully it didn’t for us!) so joined the groups as part of my researching home education, as I wanted to know as much possible if we ever needed to run with it.

It’s utterly terrifying how little some families do, and some of the parents posting shouldn’t be in charge of educating a potato quite frankly! And the well meaning advice given in the groups by nice, well meaning folk to ‘keep everything in writing and refuse all meetings with local authority staff’ is quite frankly dangerous for some kids IMO. I know some families who home educate locally and they do an exceptional job. But unfortunately there are a lot of parents who are pulling kids out of school because it makes their lives easier and who have no intention of properly educating their kids to a decent standard and giving them lots of opportunities - and largely avoid as much LA involvement as possible. I think in ten years or so it’ll be seen as a huge scandal and rules will be massively tightened up as some kids will just fall through the cracks.

I’m not against home education at all, but some kids are 100% being failed due to this by some parents!

AngryBookworm · Today 12:56

It's heartbreaking when children are taken out of school for the wrong reasons, usually parental beliefs - and these are usually the very children who benefit most from being exposed to diverse kinds of people and beliefs, as they would be in school. In some cases that includes basic science.

How do you know the reasons behind why parents remove their children from school? You say that the reasons are "usually" parental beliefs, so you must have come across a lot of cases of parents removing their children from school. Do you work for a school, or LA perhaps?

(When you de-register a child from school you do not have to give a reason.)

Why can't they just take the same maths and English assessment as everyone else? You don't have to be educated in school to take it.
Why would the government spend a fortune creating a special english and maths assessment for home educated kids when they are welcome to take the perfectly good assessment that already exists if they want to access further education in a formal setting?

Well, equally, what makes you think that homeschooled children do have proper resources? (To me, proper resources means qualified and experienced teachers in each subject and the socialisation of many peers.)

We would need to know how many homeschooled children achieve the maths stat in order to make a comparison.

Only in today's topsy-turvey world would someone be called prejudiced for insisting that children should go to school!

Who's being prosecuted over schooled children then? Only 45% got grade 5 in English and Maths, and only 25% of disadvanted children got them! The prisons would be overflowing 😂

A lot of people homeschooling are actually critical of the low standards in school, some 40 percent of school leavers are not literate. The problems have been around since the 1970s when it became fashionable to be "progressive". Literacy is a huge problem in the UK. Behaviour in many schools is terrible - fights, abusive language, most children not engaged and making it impossible for other children to learn, petty punishments for minor misdemeanours affecting mental health of children at school generally. See numerous threads about English schools. It is a huge worry for parents.

So some might homeschool for the reasons you say but if I were able to home school it would be for the reasons I give above.

Hope you don't feel torn apart!