Increase in home education

[NicolaEnglishTutor]

I'm interested in the variety of experiences with electively home educating children. Is it just my experience or is it, for others too, overwhelmingly positive? To give some context to my inquiry, I currently split my time 50/50 between classroom teaching (English and SEND), which I've done for 25 years, and 1:2:1 or 2:2:1 tutoring, which I've been doing for 8 years - mostly with home educated learners. I'm finding the home educated learners are progressing very well and are, in the main, very happy with their situation. Most of my home ed learners are still registered with a school and I'm paid by agencies which are funded by LA. Local authorities are now, however, starting to pressurise parents into sending their children back into schools and it is very distressing for them. I am interested in people's opinions on this.

If you teach homeschoolers 1:1 or small groups founded on tax money of course authorities will work on returning pupils to class rooms to save money.

It doesn’t sound like your learners are home ed children at all, but are section 19 learners who are unable to access school and are instead given a couple of hours of education instead.

MumChp and Teachingagain - sorry, I should have added that when parents pressured to send back into school, many have withdrawn them from school and continued to employ me. Yes, some section 19 - but entirely home educated by mix of tutors and parent. Still wondering re people's opinions.

Just to add - my learners do not attend school at all and are educated by a mix of tutors and parent/s. Typically, when faced with returning children back to school, parents are electing to withdraw them and keep at home.

I think 1 to 1 tuition is obviously going to give more academic progress. Classes and schools exist because its cheaper way to educate the massess to an adequate level, not because thats the best way to deliver stuff or maximise each person's potential.

There's probably some subjects where having people to bounce ideas off or debate with helps a bit, but you wouldn't pick 30 for that. You'd probably hit about 18 to optimise that.

I think anyibe who struggles with mainstream traditional school is just collateral damage, unless they fit a specific special school.

I also think the attendance agenda, with fines, is pushing more people to home educate too. People who might have been ok with a day off a week, or reduced subjects, just being hassled to come in.

When I was at school no child did 4 days a week or part time. Nor when my dc were at school. We seem to have very different attitudes now and parents pay for a bespoke private education which is what the op offers. Not sure these dc wi get a great science education at 11 onwards though. They will face limitations.

If the children are compulsory school aged and unable to attend school, the LA has a duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure they still receive a suitable full-time education. If the LA isn’t doing that, parents can force them to, including via JR if necessary. The parents don’t have to start EHE if they don’t want.

Other than in the minority of case where full-time provision is not suitable in any form, s19 provision must be full time. A few hours of tuition per week is not that.

The parents could also pursue EOTAS/EOTIS package via an EHCP if it is inappropriate for provision to be made in a school/college as per section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014. The benefit of this is it can provide far more than s19 provision can.

An increasing number of pupils have s19 provision and EOTAS/EOTIS/C. Equally, LAs will always try to place in a school where possible (and sometimes even when it isn’t). An increasing number are also EHE.

Also to note, s19 provision and EOTAS/EOTIS/C packages cannot compel parents to organise, deliver or facilitate the provision in any way.

I have 2 teen DSs with comprehensive EOTAS/EOTIS packages. A mix of tuition, therapies, other provision, professional time, equipment/tech, subscriptions/memberships, budgets for sundries/resources and for PfA/enrichment/to access the community, etc. and so much more. They both have 2:1 at all times. They have what they have because we pursued an appeal to SENDIST and then enforced the provision.

My DSs’ science education is great. They get experience with experiments, in a lab and otherwise. Some DC with EOTAS/EOTIS/C go on to do science A levels. Some then more on to HE to study a science subject. Some EHE students do the same.

For s19 provision and EOTAS/EOTIS/C, it isn't about DC getting the best possible education or being educated to their maximum potential, there's case law stating so. It is about providing what is suitable, appropriate and reasonably required.

@flawlessflipper Where are the labs? At home?

@TizerorFizz no, not at home. I suspect very, very few people have a fully kitted out lab at home. There are labs people can hire, e.g. universities, private companies, tutorial centres, some schools/colleges, etc. Some APs also have labs.

Although not all experiments require a lab, including some you might think do - one MN’er’s DC with EOTAS even had experiments requiring a bunsen burner at home - a braver woman than me!

Home educating has been a positive experience for our family. My dc have never been to school. That’s not to say it is always easy but on a whole I have no regrets and my dc are happy.

@flawlessflipper So you use a car to get to the labs? I preferred one site - school. It’s a huge cost to a family - all this travelling and parent not working. Only for the rich.

@TizerorFizz EOTAS/EOTIS/C and s19 provision is not only for the rich. Parents are not responsible for funding provision. The LA is. As I said, parents cannot be compelled to organise, deliver or facilitate provision. That includes being a second adult or taking DC to places. To think otherwise misunderstands the law surrounding EOTAS/EOTIS/C and s19 provision.

For my DC, vehicles are used. I don’t take DC though. They have staff as part of their EOTAS/EOTIS packages.

I am sure all parents of DC who cannot attend school because of their SEN would prefer their DC didn’t have SEN that meant couldn’t attend school and that school was appropriate for them! I certainly would!

Vehicles would still be involved even if they attended school. Many DC with SEN travel huge distances to school.

I think eotas is a very different things to elective home education.

Its not much point saying school is better because it has labs, as part of the process for securing EOTAS is that they cannot attend school so wouldn't be in the lab anyway.

EHE is sometimes done by parents who might have secured eotas, if they had tried, but as waiting lists for assessments are long, some parents just have to go ahead and ehe or thier child gets traumatised and gets no education anyway, plus the parent risks criminalisation!

But some EHE is ideological.

And, I genuinely believe the attendance agenda is pushing some families to EHE very badly, who dont want to, but just want the school off thier back. It genuinely happens.

Yes, EOTAS/EOTIS/C and s19 provision are very different to EHE. Although some EHE students who are not rich still do experiments in labs, including A level practical endorsements.

Parents whose DC genuinely cannot attend school shouldn’t feel intimidated by schools and LA threats of fines/prosecution. Such threats are used as scare tactics. The absences must be coded as I as per the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024. Therefore will not lead to fines/prosecution. If the school doesn’t code the absences as authorised, parents can challenge the decision.

If parents don’t want to EHE but their DC cannot attend school, they don’t have to EHE. That doesn’t mean they have to force their DC to attend school if they aren’t able to, though. They could pursue s19 provision whilst going through the EHCP process. Obviously, if people decide to EHE, that is, of course, their choice too.

Two of my DC have progressed to science A-levels at school after home ed GCSEs @TizerorFizz. One has now got a STEM degree from a top university. Just because you haven’t experienced it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

Yes OP it’s very positive!

@Fearfulsaints Yes. There are differences and plenty of dc home educated don’t go off to science labs. I do believe a decent science education is missing for many who are electing to home educate.

Regarding school attendance - when was it ok to dip in snd out of school? Our welfare officers were chasing up non attendance decades ago! It’s been an issue with chaotic families for a long time. There’s always been people who don’t want dc in school and they were visited and guided by a senior teacher. Too many were playing but not reading I recall. Basically no one much got prosecuted but some parents barely did anything. I suspect we now have most doing a great job and others not.

Lack of lab time can be a problem in schools too. In some schools, pupils aren’t experiencing any/much lab time either, despite the schools having labs. Not to mention some schools can't provide subject specialist teachers.

Thank you for responses. Interesting. I've a few parents of EHE children who tried very hard for s19 but to no avail. Schools/LA threatened fines, wouldn't authorise absence etc and in the end, it just gets too stressful, I guess. I enjoy the 1:2:1 work I do, and supporting families, and find it frustrating that I can't offer the same level of support to children and their parents at school.

@TizerorFizz " I do believe a decent science education is missing for many who are electing to home educate."

Equally, I believe a decent science (and maths) education is missing for many children in school. Issues include a shortage of specialist teachers, very limited timetabled hours, and dropping of subjects too early.
As examples: my DC2 has been "taught" maths by a classics graduate, with predictably disastrous results. Timetabling for maths and science has be as little as 2 hours per week for maths and 2 hours for (all) science. No computer science was taught in years 7-8. And I know of perfectly bright kids in schools offering separate sciences who have dropped e.g. physics before GCSE leaving major holes in their capacity to understand the world around them.

DC1 was home-educated through secondary including 4 STEM A levels and an AS in a 5th subject. All the practicals were done, including 2 week-long courses to get the practical endorsements for physics and chemistry. They are now doing a STEM degree at a top university. They received a better science education through home-schooling than they would have received in school.

I think that parents should be given education vouchers. They can be used for a free education in a state school, go towards private education or be spent on home tutoring / home school provisions. This would give parents and pupils the ability to make a choice about what is best for their child.

@isthesolution Don’t you think 1:1 is more expensive than 1:30? How would that work?

its not true to say all schools fail science dc either. Recruitment of teachers is an issue for everyone and home schooling doesn’t get you land or better teachers. Where I live, all lans are in schools. There are no alternative labs. What about all the driving too. It’s wholly inefficient.

DS1 didn't set foot in a science lab from Yr8 onwards and still passed science. He attended an ASD provision within a mainstream but couldn't cope with the mainstream lessons at all.

DS3 has a small EOTIS package after a failed transition at secondary from one independent special to another. The LA paid in full for the year, approx £70k. DS3 only ever attended part time until 12.50pm (to get the afternoon attendance mark recorded) and stopped attending at all in March. I used to have to drive him too as he couldn't cope with the LA transport and it was 45 minutes one-way. His AR paperwork recorded zero attainment, zero progress, zero work and a raft of incidents.

The EOTIS package has seen him make huge progress and engagement, and is far less demanding of my time compared to when he attended school.

And I doubt any school would have let him attend a science lab!

DS4 is EHE. I can imagine the LA would be very difficult if I tried to secure an EHCP, nevermind EOTIS. I won't put him back in a school, so we'll carry on self-funding for the time-being.

Re science. There is a tutor company in my local town with a science lab with all the equipment etc they would have access to in school.

I electivly home educate one child because she struggled in school but was well behaved so got no support for her SEND. My other child supposedly has EOTAS because no school will take him and I know I don’t have the specialist skills needed to educate him but it’s a constant battle with the LA and I know they want me to pull him out and home Ed just to save them the money. He has significant trauma from his school experience without the needed support. I will home educate my youngest initially as I can’t watch what happened to my middle child happen again.

we know lots of home ed or EOTAS kids. Many of them are thriving compared to how they were at school. Parents I know make the choice because it’s what’s best for their kids not because they have a particular wish to do it. Nearly all of them have SEN.

I'm angry. I don’t electively home educate it’s my only choice. If I don’t do it the LA have no interest. I’d prefer my children were safe and supported in school. My eldest does not even need expensive provisions she just needs a class without he disruptive SEN kids and a teacher able to teach so her anxiety is manageable. The behaviour was out of control 2 teachers quit mid year- one teacher told me she can’t watch them all all the time so she can’t say my kid won’t get hurt again and there was no chance my kid would get any SEND support as compared to the needs of others hers were not affecting others. I’m sure on a safe classroom she wouldn’t even have needed additional support. I pulled her out as I’m home with my son anyway and she’s thriving. My middle son would be easy to educate in a SEN school if only he hadn’t been traumatised bullied and restrained in mainstream.

fix the schools. The volume of kids in home education would reduced massively

If LAs refuse to provide s19 provision to those unable to attend school or ignore them/delay, parents can take further action to force them to, including JR if necessary.

Schools refusing to authorise absences can be challenged. The Regulations (School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024) make it clear where a pupil is absent because they are unable to attend due to sickness, including because of mental ill health, the absence must be regarded as authorised. It is coded as I, therefore authorised and thus no fines/prosecution. The threats of fines are scare tactics. If the LA tried to fine/prosecute, they could be challenged.

Alongside that, they could pursue EOTAS/EOTIS via an EHCP. Many have to appeal to get a proper comprehensive EOTAS/EOTIS package.

Travel isn’t unique to those educated outside of a school setting - be that EHE or EOTAS/EOTIS/C. Schooled children travel. The maximum recommended travel time at secondary is 1hr15. It isn’t uncommon for DC with SEN to travel even further.

Sciences, including the practical elements, as a private candidate is possible.

You paid for boarding school for two children. On average, annual boarding fees range from 35,000 to 50,000 and can sometimes go even higher per child.

The top online schools usually cost no more than 20,000 per year for each child.

Some key factors that drive costs higher include the number of subjects, particularly specialized ones like languages, sciences with labs, or arts. Costs also rise with the use of paid external tutors or live classes instead of self-study. The quality and format of materials, such as interactive courses or physical kits, can add to expenses. Examination fees for GCSEs or A-Levels, along with exam board or center charges, are significant contributors. Additional costs come from extras like trips, sports, music lessons, and extra resources, as well as technology, computer equipment, and subscriptions.

Sticking to the basics can be far more affordable than any proper school. This approach refers to DIY homeschooling or minimal-structure education, where families create a curriculum using free resources, inexpensive textbooks, budget-friendly online platforms, and just the essentials like core subjects and only the necessary exam fees. It might even cost 3,000 per year or less per child.