"if things are very bad and a child is in school, well, that's a massive source of extra eyes and ears and chances that someone will notice that something is awful for that child. God knows schools, health and child protection services screw up often enough but at least the chance is there for that child to be helped. If the child isn't in school and things are very bad (rare, I know, most HEers are loving parents but it does happen) then who picks up on it? Who notices? A compulsory check is better than nothing, imo."
Before legislating, it would be important to establish whether it is likely that annual spot checks would catch abuse (I read a story via Blogdial of a woman who, as a child, was indeed home educated for a while by a horribly abusive mother, who beat the children soundly the night before the LA inspection to ensure that they would say they were happy to be learning at home with Mum... if there was the silghtest chance of the plans catching abuse, they'd have a better chance of eliciting my sympathy.
So we have the minimal chances of a child opening up to a complete stranger on a once a year check with Mum in the next room
to weigh up against the parents of approx 80,000 children being subjected to the stress of having their home and family life invaded by some ex-OFSTED inspector with the power to decide whether the children would be better off in school, the horrific fall-out of false positives (I keep saying "remember Orkney"), loss for those families of the presumption of innocence.
finance: current estimates are that there are about 3 HE children unknown to the LAs for every one who is. And there is currently no requirement for LAs to visit. If they are happy that allis hunky dory they leave the family alone - as they should - not only because the parents are, after all, responsible for educating their children, but also because the EHE bit of the LA education department is strapped for cash. So this more than quadruples the workload. Oh, plus this requirement to "register" with subjecting detailed plans for the next year, quite apart from perhaps being a v. useful thing for a teacher with 30 children to juggle, but totally pointless for a responsive parent and even counterproductive, will also require someone to evaluate all those plans. And the lovely Mr Balls is going to pay for all this how exactly?
"Social workers are supposed to talk to children without their parents being present too. Tis a key Laming recommendation."
Why yes, scummymummy, but that would just be children in families where there is reason to believe that abuse is taking place. This suggests non-social worker LA numpties having that power over any family whose child is not in school. Surely if the LA education dept suspect abuse, they shouldn't be taking children off into rooms alone, they should be referring to SS pronto, because social workers are properly trained to communicate with children in such situations?? Oh, but that's the current law isn't it, and without his 15 new laws a day, how would Ed Balls sustain himself?
"There are is one set of HEing parents round here whom I wouldn't trust with my cat, let alone a child." If you think there is a family maltreating a child, you should, surely, be reporting them to social services rather than suggesting that ALL HE parents should be treated as if under suspicion? How about if you'd written "There are is one set of muslim parents round here whom I wouldn't trust with my cat, let alone a child." and then suggested that all Muslim families should be subjected to annual safe and well checks, just in case?