Do Ofsted inspect home educating families?

[greenbananas]

Just that really...

I was told yesterday that Ofsted are able to inspect home educating families, but I thought this was not the case.

Ofsted is a publicly funded body which inspects and regulates publicly funded services caring for children and young people, and also inspects publicly funded bodies providing education and skills for learners of all ages.

www.ofsted.gov.uk/
www.ofsted.gov.uk/about-us

Parents who take responsibility for their own children's education outside the state funded system are not publicly funded and are not inspected or regulated by Ofsted.

A couple of years ago Ofsted did some quote research unquote on home education. This purported to be an assessment of how local authorities (publicly funded services caring for children and young people) dealt with home educated children in their area. Anyway it involved Ofsted inspectors asking LAs to rustle up some home educated children they could talk to. Perhaps this is where your source got muddled?

Ah yes, that sounds more likely!

I can't see how Ofsted could possibly get involved directly wth HE families (what assessment criteria would they use???) but it does make sense that LAs should be accountable for how they deal with HE families (ensuring children are safe and well cared for while respecting families' right to be left alone to do their own thing).

(I was told this on a Safeguarding Children course, and it was during a discussion about the death of Kyra Ishaq.)

I have some info about social services + Khyra Ishaq here
edyourself.org/articles/socialservices.php#birminghamchilddeaths

I wish they did regulate home schooling as those who take it seriously should have nothing to worry about. I have been a social worker for 10 years and have home schooled. What I have noticed is that it is a gray area for abuse and that some children slip under the radar. Parents using home schooling to fulfil there own desires for many reasons at the serious end sexual abuse at the lowered risk end neglect from failing to provide a child with a adequate education. I have come across some very damaged children form the process of
a. removing them form a valuable social situations
b. failing to provide socialisation
c. failing to teach basic education
d teaching distorted perceptions of the world
e isolation
f. lack of boundaries
g. autonomous education unless done in a balanced way creates insecurities by requiring the child to make decisions for themselves too much pressure and responsibility.
I actually came across a family who did not go on a holiday because there DD did not want to go! And they become regularly house bound because theDD just wanted to stay inside Crazy!
How is that at all healthy development?
Its neglect and selfish and you will create a monster who has no idea who they are in the world.
This is no reflection on those home educators who do it well!

You could just as well ask 'Does the Food Standards Agency inspect home baking'.

Hi moominmother

It sounds as though you think these children should have been removed from their parents?

There should be a rigorous system of inspection for home educators, but not run by those from MS education. If you had opted out of that, why would you want to replicate it at home?
You'd need an open-minded group who had key targets linked to the learning and well-being of the child, and who were prepared to deal with a huge variety of approaches that were trying to achieve the same goals.
But without an effective monitoring system, there will be huge abuses and neglect slipping past.

No they don't and I don't think they should.
HOWEVER I think that they should be regulated and the LEA should visit.
I agree with moominmother.

I don't agree with Ofsted because all HE families are different and Ofsted would be getting them to jump through the same, very narrow hoop. HE gives the ability to be radically different and do what suits you and your DC.

LEA regulation would be different because they would be just checking that the DCs were happy, well cared for and receiving an education. Not all parents are capable of the above, even if they want to be.

Well, yes, juule, it did seem a bit odd to me that Ofsted would regulate home schooling in any way.

moominmama, I know it's true that some 'home-educated' children do slip under the radar, but I'm still uncomfortable about actual regulation. I can see that there might be a case for 'safe and well' visits - but even that might result in families being penalised for having a different world-view to the person visiting them.

For example, many people see pre-school as a 'valuable social situation', but I am concerned to keep my highly-food-allergic son safe from physical and emotional harm, so I have chosen to remove him from a pre-school setting where he is constantly at risk from spilled milk on toys and social exclusion during daily cooking activities. I make sure that he has plenty of other chances to socialise in a safe way, and I would be pretty cross with anybody from the LA who questioned my decisions, or tried to make me change my mind.

Kyra Ishaq wasn't 'home-educated', she was simply removed from school. The school already had concerns about her wellbeing when she disappeared from their radar - these concerns were not followed up as everybody seemed to think it was somebody else's job.

No, OFSTED should not be regulating home education.

And that list of ghastlinesses in "bad" HE - several of those, quite frankly, read like they come from someone with very little experience of living or working with autism. (there was, in fact, a list of abuse-danger-signs that was circulating among various state agencies a few years ago. Things like children wearing clothing that is season-inappropriate or doesn't fit; things like not talking to people outside the family; things like very chip or crisp heavy diets... I don't remember the others, but it was basically a high-functioning autism check list, except for the unexplained bruises which were included on the list [though even then, I guess we've all had periods where our spectrummy children constantly bruise themselves by crashing into things]. Small wonder that many spectrum families want nothing whatever to do with the authorities, who have absolutely no idea what a non-abusive but functioning familes life looks like for the non-neurotypical)

FionaJNicholson
I don?t think that the children should be removed from parents. Just supported to provide decent education at home or at school. And there is a need for some sought of regulation, as DownbytheRiverside explains.
Also the list of list of ghastliness?s in "bad" HE that ommmward refers to is not a reflection on a child who is on A/S. I have home educated and would not hesitate to home educate If I felt that my child was not having there needs met in a School. In addition I have worked closely with children and parents in many different environments and with diverse needs, and failure to meet the needs of your child is neglectful. Big difference between abuse and neglect.
Look at the Research around neurological damage caused by isolating children and inadequate educational provisions and they would present with autistic like behaviors but do not have the psychopathology of a child on the autistic spectrum.
I can see how people would feel threatened by visits and fear judgment on there choice of life style or different world-views but it should be purely based on how a parent facilitates learning for the individual needs of there child nothing else. :o)

Do you have refrences to that research? I'd be interested to read it. :)

How many children are failing to have their needs met in the school environment, special needs or not? And as for visits being purely based on how a parent facilitates learning for the individual needs of their child and nothing else - that to me is akin to saying, 'I'm not prejudiced'.

We all have prejudices, and I think that it is naive and simplistic to suggest that no judgements would be made on the parents choice of life style or different world views. And I speak as someone who didn't need to register with my LEA but have done and am happy to be visited, on my terms.

There will always be the cases to point to, whatever the argument is, that show a situation in its worst light (moomin point g. re: autonomous ed or Kyra Ishaq), and it will always be those cases that are used as vehement argument against, instead of the many, many success stories being used, at the very least, to redress the balance and provide a more informed view.

moominmother
I think there are just as many families with kids in school who easily fit the situations in your list as there are home educating families. You could say all the things you said in your list about a huge % of schools and families throughout the UK.

OK so the kids are at school are definately receiving an education and opportunities to socialise etc
BUT - the statistics about the numbers of kids who leave school functionally illiterate/numerate and the stats about bullied kids etc show that schools arent always a great place to be either

I know a family who HE who probably fit into your list. My family does in some ways (by your standards)
But think of all the troubled and difficult families and situations kids face at school.
It isnt all good or all bad.

moominmother until the day arrives when people aren't effectively put in situations where they feel they have no choice to remove their children from school because of:

Bullying
Racism/cultural prejudice on part of teachers
Failing schools
Inadequate resources and staff numbers
Bright children being held back
Special needs provision inappropriate or not up to standard
Distraction/Appalling behaviour of children in classrooms
Non academic children being written off
Complete lack of decent schools in their area/good schools over subscribed
Pressure by peers to date and have sex prematurely

I really don't think that anyone has the right to come into my home to 'test' the effectiveness, validity, or standard of my educational provision. Prove to me first that the system by which you intend to measure my so called educational success is a wholly successful one in the first place and fit for purpose in every situation then maybe, I'll agree.

Until then.