Many parents don't know that elective home education is legal and successful as an alternative to school education.

[julienoshoes]

www.yorksj.ac.uk/news---events/news---events-home/news/children-dont-have-to-go-to-s.aspx

"It is a scandal that parents and children can suffer so much trauma from problems with schools and do not know there is a valid, successful alternative. Too often schools fail parents and children and one solution may be home education. It is a controversial inadequacy and loss that the government do not actively educate the country's parents about alternative educational options such as home education. State information about education keeps most parents in the dark about such options. The parents I spoke to didn't like that. We need more information in the public domain rather than relying on word of mouth. A variety of educational pathways is the right of all, not just a privileged few."

Starlight. Not everyone wants to live like that or wants to home educate their children. I don't. DD is 13 and has attitude. We need time apart and we would end up fighting if I tried to educate her myself.

I have the utmost respect for people who successfully home educate their children. It just isn't for me.

Course not. But what I am saying is that if you DID want to, you don't have to be MC or rich.

Oh come on lady Hgv trucker in commune who home eds is not atypical

Lots of people who home Ed have had to make adjustments to their lifestyle to make it possible.

The point is, it IS possible.

What's often not possible is to maintain a lifestyle that requires two incomes to fund.

2incomes is the uk familial norm.living in commune as hgv driver ain't

So what? HE isn't the norm.

Don't understand your point. Unless it is the usual one of simply picking apart my posts when you see them.

The so what is your illustrating a niche lifestyle as if evidence of achievable home ed
2working parents is uk familial norm,as is being mindful of insurance premium
If home end depends on one wage that will exclude it to many parents

It doesn't help that many leas actually send out blata t misinformation on this issue!

When I got my letter re registering ds3 and the two years later ds4 for their school places in reception both time the letter stated my children MUST attend school by the term of their 5th bday, both times I pointed out this was incorrect, the should be educated, this does not have to be in school.

And with ds3 and ds4 I was applying on the basis of siblign link as technically we are on the wrong side of the road so not in catchment... I only put the one school as A: I knew there wasn't a shortage of space and B: had they not have got in I would have home educated until a place became available (area with high movement so places come up often) the Lea got in touch with me each time and went on about how they may not get a place and they needed one and i said I would keep them at home, they tried to tell me it was illegal!

Having home educated the elder two I knew the law but some parents woudldnt question this or think that they could question it or may even be too nervous to question the 'system' etc.

I reported this every time, it will be interesting when I get the form for dd, who is due to start sept 2015to see if they have changed it or if I have the same issue again, I wont be holding my breath.

I don't know. I know a few home edders, used to think I'd home ed but tried pre school and saw the multiple benefits. Similarly tried school and she loves it, its benefiting her in ways home wouldn't, so I'm pleased.

I'm certainly not ignorant of the fact you can, I k!thought most people knew about home ed but chose otherwise.

If you look GovUK it is quite plain.
If you buy a jumper there is not a big sign saying 'you can knit this yourself at home', you don't go to the solicitor to write a will and get a sign saying 'you can write your own', you don't go to a vicar to plan a funeral and have a big sign saying 'you can have a humanist funeral' so I don't see why schools should say 'you don't have to go to school, you can do it yourself at home'. You do what everyone does, you FIND OUT; and if you can't, or don't even question it, ought you to be HEing? They would be better at school being taught to question and how to find out things.

Even if those who you say are ignorant were to know the truth there would be very little change in numbers. In many families both parents are very career orientated and climbing the ladder, or both parents enjoy work and want to get out, they climb the walls being home for even a couple of years, or both parents have to work just to pay the bills, or they would hate to do, or they see schools in a very positive light- all families are different. Only a small minority will wish to HE and they generally are clued up enough to get on with it. Do you really think that parents, TAs etc who say to you 'is it legal' are going to be overjoyed to find it is and start HEing themselves? I certainly don't think so!

Satin is spot on!

I think the problem lies in OP who is such an advocate of HE that she assumes that everyone would see it as better for the child than school, and assumes that if they only knew they could do it they would.
The truth is that most of us know perfectly well that the law allows you to HE, but we think that school is a much better option for the child.
The same information will always be interpreted differently by different people.
There is no 'right' or 'wrong', just a 'right' or 'wrong' for your child, you as a parent and your circumstances.
It would be a horrible world if we all had to come to the same conclusion or people assumed that all children were alike and what was best for one was best for them all.
It isn't the school or the LEAs job to tell parents, they are the suppliers of education. It is the parents job to find out. Are you going to tell your child they can't have a university education because you can't afford it and are too wet to find out the alternatives or would you go to a site like GOVUK that explain it all?

Also, probably a lot of people don't bother investigating whether they can home school or no because they're happy with the status quo- i.e. school.

So, for example, one would only bother to investigate the legalities of say, being in charge of a cow when drunk if that was something someone actively wanted to do. Most people don't want to, so they don't bother finding out if it's legal.

On that note, I'm going to jail.

Exactly, I am not interested in knowing about it,but if my child was having problems I would investigate alternatives. As an experiment I googled 'my child hates school, what can I do?' You can't get more basic than that! He comes up.
I am sorry to go on about it but it irritates me to death that parents are either so wet, or seen to be so wet, that 'no one told us' is an excuse.
I had better hide the thread so that I can shut up about it!

HE comes up, not He.

Actually, I think schools are in a difficult position. Suggesting home education for a pupil with problems at school could be seen as the school shirking its responsibilities to solve the problem and include all pupils.

LEAs, on the other hand, ought to provide information on alternatives to school. To be fair, I think many of them do mention it as an option but some of them go on to give a shocking misrepresentation of what is required in order to home educate.

That would be fun Vicki, imagine the thread on MN 'my DC is having problems at school and they told me that it was legal for me to HE'! There are lots of interpretations for that one. I see a bunfight!

'It doesn't help that many leas actually send out blata t misinformation on this issue!'

Yes. This is true. Plus bollocks about compulsory inspections etc.

But the LEA want them in school! It is a bit like expecting the vicar to send them to a humanist, the estate agent saying they aren't necessary!
Don't ask the LEA, find out from a source without a vested interest.

"But the LEA want them in school! It is a bit like expecting the vicar to send them to a humanist, the estate agent saying they aren't necessary!"

No, it is entirely different.

As a public body, the LA can have no opinion on the question of how people educate their children, so long as parents comply with the law. The situation in no way resembles a person who follows a particular faith wishing to promote it, or a businessperson who makes a living from commissions hoping to sell their services.

The LA is responsible for providing school-based education to those who want it. In my area, the LA also collects food waste from households for disposal. This is a public service which is OFFERED. I no more accept that a government body should push school as a preferred option, than I accept them telling me I must hand over all my food waste to them if I would rather compost it myself.

I would argue that providing accurate and complete information is part of their duty also. They certainly should never misrepresent the law, as the vast majority of LAs do.

It's rather strange to say that people should have the sense to google something if they do not know it exists. By the way, the .gov.uk website's predecessor (I forget what it used to be) had very misleading info on home education. It has taken years of pressure from home education organisations and individuals to get them to correct basic factual inaccuracies.

I do agree with you that it is inadvisable to ask LAs for information about home education. But this is not because they should not be expected to provide correct information. It is only because they have such a shockingly bad track record on actually doing so.

They are not the people to ask. It is all to do with funding. They don't say 'don't use us-go private' or 'go over the border to the next LEA -they are better', so they are hardly likely to say 'don't use us-do it yourself!'
If people can't bother to google something they don't know exists they would be better at school to find out how to find out about things you don't know exist!
What could be simpler than 'do I have to send my child to school?' or 'alternatives to school uk'? If it has never crossed people's minds to ask the question I can't see they are the right people to HE in the first place.

If you've no got the ability to research home Ed maybe you're no parent to home ed

I can't remember ever meeting a family who didn't know that in UK HE is legal, so I wouldn't agree with the assertion in the thread title.

Especially as it's in the "Home Ed" section of a huge parenting website - which I think tends to show that not only do people know about it, they want to talk about it and many posters are actually doing it.

And of course it's explicitly included on the gov.uk website.

I have to admit, I didn't know that everyone could home educate until our situation hit crisis point and I needed to investigate alternatives for my son's education. I knew that HE was legal but I thought you had to meet certain criteria to be permitted to do so (some LAs still believe this to be true, unfortunately).

As parents, there is a path we're channelled down from birth - towards school and 'normal' education. As has been said on this thread, there are countless child care and education professionals who don't know the law about home education and they are the ones who direct parents of young children. We all have a reasonable expectation that professionals working in these fields will know what they're talking about and we tend to believe them when they insist that we must send our children to school. Those letters that are sent out telling parents that they have to apply for school places really don't help as they reinforce the belief that school is the only way.

I actually think there is much more awareness of home education legislation nowadays but there was far less information out there when I deregistered my son, five years ago. My LA at the time had no idea and were guilty of countless ultra vires practices, misinformation and downright lies about HE. A lot of progress is being made and that's something to be positive about.

"They are not the people to ask. It is all to do with funding. They don't say 'don't use us-go private' or 'go over the border to the next LEA -they are better', so they are hardly likely to say 'don't use us-do it yourself!'"

I agree that that may well be the reason why LAs are failing to provide accurate information on alternatives. That does not absolve them of their responsibility to do so.

It isn't in my dentist's financial interest to practice preventative dentistry. He'd make more money by letting my teeth rot and filling the cavities. Firefighters may be doing themselves out of a job if they inform the public how to prevent fires. The police will not be in such great demand if they reduce crime. Fortunately, most people working in these professions can be relied on to behave responsibly nevertheless. The public would rightly be outraged if they did not.

What's more, the LA has a duty to make wise use of limited public funds. Shouldn't all of us be pretty cross if parents who are not keen to send their children to school anyway, and who would be able to provide a reasonable education at no cost to the taxpayer, are instead being encouraged to put their children into state schools at a cost of about £6k a year per child? And let's not forget how effectively home education could relieve overcrowding in some areas. Where I live, some parents who would be inclined to have their kids at home are taking up places in schools, because they think they have to send their kids to school, while at the same time other families who do want to use school are desperately trying to get a school place reasonably close to home. (Ironically, I know a few of these latter families who feel they've been forced to HE against their will because it is so impractical to take their kids to the schools they have been offered!)

It wouldn't take much effort for LAs to improve this.