Political parties and home ed

[bauhausfan]

Does anyone know where the different big parties stand re home education. Thinking about who to vote for in the next election and this issue would be the one to swing it for me and DH.

(with loads more links on the bottom of that page)

Thanks fideline. It sounds to me like something as extreme as the Badman (fitting name!) recommendations would be unlikely to go through but that being forced to register under an LA would be a possibilty if Labour got back in. There aren't many issues I feel passionately about but HE is definitely one.

Maybe the answer is to band together and badger parties for their policy come election time? That seems to be the only way to get your opinion heard. Does Education Otherwise perform this role? I don't think government cares about individuals but a large united group is a different matter.

I see from the link that this does happen!

Nigglenaggle I agree. We have to fight for what we believe in as a united group.

Bau - because my child is one of the many up and down the country who cannot cope in a mainstream environment but is not severe enough for special school. Despite being statemented & a Tribunal + years of fighting, by the time I removed him at the end of year 4 he'd been bounced thru 3 schools, EVERY placement had failed disastrously & he couldn't even read. He was heading towards both educational and mental health failure in the long term.

Until the state system is willing to implement & fund proper evidence based practice for children with invisible disablities such as dyspraxia, HFA, sensory processing disorder etc, then for many families home education is currently the ONLY viable option if children like my son are to have any kind of reasonable future.

Please take a look at this site educationalrightsalliance.blogspot.co.uk/

State education is promoted as a universal right for all children - actually it isn't in practice due to the blatent corruption of the SN system.

In two terms at home, my son has learnt to read, is gaining fluency, and is doing KS3 science after Easter via his online school. (like many ASD kids his skills profile is spiky, he's year 5). He's happier than he's been since nursery and he now has a future. He may not wind up a brain surgeon, but he will get the basic 5 A-C Gcse's inc English and maths that you need to stand a chance of qualifying for work or training with in the modern world.

I'll fight to protect my child from the state system with everything I have - he deserves it!

Good for you bochead - I totally agree with you. School is fine if you are neurotypical but it doesn't help many children with hidden disabilities. I'd say many children I know are somewhere on the spectrum (including my own eldest child). Group learning is a kind of torture for children like that. I see the main aspect of HE as preserving my child's dignity and mental health.

"I'll fight to protect my child from the state system with everything I have - he deserves it!"

You don't have to. You have a right to home educate.

Martorana

This thread is about the possibility of the next gov not supporting H.ed.
So yes, there is a right atm. I think the OP is trying to find a party known to support H.ed

I know. There is no party that would take away the right to home educate.

I don't know if I would trust Labour not to 'fiddle' with it more.

Actually refusing an unsuitable school placement after waiting 6 months to be offered it, following a house move to a new LA, triggered a social services investigation for being "missing from education" which we are still currently enduring. (Spending the funds on the OT my son needs wouldn't been a better use of tax payers money - oh no!).

Luckily for us the assigned SW is a human being, & no she doesn't have much knowledge of home or SN ed legalities, but she has bothered to engage with my child and let him show her what and how he is learning. For a state official that's like a breath of fresh air. If he has his way she'll be a convert by the he's finished with her.

DS has a complex diagnosis and a statement, so SS can do this under "child in need legislation". Some of us DO have to fight for it, (mostly by just keeping good records!) I've heard EVERY socialisation argument under the sun. .

As for removing the right - the Welsh assembly had a good crack at trying to introduce compulsory registration and "monitoring" of home edders in the last couple of years. This might have made things tricky for some home edders such as the unschooling or autonomous group or those at the other end of the pedagogic spectrum using precision teaching or ABA.

Luckily people put up a good fight that time, and so the threat has receded for the time being. had that gone thru it would have been made nationwide faster than we could blink. Imho the continued right to home ed is something that needs continued vigilance if we want to retain it. The general political climate has swung in favour of increased regulation, just as it has in schools (attendance and lunch police anyone?).

Presumably you didn't deregister? A child "missing from education" should very properly trigger an investigation.

And registration is not the same as removing the right.

Many people don't want to register though, Martorana.

I know they don't. I think they are wrong. I don't think children should "vanish" from they system.

They are probably still 'in the system' though eg registered with doctors, dentists, going to guides etc.

I officially deregistered with the old school when we moved. I also sent records onto the new authority BEFORE we moved. I then wrote asking for a school place as soon as we arrived. Homeschool initially was only meant to take as long as it took to do an OT sensory assessment of his new school and employ a full time TA.

The new LA knew exactly what I was doing at home with my son because they were kept informed at EVERY stage of the process in writing, up to and including a formal appeal against the crappy amended statement they sent out 6 months late in direct contravention of SN education law. My appeal was reviewed by 2 separate charities before it was sent, within the statutory deadlines. However the LA is once again over their statutory deadline in responding to my appeal.

The law only applies to parents, it doesn't to LA's - golden SN rule. IF I wanted to send my child to school, I'd now be starting a SIX MONTH wait for my child's case to go to Tribunal in order for his old statement provision to be upheld. It would therefore be Xmas and 18 months before he'd see the inside of a classroom. That's not unusual. The stupid thing is, once there I know he wouldn't thrive. I also KNOW that I have followed the letter of the law and beyond at every stage cos I've damn well checked that I have!

In order to avoid SS, I should have let my child sit at home watching TV for six months, (Sept till after Feb 1/2 term)& then sent him into an environment that was unsafe for both himself and the other children in the class! Everyone would have course have wrung their hands once he'd run under a car - but that would have been too late.

Legally I could have refused the SS assessment, but then that begs them to ask the question - what is she trying to hide? That's a rabbit hole not worth going down imho, especially as it's the LA and NOT myself on the wrong side of the law. We have one more visit then the file is closed with that on record.

My advice to other SN parents is to put everything in writing and keep records when dealing with LA's. Essentially in our case by the time the LA pulled a half arsed finger out my son was settled into a new routine and homeschool was proving to work for him - why would I now disrupt that after years of school failures?

That is terrible Bochead :(

That's NOT an isolated or unusual experience for the parent of a child with special needs. I really and truly wish it was.

Sorry you have had these troubles bochead . It should be every parents right to educate their child as they feel is best , special needs or not. You know what is right for your child. Matorana I don't think this right is abused. The children who turn up in Daniel Pelka style stories of abuse have not been lost from the system. Increasing interference in home education from the LA is not going to change things for these children , just add to stress for people who are only trying their best.

That's NOT an isolated or unusual experience for the parent of a child with special needs.

I can attest to that. We had almost exactly the same experience.

The charities I got in contact with to ask advice from tell me it's depressingly common too .

One could argue that wasting resources like this takes valuable professional time and money AWAY from the Daniel Pelka's that so critically need it, but that's a rabbit hole most of us would find too upsetting to go down.