Home education

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Posted by
Robbie de Santos

on 8th January 2010

at 10:47

Hello everyone,

More questions for you about education policy! This time it is home education arrangements.

The new education bill going through Parliament contains some fundamental proposals to change home education arrangements. The most significant of these would be the introduction of mandatory monitoring of home education provision, which would involve a local authority officer visiting the home to monitor the provision with at least two weeks notice. From your own experiences and from other parents and children and young people you know do you think…

this would be acceptable for parents of children with autism who home educate?

there would be any circumstances in which it would be acceptable? (e.g. if they had good autism training, if they understood interventions, if they were independent of the local authority, if they built up a good, trusting relationship with the child and their parents)

parents of children with autism who home educate want more support from the local authority or other agencies? If so, what kind of support do they want and how do they want to receive that support?

Thanks very much!

Robbie

Posted by
bumblebee

on 8th January 2010

at 11:21

1) I think it would porbably in the best interests of the child if there was some type of moitoring, but the person doing the monitoring must know more/the same about autism than the parent home educating! It is a bit of a shame that it is not suggested as a 2 way partnership where the parent can get support at the same time......That is if they want it!!

2) I think all of the suggestions above are perfectly reasonable for a parent to expect from any home monitoring officer.

3) I cannot comment on this, although just out of interest. I spoke to my daughter's educational Welfare Officer the other day who visited as she has been out of school since beginning of Nov. He said that I wouldn't be allowed to home educate should I choose to as she has a statement of SEN.....We would have to ask the LA for special permission. Is this true? Not that we are considering it, but seems a little odd that we wouldn't have this right.

Claire - Community Champion

Posted by
asteroids

on 8th January 2010

at 11:53

I home educated my son for a short time and had one visit from the EWO. I wasn't concerned but I can see that there may be difficulties with children who have ASD or other SEN. Many parents choose to home educate their children because the school system is failing their kids. These parents make a lot of sacrifices to home educate their kids, especially financial sacrifices as they get no funding for their child's education and cannot go to work whilst the children are at home.

I think the people monitoring home educated children should have appropriate specialist training (we're back to this again!). Also, I think parents should receive some funding towards their child's education. This could be in the form of vouchers for books, music tuition, sports centres. Local authorities could help home education groups with resources, tuition and exam procedures.

Claire, I haven't heard anything about special permission for children with statements. I think the statement becomes invalid as soon as the child leaves the education system though.

Asteroids Sara - Community Champion

Posted by
Jenny Phillips

on 8th January 2010

at 12:54

I found this on the Home Education Advisory Service website, under their FAQ:

Can a child with a Statement of Special Educational Needs be educated at home?

YES: under S324 of the Education Act 1996 the Local Education Authority must make provision for the child’s special educational needs unless the parent has made “suitable arrangements” at home. Scotland and N. Ireland: similar provisions apply.

There's also a short section on home educating on the main TreeHouse website: http://www.treehouse.org.uk/help/child-home

Jenny Phillips
Training and Events Coordinator
TreeHouse

Posted by
bumblebee

on 8th January 2010

at 17:27

Thanks Jenny,

I may send this to the Educational Welfare Officer! It's shocking that they don't know this stuff!

Claire - Community Champion

Posted by
Nia Charpentier

on 11th January 2010

at 15:11

Hi everyone!

Great comments so far so just to add that there was an interesting article in The Guardian today about the new home education proposals.. comments welcome!

Nia

Home education and the children, schools and families bill

Guardian - Education 11-Jan-2010

...children, and to any special educational needs they may have. Local authorities already have the power to take action if parents do not do this. Evidence indicates that home education is highly effective. Many home educating families use child-led educational methods which lie outside the prevailing educational paradigm. Diversity in education is precious in a democracy, and we need the law to protect...

Nia Charpentier

TreeHouse Staff