HED0190

Written evidence submitted by Rev Philip Head

Home Education Committee

31st October 2020

Dear Sirs/Mesdames of the Committee,

I write to express alarm at the proposal that the government should interfere with home education of children in the United Kingdom.

Art 2, Protocol 1 of the ECHR, as incorporated into UK law in the Human Rights Act 1998, states that, “no person shall be denied the right to education, and in the exercise of any function assumed by the State, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure their children receive education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions”.  This documents that primary responsibility for a child’s education lies with the parents (of course, many would declare!) and must not be usurped or interfered with by the State.  The government acts under authority delegated by the parents, in what the parents perceive to be the best interests of the child.

It is widely acknowledged in the UK today that the government is under pressure to impress a radically liberal agenda onto the nation’s children.  Any interference with home schooling would further endorse such a perceived totalitarian agenda.  Furthermore it would usurp, or undermine, those whose prime responsibility it is to educate their children from the freedom to educate their children in harmony with the Human rights Act 1998.

Please take my views into consideration.

Yours faithfully,

Philip Head