HED0399

Written evidence submitted by NAHT

 

 

Education Select Committee Inquiry: Home Education

Written evidence from NAHT

 

 

  1. NAHT welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence in response to the Education Committee’s inquiry into home education. NAHT is the UK’s largest professional association for school leaders. We represent more than 33,000 head teachers, executive heads, CEOs, deputy and assistant heads, vice principals and school business leaders.  Our members work across: the early years; in primary, special and secondary schools; independent schools; sixth form and FE colleges; outdoor education centres; pupil referral units; social services establishments and other educational settings, across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In addition to the representation, advice and training that we provide for existing senior leaders, we also support, develop and represent the senior leaders of the future, through NAHT Edge, the middle leadership section of our association.  We use our voice at the highest levels of government to influence policy for the benefit of leaders and learners everywhere. This puts us in an excellent position to provide evidence relating to the relevant points of this inquiry.

 

Executive summary

 

  1. NAHT believe that a statutory register of home educated children is required. The fact that there is currently no official source of data on the number of home educated children is a clear indication that the current arrangements are unsatisfactory. 

 

  1. Registration and data collection processes must be improved to identify and support all children who are home educated and to be able to effectively resource local authorities to support these children.

 

  1. In order to maintain an effective register and to safeguard children, providers of education and parents must be under a duty to provide relevant information to the local authority.

 

  1. The requirement of local authority consent to remove a child’s name from the roll of a maintained special school, if placed there by the local authority, must continue to be upheld.

 

  1. If local authorities are to be charged with greater responsibility for registration and oversight of home educated children, it is vital that any extra resource needed to support the home education process is properly funded.

 

  1. Ofsted have reported an increase in the number of parents withdrawing their children from school to be home educated due to concerns about Covid-19. It is highly likely that schools will see an influx of pupils returning to school in the future as Covid-19 becomes less of a concern. Local authorities must work together with schools and other education providers to ensure that the right resource and support is put in place for these returning pupils to help them reintegrate into the school environment.

 

  1. Flexi-schooling may be an option which retains many of the benefits of school-based education as well as gaining others from the home education environment. Further consideration of the inclusion of flexi-schooled children in attendance and performance data is required by government to address potential deterrents and to give school leaders clear guidance and clarification.

 

  1. Home educated children should be able to access public examinations, however, the barriers which schools face in facilitating this access must be addressed. The provision of financial assistance from the local authority to cover entry fees and any additional support required for home educated children would improve access to public examinations for them.

 

 

A statutory register of home educated children

 

  1. NAHT believe that a statutory register of home educated children is required. The fact that there is currently no official source of data on the number of home educated children is a clear indication that the current arrangements are unsatisfactory. 

 

  1. Local authorities should be obliged to maintain a register of home educated children and such a register should also specify whether children are attending an educational setting (other than their own home) during school hours.

 

  1. Without an officially maintained register, there is a potential risk of children becoming lost in the system. 93% of councils say they don’t feel confident that they are aware of all the home educated children living in their area (ADCS/Dispatches Home Education Survey 2018).

 

  1. Although there is no official source of data on the number of home educated children, attempts have been made to quantify this cohort and there is general consensus that the number has grown significantly over the last decade. According to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator’s Annual Report, local authorities reported 60,544 children as being home educated on 29 March 2019, up by 15% from 52,770 in 2018. However, there is a sense that there is likely a large number of children who are not known to local authorities as being home educated. In addition, there is very little data or research on the subset of flexi-schooled children.

 

  1. Registration and data collection processes must be improved to identify and support all children who are home educated and to be able to effectively resource local authorities to support these children. An effective register will provide the information local authorities need to better plan services for home educating families, as they will be clear about the number of children involved. Trends could also be monitored, including how many SEND and other vulnerable children are being home educated.

 

  1. NAHT believes that a national format for this register should be prescribed. A single format across authorities will allow the system to be as effective as possible. Having a national register, should ensure that information sharing can occur quickly and accurately, helping to better safeguard children and young people.  Allowing such data sharing across local authorities would be useful. Pupils often move across LA boundary lines, and it is therefore important that they can share schooling arrangements to ensure that young people do not “slip through the net.”

 

  1. In order to maintain an effective register and to safeguard children, providers of education and parents must be under a duty to provide relevant information to the local authority.

 

  1. All settings providing education in school hours should be under a duty to supply information to local authorities. If the register is to be effective, then all settings must be subject to the same conditions. Without this, the local authority would be unable to maintain an up-to-date register and this could result in children and young people being put at risk of potential safeguarding issues.

 

  1. Local authorities should be able to confirm with both state-funded and independent schools whether a named child has a flexi-schooling arrangement. It would not be onerous for schools to let a local authority know if they have agreed to support parents with such an arrangement for a child, or for parents to be required to name any setting which is providing education to their child in addition to that being provided at home.

 

  1. In addition, we support the view that parents should be under a legal duty to provide information to a local authority about a child who is being home educated.

 

  1. We are concerned that there is currently no legal obligation for a parent to provide any notification to a school about the withdrawal of a child to be home educated. As it stands local authorities are reliant on families making themselves known to the authority or, failing that, on identifying children through some other way (e.g. by cross-referencing various databases and lists). We believe that where a child has been attending school and is withdrawn by their parent to be home educated, parents should be required to inform the school and the local authority of their decision

 

  1. Whilst it may only be a small sub-set of individuals who choose, for a variety of reasons, not to engage with the local authority, from a safeguarding perspective, this may put a child at risk; with neither school nor local authority knowing for certain what has happened to that child.

 

  1. Home education has been identified as a reoccurring theme within serious case reviews (SCR) following the death or a child, or where a child has been seriously harmed. In May 2018 a 15-year-old boy named Archie was fatally stabbed in Sheffield. The SCR found that, following the traumatic death of his sister, Archie had difficulties at school and had been home educated for a period when moving between schools. He became involved in criminal gang activity and controlled and exploited by older associates. The SCR recommended that when a parent elects to home educate their child, the local authority should conduct a home visit for an assessment by a trained professional and develop a clear escalation process for children not on school roll.

 

  1. Home education has been found to increase the risk to vulnerable children. Child C, in Waltham Forest, was a 14-year-old boy and a victim of criminal exploitation and was tragically stabbed to death by four men in 2019. The SCR identified that he had been home educated from the age of 12 and that spending time out of school constituted a significant risk to children who are vulnerable, and that the current arrangements governing home education contributed to this risk. This report called for a national review of home education guidance.

 

  1. The requirement of local authority consent to remove a child’s name from the roll of a maintained special school, if placed there by the local authority, must continue to be upheld. Our members believe these regulations work well to protect vulnerable children. They report that the times when they most experience this is when families, under immense pressure and caring for children with SEND, make knee jerk reactions without the capacity or support to think through the decision. These regulations give that space and support to make the right decision in the best interests of the child.

 

  1. Local authorities should make annual returns of collated data from the register. There is currently no official source of data on the number of home educated children, although attempts have been made to quantify this cohort. There is a sense that there is likely a large, and growing, number of children who are not known to local authorities as being home educated and there is very little data or research on the subset of flexi-schooled children.

 

  1. If local authorities are to be charged with greater responsibility for registration and oversight of home educated children, it is vital that any extra resource needed to support the home education process is properly funded. Local authority budgets are already stretched and the support they provide to schools has already diminished; it is imperative that their resources are not expected to stretch any further.

 

  1. In 2018, NAO highlighted that LAs had experienced a 49.1% real-terms reduction in government funding between 2010/11 and 2017/18 (Financial sustainability of local authorities, NAO, 2018). At the same time, they have also had to deal with growth in demand for key services, as well as absorbing other cost pressures. Evidence from LGA has suggested that local services face a £7.8 billion funding gap by 2025 (Local government funding: Moving the conversation on).

 

  1. This gap has been significantly exacerbated by the costs to local authorities of responding to Covid-19. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy have estimated that Covid-19 will leave an additional £1.2bn hole in council finances for 2020-21.

 

  1. All of the above have become increasingly pertinent over the last year, and this is likely to continue. A recent report from Ofsted (COVID-19 series: briefing on schools, September 2020)  found that over a third of the schools visited by Ofsted reported that some parents had removed their children from school to electively home educate them or were about to do so. Leaders felt that many of these parents made this choice because of anxiety about Covid-19. Our special school members have highlighted this as a particular issue for pupils with SEND or social emotional and mental health needs, who may face additional barriers in returning to school or may have benefited from increased time at home.

 

 

The benefits children gain from home education, and the potential disadvantages they may face

 

Returning to school should home education be unsuccessful for the family

 

  1. Parents who are considering home educating their child have a chance to test this new arrangement during school holidays, with each of these points through the year an opportunity to see how their child responds to learning at home and how they, as parents, manage supporting this learning around their life commitments. However, parents need better information and guidance about the significance of what they are planning to do, including understanding that the child might not be able to return to the same school in future.

 

  1. Some parents may wish to trial home education during term time or for an extended period. Home education requires the child and their parents to make a significant number of adjustments and this can take time, but there is a limit to what constitutes a reasonable period for a school to keep a place open for the child’s potential return. Schools cannot be expected to keep a child’s place open indefinitely, and this may mean that place is no longer available should the child wish to return to education in the school environment.

 

  1. Whilst schools will have at their heart the best interests of a child who may be educated at home, and appreciate that different settings may be appropriate for some children, they must also have in mind those children who remain in their setting full time. If working with parents and children to allow a trial period of home education schools must be enabled to make decisions on a case by case basis, assessing the needs of the child and considering any impact on the children and staff in their school.

 

  1. Ofsted have reported an increase in the number of parents withdrawing their children from school due to concerns about Covid-19 (COVID-19 series: briefing on schools). It is highly likely that schools will see an influx of pupils returning to school in the future as Covid-19 becomes less of a concern. Local authorities must work together with schools and other education providers to ensure that the right resource and support is put in place for these returning pupils to help them reintegrate into the school environment.

 

  1. Members in alternative provision settings (AP) have noted a concerning trend where, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, of those pupils who have been excluded an increasing number are being temporarily home educated as opposed to being enrolled in AP. Members have reported that this is particularly common amongst vulnerable pupil groups such as pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs. As a result, AP have seen lower enrolment than expected and this has prompted some local authorities to cut the year on year AP budget to address shortfalls in high needs funding blocks. This is a significant concern, as lower AP enrolment is a short-term issue, and members are already seeing pupils who had been home educated now enrolling in AP. Therefore, it is crucial that local authorities maintain the current level of AP places; if they do not, there will likely be significant shortages of AP places in the future.

 

  1. Our members report that a growing issue is parents withdrawing their child for elective home education while statutory assessment takes place and seek a school placement once they have an EHCP. It becomes very difficult to place a child appropriately in these circumstances as there is no recent evidence indicating what kind of provision would work for the presentation of the child; the education professionals do not know them either as learners or individuals.

 

Flexi-schooling

 

  1. Flexi-schooling may be an option which retains many of the benefits of school-based education as well as gaining others from the home education environment.

 

  1. Some of our members have reported that for parents who have not wished their children to return to school due to the covid-19 crisis, a flexi-schooling approach has enabled management and assuaging of the parents’ concerns whilst keeping the child on roll which has been the key concern for school leaders.

 

  1. Maintaining a link with a school or alternative provision through a flexi-schooling arrangement also enables home educated pupils to have some social contact with groups of other young people. This could be through formal specialist teaching, for example in foreign languages, sciences or technology as well as through participation in sport and other extra-curricular activities.

 

  1. Schools are a key place where safeguarding concerns or children’s needs for additional support are identified and acted upon. In school, children are seen without their parents and are often where disclosures are made because of the trusting relationships between children and staff. A flexi-schooling arrangement can maintain the connections and relationships with education professionals which can be vital for a child’s safeguarding and wellbeing.

 

  1. The option to offer a flexi-schooling arrangement is currently at the discretion of the school and it is important that this is retained. Such discretion enables schools to make decisions on a case by case basis, assessing the needs of the child and considering any impact on the children and staff in their school.

 

  1. Although many school leaders might want to support a parent’s choice to flexi-school, there are disincentives in the system. If a child has a flexi-schooling arrangement the school must mark them down as absent, using code C, for days when they are home educated. This has an impact on the school attendance statistics for which they are held to account in a punitive and high stakes accountability system. A separate attendance code to register flexi-schooling would be of benefit.

 

  1. This accountability system also exerts immense pressure on both primary and secondary schools in terms of their results from statutory tests and national examinations. For example, where a child only attends a school for one or two days a week, the school is responsible for that child’s education for only 20-40% of the school week and it is possible that they would take only a limited number of GCSE’s. In circumstances such as these, school accountability and performance measures may disincentivise schools from supporting a flexi-schooling arrangement.

 

  1. Further consideration of the inclusion of flexi-schooled children in attendance and performance data is required by government to address the potential deterrents and to give school leaders clear guidance and clarification.

 

  1. School leaders would also highlight the possible safeguarding implications of flexi schooling. NAHT believes that guidance to parents should make clear that the school has no responsibility for the welfare of the child for the time they are not in school as part of a flexi-schooling arrangement; this clarification is vital and it should be stated in the guidance to local authorities who would take on this safeguarding duty for the periods the child was home educated .

 

Access to public examinations

 

  1. Home educated children should be able to access public examinations, however, additional support from local authorities is needed and the barriers which schools face in facilitating this access must be addressed.

 

  1. It is important that schools retain the discretion as to whether to allow children not on their roll to sit examinations on their site. However, NAHT suggest that improved guidance and clarification for schools regarding the role and impact of acting as an examination centre for external candidates would positively influence schools’ willingness to do this.

 

  1. Schools take seriously the responsibility to provide adequate support for any child sitting an examination on their site. Children who have been home educated but who have been accepted to sit their exam within a school may require extra support as they:

 

 

  1. Providing this support comes at additional cost to schools who are working within the constraints of already insufficient budgets. The acceptance of this potential stretch of resources must therefore be made at the schools’ discretion. However, the provision of financial assistance from the local authority to cover entry fees and any additional support required would improve access to public examinations for home educated children.

 

 

November 2020

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NAHT November 2020