HED0446

Written evidence submitted by Home Education Hertfordshire

[Note: This evidence has been redacted by the Committee. Text in square brackets has been inserted where text has been redacted.]

Home Education Hertfordshire

This submission collates the responses of a number of families who home educate in and around Hertfordshire, and are members of the Home Education Hertfordshire Facebook group, which provides a platform for home educators to meet online, arrange activities and support each other.
 

The duties of local authorities with regards to home education, including safeguarding and assuring the quality of home education;

We asked members – What do you think of the current national guidelines around home education in theory and practice?

The majority of respondents consider the EHE Guidelines to be overbearing, and think they should be removed or modified.

No responses considered them to be underused, but they are generally considered to be unclear.

See Annex 1 for Comments on the duties of LAs
 

Whether a statutory register of home-educated children is required

We asked members – whether a statutory register of home-educated children is required?

Members agreed overwhelmingly that a statutory register should not be created.

A small number of respondents would consider a register acceptable as long as it didn’t result in monitoring of home education.

See Annex 2 for Comments on a statutory register

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

We asked members – What benefits do you feel you/your children gain/have gained from home education?
 

We asked members – What disadvantages do you feel you/your children have had from being home educated?

Home Education Hertfordshire members shared a wide range of benefits of home education. The flexibility of home education is a recurring theme.

Disadvantages. Fewer respondents reported disadvantages, and some reported no disadvantages. By far the biggest disadvantage is having to deal with other people’s negative views of home education

See Annex 3 for Comments on the Benefits and Disadvantages of Home Education

The quality and accessibility of support (including financial support) available for home educators and their children, including those with special educational needs, disabilities, mental health issues, or caring responsibilities, and those making the transition to further and higher education;

We asked members - Where do you get support and help with home educating from?

The overwhelming consensus was that home educators provide the main source of support.

This may be face to face and/or online, both at a local, national and sometimes international level.
It may involve providing support and sharing experiences; sharing resources, ideas, skills and specialist knowledge and expertise.

We asked members - What support do you receive/use for home education?

We asked members - What support would you like for home education, but don’t have?

Home educators supplement peer to peer support with free and paid for resources.
But there are areas where support is lacking – most notably with access to exams arrangements and finding exam centres and in accessing 14-16 college. 
 

Local Authority and Specialist support:

We asked members – How do YOU find Hertfordshire County Council is in regards to home education?

Half of respondents found the LA to be ‘information seeking, but hands off’.

This may be reflective of experiences of during lockdown, rather than the usual situation, as the LA used lockdown to make informal inquiries of a number of established home educators, when this is not common practice. Many, having provided information, have not had any reply from the LA. 

Overall the majority of people have a neutral relationship with Hertfordshire County Council with regards to home education. The LA does not provide support, but doesn’t generally cause problems for families.
Some members however have had negative experiences with staff being rude and failing to understand a range of educational approaches.

See Annex 4 for experiences with the LA

We asked members

– Have you ever received support as a home educator or home educated child for any of the following, from your local authority and
– Have you ever received support as a home educator or home educated child for any of the following, from sources other than the local authority?

A very small number, fewer than 10 had received support from the LA ranging across exams, SEN, mental health and Careers advice.

More than twice as many home educators reported receiving support from sources other than the LA.

We asked members – If you have asked for support for one or more of the following from the NHS or the local authority, whilst home educating?

Whilst home educators provide the bedrock of support there are situations where specialist support is needed.

Whilst mental health support access doesn’t appear to be affected by home educating, it is clearly a barrier to access to support for SEN, disability and long- term illness.

See Annex 5 for comments on support

whether the current regulatory framework is sufficient to ensure that the wellbeing and academic achievement of home educated children is safeguarded, including where they may attend unregistered schools, have been formally excluded from school, or have been subject to ‘off-rolling’;

Comments from  members:

• A clear distinction should be made between elective HE and off-rolling. There are distinct sets of requirements between the two
• Yes it is. I’d guess most children are registered with doctors and dentists so safeguarding concerns can be raised via those channels and those at risk are usually
  Already known to social services. If they are going to look at this then they need to look specifically at children who HE because state school has failed them both academically and their mental health. It has taken me two years to repair the damage caused to my son by the state school he was in and he is finally reaching his potential academically.
• The current framework is sufficient. Off rolling needs to be addressed with schools though.

the role that inspection should play in future regulation of home education;

This is interpreted here as inspection/monitoring of home educators

Comments from  members:

• Advisory only, unless a specific concern has been raised
• I personally oppose inspection, unless families choose to have input from the EHE team at their local authority- as some home ed families do choose to have this, then that should be available for those whom wish to have that and Unless of course there has been a genuine flag of concern.
• Agree, it should be advisory only unless there is a specific concern. If they push ahead and decide to regulate then to my mind they would also need to fund HE as well and provide resources and fully funded groups for HE families. So if it cost the LA £6k a year (for example) to send a child through state school this money should be made available to HE families for resources, materials and access to HE approved groups
• should only be advisory if they want to be more envolved with how people home educate they should also br able to offer funding support to meet needs. LAs who deal with this should also be people who understand or have experience with home education
• To my knowledge the recent increase in home education is with a lot of parents with Sen children fed up with state school failing to make provision for their needs. Maybe they could investigate this more rather than continuously implying home schooled children are at risk. My son was more at risk in school from the teachers than he is at home xx
• In my opinion, inspection should have no role in home education. If there are genuine concerns then there are already procedures in place to address these.
• The role of local authorities should be advisory and recognise that some families would welcome support and others prefer to be left in peace.
• Inspection should be reduced to the minimum. Home educating parents should not be questioned, and they should not be treated in a patronising way. If any inspections are needed at all, which I strongly doubt, they should be carried out by people who are involved in home education, who understand home education and who home educated themselves; Non-home educating ex-teachers and people who do not understand the concept of home education should be excluded from the inspections as they will not be able to assess the outcomes in a relevant way.

what improvements have been made to support home educators since the 2010-15 Education Committee published their report on ‘Support for Home Education’ in 2012; and

Comments from  members:

• To be honest we only go back 3 years, but from what I hear a lot of companies have been more open since then to home ed so that is a great plus.
• LAs overstepping beyond their remit remains a contentious issue. I am not sure the level of actual support has improved (and it is subjective as to what can be considered supportive rather than intrusive anyway).
• I did not realise there had ever been a conversation about support and have not noticed any increased support from authorities.

the impact COVID-19 has had on home educated children, and what additional measures might need to be taken in order to mitigate any negative impacts.’

We asked members – How has Covid impacted your home education?

By far the biggest impact has been the impact of groups and social meet ups stopping, both during lockdown and afterwards. This is because groups have not restarted due to Covid requirements and/or confusion over whether groups can restart.

Families experienced a mix of improved family life and both increased and decreased stress.

Of concern is that families in need of help with mental health, medical and SEN needs were unable to access these vital services.

More than half of respondents affected by exam cancellations have been unable to gain qualifications.

Comments

• I don't think we have suffered many negative impacts. Our learning has continued, undisrupted by the Pandemic. It has obviously affected the social aspect, but no more than for children who had been attending school prior to the initial lockdown. We have returned to most of our sports/dance clubs and are making the most of visiting most of our usual outdoor spaces. I know events such a science groups etc have been restarted and that children unable to attend due to health reasons are being included via video.
• Hasn’t had any impact - this is due to health/ disability
• We have been well placed to absorb the effects of lockdown as our learning and resources are home based BUT exam aged students were negatively impacted in that they found it hard to have grades verified, so many were not given any. There has also been a negative effect on the social aspect of home ed
• We approached a number of centres to instead sit in this Autumn series of external exams. We found that centres that would normally take private candidates could not due to Covid restrictions on spacing and numbers and general upheaval and so were not open to us. We are currently in Hampshire having travelled further afield to an exam centre than we would have liked.
• No exams! Taking them this November instead. Has made us have to replan our exam an for next 3 years.
• There was a big impact last summer on some children who took external exams.
  They were not given predicted grades because the exam Centre had not taught them and so could not verify their level
  We are also feeling the effect going forwards as many schools who have allowed us to use their Centre in the past to take external exams have closed their doors to external candidates
  We have also found it somewhat harder to find venues for lessons as the rules surrounding home education were not initially adequately stated
• My daughter has been able to get into college, but she will end up with fewer GCSEs than she would have otherwise and the only way this can be mitigated for her, and others,  in the long is for colleges, Universities and employers to be made aware that, despite Government sound bites, many private candidates have been unable to get grades.
• I'd say three things.
  Firstly, for HE kids sitting exams, it was much harder to obtain a predicted grade for many, and some exam centres weren't helpful.

Secondly, COVID has suspended many HE groups, which impacts chances to socialise. Either because it's not clear if the groups can run under the current rules, or because the burden of complying with the COVID risk assessments to run the groups is too high as groups are often small and non-profit.

Thirdly, a non-negligible number of home educated children either fall into COVID-vulnerable groups (people who need to shield) themselves or have family members who do, and so have not been able to join in normal activities: in this third case, similar problems will apply for some children who aren't normally home educated but haven't been able to return to school because of health issues, so I'm not sure it's strictly a home ed issue.

• For us it has restricted socializing to some extent. By this I mean not organized groups that we pay for, but the informal park meets, or no-profit parent organized groups in community centres etc. Additional measures that would be useful would be clear guidelines that would allow larger groups of home-educated children, and their parents, to meet in groups of larger than 6, for purposes of education and socialization, that would cover the more informal meet-ups.
• Our learning has continued and actually we have had the time to properly establish a wonderful new rhythm (but this is mainly because I purchased 2 wonderful curriculums that we are now loosely following within our rhythm).
  The biggest aspect that has been affected by the pandemic is that our co-operative learning group had to stop and we had only just got it set up and running in January- we had 3 wonderful months with all the members part of this co-op but are now missing it very much it was a highlight to our week that one full co-op day and of course my daughter got quite upset towards the end of lockdown because she was missing her friends, we are now meeting some friends out and about or having some over to play.
  So definitely the social and group education side of it has been affected. Many home ed groups still are running or are running with the unrealistic and quite frankly mental health damaging and ridiculous social distancing rules.
• Our sport and social groups have all stopped (scouts has just restarted in person though), and we very much missed my parents through lockdown, especially as youngest does lots of practical things with them like DIY, animal care etc. Other learning has continued as normal.
• It would be v useful to have Clear guidelines right now as to what groups should re open and steps that should be taken to make them safe. There’s a lot of groups that are just unsure if we are allowed, and if so, how.
  When you compare us to schools who have been told they must open, we have been some who left to work it out for our selves.
  Home Ed is a about the community and our children are used to an amazing social life; they need access to as much of this as is ok right now.
• As with all children, not just home educated children, covid-19 has disrupted routines and restricted social opportunities. Mental health care provision needs to be more readily accessible for all children as a result of covid, but again not specific to home ed.
• I've answered in seemingly contradictory ways, but it was amazing during full lockdown. We could all be at home together for 7 weeks. I felt so lucky.
  
  But then hubby went back to work and it was awful. I was just home with the kids by myself all day with no direction or anything to do and husband's life was back to normal so he couldn't understand, and "strained" would not adequately describe relations at that time. 😂😂😂 It was one extreme to the other.
  
  Also, I have 3 kids and they handled the whole thing in different ways. Overall, I think it's been more relaxed, but one of my kids was quite affected by it all.
• My daughter had developed a tic over the lockdown period following her grandmother being hospitalised with COVID.
  At the same time she got chicken pox, which doesn’t go down well when all everyone is talking about is this killer disease.
  The sun was out and so we still had lots of fun, we have lots of space and a huge garden. However, they missed their family and friends and zoom can only do so much.
  The answer to everything was, “sorry, no, Corona!!”
  It just got really depressing. And although we thought we were having fun in the sun, clearly internally she was struggling. 
• My children have been both more and less stressed/anxious at different points! More during the periods of uncertainty and when first going into and then coming out of lockdown; less during the relatively settled period of the (first) lockdown.
• Our family is amongst the 3 million people who were excluded from financial support during the initial lockdown. Reduced funds has had an impact on what we are able to access and do.

Annex 1: Comments from members on the duties of LAs:

• If the parent takes fully responsibility for the child and their education then quality is none of the LA’s business in my opinion. The quality of education my children have received from a certain Hertfordshire School (at which you have a minimal chance of getting GCSEs and is failing its Ofsted)is dire and yet the LA washes its hands of all responsibility as it’s an Academy. It feels like double standards to me. That’s the same school that tried to give me £503 if I never spoke about their safeguarding failures in a gagging order. I didn’t take the money so I can talk away...but once again, how can transparency be purchased in an educational setting, yet home educators are demonised by the LAs that are failing our children. If they were better regulated and organised maybe there wouldn’t be so many children having to be home educated. I have a child who hasn’t managed to get a school place beyond the above mentioned school as I live in [place] and can’t get a place due to the distance from home rule. The LA is the overall failure, so who are they to judge?
  Also when you look at cases of neglected/abused children who have slipped through the net in educational settings, it makes you realise that these things do go on with schools turning a blind eye to it!
• The duty of the LA, as I see it, is to ensure that the tax payers contribution to the education of children is delivered appropriately, safely and effectively. Home educated children are therefore not part of the remit of LA's. The safeguarding of children should firstly be seen as the responsibility of parents, and when, and I mean only when parents fail in this, social services then take over that responsibility.
  There are processes already in place for social services to deal with 'children missing education', and whilst I understand that assistance from schools is desirable, it does not negate the fact that the responsibility lies with social services. For LA's to oversee home education in the name of child protection is for them to vastly overstep their remit.

Measuring a parents' ability to educate their child makes absolutely no sense unless all aspects of parent’s effectiveness is going to be measured ie. care, diet, exercise, cleanliness, relationships, online safety etc.

Conflating the roles of social services and education are, in my opinion, being used by the state to take control of areas that should remain private family matters.

• My daughter was bullied every day and let down by the school. She has learning difficulties and waiting for an ASD assessment. The school chose not to intervene and help her especially in maths and was constantly told off and kept in at break and lunchtimes to 'catch' up with her work. LA is there only for school registered students no one else. Since home educating her I've seen a huge improvement in her. Her education suffered in school not at home.
• This is a tricky one. I would say that the LA has a duty to ensure that HE children are able to access exams and exam centres as, to not enable this, is to directly discriminate against such children (and inhibit their ability to fulfil their potential). Interference in quality of education and safeguarding should only occur when specific concerns are raised (as is the case in schools)
• I agree. I always get the feeling the LA want to impose rules on HE and have control but at the same time they fail to address the issue that a lot of parents HE because state schools failed in providing these children with an education and they also wash their hands of providing any help or support in accessing resources, support if parents want it in teaching, qualifications etc. They can’t have their cake and eat it.
• We are very lucky that our LA asks for one update a year and, so far, has been satisfied with this, but I am aware that I am very lucky to be home educating through choice with two children who are able and willing to learn. Were I home educating, like many people are, because of being massively let down by the school system, because my children were being bullied or because their needs were not being met in any of a myriad of ways that I have heard about, then I think I might find even that process frustrating.

For me, it's a case of getting their own house in order before seeking to sit in judgement of families that are trying to do the best for their children.

As long as schools and local authorities are powerless to protect children from the downsides of mass schooling, then I think they need to understand that their intervention is too little too late for many families. Investment in schools that cater more effectively to the needs of children who are not coping with their current school situation for whatever reasons would be a much more effective way of making provision. Instead of waiting until the system has failed them, intervene earlier for the home educated children that want to be in school, the families that really could do with a supportive learning environment for their children.

I also feel that if the local authority is happy to 'outsource' early years education to unpaid, untrained and unqualified volunteers (such as the thousands of preschool committees run by parents all over the country) then they cannot suddenly find those same people incapable of caring for their own children. Having dealt extensively with the local authority during 5 years volunteering in early years education, and having struggled to get anything but the absolute bare minimum when it came to supporting our early years provision, I would question whether their resources are being allocated to those who need them the most.

• The Local Authority does not have a duty to assure the quality of education; that responsibility falls to the parents. If there are serious legitimate concerns that an education is not being provided, or there are safeguarding concerns, this is a different matter.

Annex 2: Comments on a statutory register

• This would depend on the purposes of the register and should be informed by decisions made regarding monitoring
• I’m fine with a register tracking kids, for their safety - but would not want it to be used to intrude in people’s private/educational lives.
• Depends whether it will JUST be a simple register to keep track of numbers....... if it comes with 'strings' attached or more monitoring and intrusion into our lives then I heavily oppose it.
• There are already things in place like social services for example, where it the publics duty to report abuse and neglect of children to in the first place.
  It is law already that patents must tend to all children’s needs from washing and feeding to educating, the police are there to report to if laws are being broken. These 2 then collide with each other, well they would if a case arose.
  So I ask, why is the department itself needed to begin with for the lea?
  Why would a register be needed to track anything when there are already laws in place and departments set up, each with easy access?
  Fact is, there is no need.
  Just like there is no need to demand registers for gypsies who are home educated also at the end of the day and then travelling unschoolers.
  Fact is, with these departments in place, who the public have a duty to report to, it would be their duty to investigate anyone reported, whether they are on a register or not.
  Really a register is literally another method of controlling data saving to use over generations to gain support for what ever the government wants to enforce, literally like everything else.
  If it was necessary then why not demand registers for [redacted] so much instead of taking away funds every year? Why not make laws and demands for [redacted]? Because they cannot prove anything is needed and don’t care or want to get involved, because they cannot control, but wish to control us because nothing is allowed to be different.
  When fact is there is no need because everything is already in place to use and very easily.
• I don't see why a register is necessary as there are already other services in place.

Annex 3: Comments on the Benefits and Disadvantages of Home Education

• Individualised learning focused on their skills, aptitudes and abilities
  Freedom to follow their interests
  The opportunity to socialise with many different people, not simply those of their own age, and people trained to work with them. The opportunity to actually be part of life, instead of be shut away from it while being trained to be in it.
• The opportunity to learn valuable life skills from grandparents, my daughter is learning sewing and dressmaking from her Nanna.
• The chance to become absorbed in learning and investigations undisrupted by time constraints
  The opportunity to pursue interests (especially at GCSE/ A level level) unrestricted by what a school can offer in courses
  Disadvantages would relate to exam centres and possible constraints brought about by the cost of some lessons
• Allows for a stop gap if things are difficult for the child to manage at school.
  Can choose peers
  1-1 education (not 30-2)
  Can avoid unhelpful school policies used to manage an institution (eg behaviour policies that include isolation and promote extrinsic motivation, lack of access to belongings, uniform and lack of individualisation)
  work times to suite child's individual circadian rhythms
  no undesired testing causing stress, pressure and comparison.
  no need for premature separation from attachment figures but allows for healthy separation as child gets older.
  Negatives include lack of financial support, lack of support from local authority, lack of flexibility in school system (ie few schools seem happy to flexi-school as a middle ground)
• Advantages - They are able to learn by following their interests and this learning often covers many different areas, not just the interest in question - for example an interest in airplane simulators involves discussion of velocity, acceleration, geography etc. They are able to learn in an environment that is comfortable for them e.g temperature, ability to move when required, use the toilet when required, noise level. They can use a huge number of resources to follow their interests - field trips, internet, books, people - and can choose those resources that best suit their learning style. They are not generally in an environment where there is peer pressure to look or behave a certain way. They do not have to change their natural body clock to conform to school hours.
• Disadvantages - uniformity of school provision and difficulty of setting up alternative provision means that there are limited settings where home-ed children can meet to socialize and learn in different ways to the school defined norm.
• They learn things that interest them at a rate they can handle. They can retain the love of learning and transfer that to later life.
  So many kids literally switch off at school. They may do the work but the fire and passion has gone. It literally damages their mental health.
  School actually is detrimental for many kids, . Not all obviously but too many 😞
• Advantages

- Tailored to child not one-size fits all and you sink or swim
- ratio is 1:1 or 2:1 not 34:2
- able to tailor learning strategies e.g. dd is visual, experiential and kinaesthetic learner who needs lots of sensory input and physical activity which is not conducive to classroom setting
-able to take advantage of opportunity led learning e.g. able to take part in research project on migrating whales in NZ
- able to cater for the wide variation in ability across the curriculum (e.g. daughter working at year 8/9 level in maths but year 4/5 level in English but year 5 by age)
- vary learning times to suit child's needs
- has allowed dd time to develop social skills at own pace (taken much longer than academic abilities)
- dd has a direct influence over what she learns, when she learns and how she learns. She is very much part of the planning process.
- have the ability to take time out if needed without worry of how will we catch up
- not disrupted by others in a class
- friends are chosen due to common interests not primarily age.
Disadvantages
- loss of income
- not an issue at the moment but access to GCSE/A-Levels a concern
- at the moment lack of social opportunities/home ed groups (it's not a problem we encountered pre-covid)
- local authorities overstepping- postcode lottery

• The ability to live a real life whilst learning. Home Educated children are not cut off and seperate, everything is integrated. Therefore Home Ed children have a better ability to transfer those skills onwards into their adult lives and handle real life issues with more authority and knowledge, giving them a far better chance of success!
• One can cover skills not taught in schools such as touch typing, which is pretty crucial in our computer based world.
  If inspired, a child can spend the whole day or even days immersed in something if they are captivated by a project or activity - whether that is reading a series of books back to back, spending 8 hours doing maths, doing a science or construction or art activity etc that they want to see through to completion or because they want to explore a number of related ideas or tangents.
  Random life happenings can be taken advantage of if at home, whether that’s a spur of the moment bike ride on a very rare sunny day in February or counting tree rings and working out a strategy to remove a tree if a garden tree suddenly falls down in a storm.
  Movement breaks for those who need them - whether it takes the form of a bounce on the trampoline, some dancing, a walk or combining it with a task such as popping clean washing upstairs. Having the flexibility to be able to go back to a tricky task refreshed after moving about means some children can be better able to see another solution to a problem and learn to manage their frustrations better.
  Those with sensory issues can learn in comfortable clothes in a quiet or suitable environment without being distracted by upsetting sounds, smells, textures etc.
• advantages:
  being able to go at child's own pace - not just be subject but if there is something specific that they are struggling with you can take your time, but if they find it easy, you can go quickly.
  Each subject can also be at the child's level, not dictated by the year group.
  Social friendships are with children they genuinely want to be with, and enjoy, not just kids who happen to be in the same class.
  Different seasons, weather, events can mean a spontaneous trip somewhere to experience something new and exciting, which they enjoy.
  Regular breaks to aid concentration, days off when they are ill or tired or hospital appointments, without having to do catch up.
  You can cover everything rather than then weigh them down with homework.
  Practical skills can be integrated without the child even realising what they are picking up at times, which sets them up for the future.
  A huge advantage for us was no more serious injuries like he received in school, such as a dislocated jaw and concussion. That left him with a fear of school, and ongoing trauma issues we are still dealing with.
  Disadvantages:
  funding exams, and finding where to go for them.
  Occasionally a bit more support or help would be nice in knowing exactly how to help a child learn a specific thing
  During covid social opportunities have been harder, and clubs he enjoyed have all stopped. Attitudes of professionals - for example certain hospitals are known to be very anti-home educating, so there is always the concern that they may use that in some way to deny treatment.
• Educational: being able to harness their natural curiosity; not being constrained by set times, not having to wait to move on once a skill is mastered, being able to access a wider range of opportunities for field trips, holistic learning with the basics built into learning about other topics, creativity isn't sacrificed for learning to take tests etc, less time wasted lining up, waiting for everyone to be quiet etc
  Social: Being able to mix with a wide range of other children of all ages, being able to avoid peer pressure, bullying and the other negative side of mixing in a large and increasingly homogenous group (very noticeable how reception all have different styles etc, but by about year 4 there are only 2 or 3 haircuts in each class!).
  Practical: Children whose parents don't work 9-5 can actually see them! Parents can organise their lives without having to work around school hours, no uniforms encourage self-expression and individuality.
  Philosophical: We are still learning how to educate children to best effect and formal schooling has only existed for a few decades, so there is still a LOT to learn about how to encourage children to thrive. Our current governments are the products of the current school system and I simply don't believe that this is the best we can do!
• They learn to be self motivated and self sufficient, not relying on someone else (the school) to hand them texts to learn and train them to pass the exams without fully understanding the subject. These are invaluable skills when going on to study in higher education or starting a job.
  As others have said, socialising with a very wide group of people of different ages (children and adults). Access to adult day time classes means they learn to communicate with adults and not just their peers.

Disadvantage- lack of exam centres

• Advantages-
  A greater connection with your child/ren
  To be fully immersed in life and it's day to day activities
  The true freedom to pursue topics that are of real interest and to explore them in great depth unrestricted by time constraints etc
  Ability to pursue sports that take real interest
  Able to build proper relationships with extended family because we have the time to see them more
  Able to go travelling or camping and holidays at any time.
  You can follow any rhythm/flow and any or none of the many various curriculums that you can purchase, for example book/literature based curriculums or Montessori/Waldorf curriculums, math curriculums etc or even follow the national curriculum if you choose to or just be completely autonomous and unstructured.
  Able to explore creativity and many creative subjects in a much more natural and free way and to fully explore self expression.
  Having many friends of varying ages- many home ed groups have home ed families that include multiple children of different ages which then allows for the mixing and interlinking and passing on of various skills across the ages.
  
  The only disadvantage we really can state at the moment is obviously because of our choice, which we fully knew and take responsibility in, is the financial side - we have to make sure that we budget and sometimes we do have to really claw back on things BUT we made this choice to be one income less so we do what we can within in our budget.
  Can't comment on exams etc as we are quite a way off from exams yet.... our daughter only being 6.
• It does pain me a little to pick poor socialisation. What I have found in 17 years of home education is that while the pre-school and primary years were full of great opportunities and good friends, it has been harder as my children got older. My daughters (along with many friends) attended secondary. My son was HE all the way to 6th form (aside from a couple of terms of Y7). He lost a lot of friends to school so that limited our socialising to holiday times. New kids that we met in teen years had generally de-reg from school and had different experiences, especially social issues which meant they were often on a different wavelength to my son. Had different ambitions and expectations and difficult to find common ground to develop friendships. He went to sixth form and is very very happy socially, has a good group of friends. Still has some friends who were or still are HE. I would just say overall it was harder socially as a teen compared with earlier years.
• Advantages: choosing to be able to prioritise my child’s emotional and mental wellbeing by stopping him being forced to be someone he cannot be.
  Being able to praise him, develop him and celebrate who he is without expectations, punishment and mental cruelty being dished out on a daily basis because he’s a round peg that can’t fit into a square hole.
  I’m in agreement with all of the positives written by other people, too, just that these particularly resonate with me and my situation.

Disadvantages:
Financial costs.
Not easily being able to do exams, whether that’s financially or practically.
What I personally would love to see:
Completely independent and personal family choices taken into consideration. For example: if you want your child in a school environment, that’s fine. If you want to totally homeschool, that’s fine, too. If you want to opt for a kind of flexible schooling, so maybe having your child on role to enable lessons to be set and marked, or some kind of virtual school rooms being run... then that should be fine, too.
There’s no reason why this couldn’t be done, successfully in this day and age.

• The ability to truly adapt the curriculum to my son’s needs, going beyond his SEND label, to explore and enjoy, build confidence whilst developing skills, and to embrace whilst adapting the ‘knowledge curriculum’ as best suited his needs and interests - doing our own ‘deep dives’ long before Ofsted cottoned on!
• Advantages: that my children are truly avid, self-motivated learners; autodidacts drawn into subjects by their own curiosity and driven by passion. This is the kind of learner Universities are excited to have enter their halls, often... or the kind of kid who grows up to be a well-equipped entrepreneur, ready to learn and adapt as they go.
• ... Other advantages: flexibility; being able to adapt the curriculum and speed to the learner (going sometimes way faster and sometimes slower than the 'average' pace); being able to learn out in the real world in castles, museums, farms and concert halls; being able to mix with peers who share a common interest (rather than merely a postcode and year of birth :p ); being able to take any topic (eg trains, dinosaurs, Pokemon or Latin) as the entryway to study almost any subject from maths to history, spelling and story telling to geography and mythology.

Disadvantages: it is a lot of intensive work for the parents. It is also a privilege - not everyone can afford the time and energy to do this (even if they wanted to)... but it is worth it to see our kids thrive.

Things HE kids don't generally have to contend with so much: bullying; hazing; etc.

Food for thought: research like that expounded by Gabor Mate and Gordon Neufeld points to HE kids having better social skills, longterm, due to not becoming 'peer-oriented' in the way that most school kids quickly do.

Instead, they can continue to learn and take their social and behavioural cues mostly from mature adults (rather than the blind-leading-the-reckless thing that can happen among teens). This has the potential to lead to a better sense of self, higher self-esteem, an increased ability to speak up for oneself, negotiate, set boundaries firmly but kindly, make good, moral decisions, etc. HE alone does not deliver all these outcomes, of course, but it does improve the probability that children grow up more securely attached to adults who serve as moral guides and role models who can influence them more positively than their teenage peers generally can.

• Our big advantage was child could move on early from GCSEs as done by year 9 so started specialist college foe performing arts in year 10 worked on a levels
• Agree fully with most of the responses already mentioned. Additional advantages, in my experience,

- freedom to be outdoors a lot more for those who choose, bringing up a generation connected with the earth. Imperative in today's world to have more people speaking up for the natural world.

- freedom to change things around as often as required, fluidity and flexibility being key skills in real life at all stages.

- when more children are allowed to follow their passions and create niche areas of work in many cases, we are creating the potential for a society where there are more happy and fulfilled people, where there are skills and talents in a multitude of arenas, a society with knowledge that is shared, a give and take rather than the dog eat dog world of competition. Not saying HE is the only avenue through which this almost "utopian" world is possible nor is it possible in one or two generations, but it creates a possibility over time.

• Disadvantages - lack of exam centres, costs involved to sit exams and not being able to sit (or at least finding it extremely difficult to sit) any GCSE exams that involve practical assessments such as Art, Design and Tech, Photography etc.
• Advantages: greater freedom to follow interests and passions, can accommodate specific individual needs more effectively, more efficient form of education, tailor made approach to education, greater flexibility, adapts to changing needs better.
  Disadvantages: exam costs, potential adversity due to others' attitudes to home education.
• Have found discrimination also in secondary school - especially with oldest daughter and. Lack of KS 2 tests meant schools were never confident that they had required academic ability, so consistently placed in sets lower than ability. This has affected two of my children now in 6th form and one in Y10. It was possible to resolve but not without being persistent, a lot of phone calls, emails and meetings. In the long run it hasn't affected their achievement. I feel like had they gone to primary they would have been placed more appropriately.
• Disadvantages – not enough local groups (within walking distance). We don’t drive, and buses and trains can be expensive. We have a community centre. It would be nice for them to maybe help set one up. There are finances to consider. It's a shame that there aren't more local groups, within smaller areas. That's the only thing that makes socialising difficult.

Annex 4: Experiences with the LA

• My experience has been positive. They send me a letter and ask what we're doing, I respond, that's it.
  
  I'm not pro monitoring, but I understand that since the LA know we're here, they feel they need to ask.
• My experience has been good too, especially their sensory impairment team. However, I do feel they (or someone) need to have the authority to ensure that home educators have a place to sit exams in every town. It is so unfair that I've paid hundreds of pounds over the years to get my kids to exam centres.
• When compared with the national DofE guidance, the Herts policy seems very reasonable! Just one example in the national guidance is, "Some local authorities already actively encourage referrals from doctors and hospitals of children whom there is reason to think may be home educated." which is overstepping.
• They seem v hands off in general IME
• I read the policy document and I suppose like most official documents found it very wordy and complicated. It's not necessarily overbearing though.
• I think the policy (Hertfordshire) is way overbearing. Where the Law says that they 'may' do something - meaning they are allowed to but have no obligation - they turn that into 'must'. They seem to take on themselves the right to judge provision when their actual duty is to judge whether or not there *is* provision, a very different thing. They have as policy annual monitoring/contact, though that isn't legally required.
• The last time one of my children was in A&E, we were told we would be “reported” for home educating them. The forms sent to deregistered pupils imply that ‘school at home’ is the accepted model, and anything less must be justified and gain their approval. The policy of annual monitoring, where there are no specific concerns. The fact that other LAs go further beyond their remit than Herts do, does not make the overstepping acceptable.
• I’ve only dealt with Herts la and found it irritating having to go through every bit of what I’m teaching and how I’m teaching because as soon as I said I wasn’t following the same curriculum or aiming for the same targets as school was or that we were doing more child lead learning they had a problem.

They wanted more information and was even a bit rude about 'is she even getting a full education' it was frustrating as I hadn’t really chosen to home educate. I was left with no choice after years of school refusal and no support. The LA was quick to tell me all the things I should be doing but couldn’t offer any advice regarding any support with special educational needs support.

Annex 5: Comments on support

• I think we need to mention that other home edders are the main form of support available to us. A quick look at the level of activity on the groups is testament to that.
• Use groups run specifically for home-educated families
• We also use books we already have at home or buy as we go along, plus my own knowledge.
• Other home educators remain our best, and most useful, source of support.
• It is worth highlighting that many of us are doing OK without (external) support, and our replies were taken out of context in 2009
• We don't need special access arrangements for exams, but would like the local authority to support home educators by encouraging local schools to accept private candidates - I wanted to clarify what I mean before I try to squeeze that onto the list.
• There is no support for home educators other than through other home educators. Exams are expensive and at times difficult to arrange, I have spent over £1000 on facilitating GCSE’s for just one child, 5 in total if all goes ahead in November. That’s with no special needs! My middle daughter will be next and she does have extra needs that will require access arrangements etc. There should be more help available for facilitating exams for those that want them. We have to travel all over the country at times and stay over.

Fortunately we have been able to save and are able to do this but if shouldn’t be this difficult or expensive. Many children were let down again over the summer with no predicted grades after being let down by the school system in the first place. If every child deserves an education suited to their ability and aptitude then why are they making it so much harder for us to facilitate. In my opinion every area should have exam centres available and free to use for home educators. Or at least pay what schools pay about £30 per exam, not 150 or more in a lot of cases. I also think lab equipment should be made available, or a slot system to do lab work at a school.

• When my son was diagnosed with autism the paediatrician gave us a long list of support that we should get...... Trouble was, the agency that supply it will not provide it to home educated children, giving the reason that if you take responsibility for their schooling you take responsibility for all their care too. That includes any therapy, aids, advice, speech therapy etc. Yet their website says they support schools and families. It just seems another way of forcing you back into school really. In school they can try different supports at no cost to find what works best but we have to buy it before even knowing if it works. So wastes money if it's wrong, and just delays things further.
• I’ve had support from charities and private but as a home educator is was a battle without having school back up
• I have (had support) with a charity but it’s not related to home Ed, it’s the one I was already volunteering with before we decided to home Ed.
• I am struggling with said daughter hun and she definitely needs and deserve something to be put in place. Just don’t know how to navigate it.
• It would be nice for someone else to do some of the hard work of organising all the events and things, but because they always come with strings attached (including funds), then it is really just a case of rather go without. The only thing would really like is just to encourage themselves that home ed isn’t a bad thing and that more companies should prepare for home ed sessions like they do schools.
• Diagnoses received while home educating without issue. Access to camhs has been unaffected by home education.
  
  Therapy services can be difficult to access, but I think this maybe a largely universal issue and not solely related to home education.
• I have not tried to obtain an EHCP as in this county they don't seem to offer a personal budget anyway (based on discussion with other SEND parents rather than personal opinion) so there seems little point unless it is needed when older.
• I was shocked to learn that children with an EHCP lose all access to all support when deregistered, especially as so many parents do this BECAUSE their children’s needs cannot be met in the classroom environment. They should be able to continue to access SALT, OT, CAMHS or whatever particular services the child needs. I think there needs to be far greater support for EOTAS so parents can name home as an alternative educational setting on an EHCP. Can we have that as an option? I know this isn’t relevant to all, but any parent here with an EHCP will know exactly what I mean!

November 2020

22