HED0576

Written evidence submitted by {a member of the public]

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

05th November 2020

Responding to the Education Committee call for evidence

We are a home educating family with four daughters. We began our journey [period of time]. It was a new concept for us initially and we thought we wouldn’t be able to make it through the first three months but after getting to know more about it and finding the right resources and meeting people and families who were home educating we have never looked back.

Benefits children gain and potential disadvantages:

• The children have been able to work at their own pace while pursuing their own interests and developing their talents. Our eldest  daughter is now in university, another in college and the youngest two are still at home with us.

• The children have gained by becoming self-confident and are able to take their time to understand foundational concepts of different subjects without being rushed. The family environment has given them the freedom to ask questions without feeling pressured or fearing being laughed at. They have bloomed to become self-directed and confident in making life decisions and career choices.

• We as ethnic minorities have been able to shield our children from bullying, racism and unnecessary exposure to material that we as parents would deem inappropriate for their age and development. They have benefitted from our altruistic desire to develop the best of environments for them.

• The local authorities are already far depleted in resources to support formal schools that if our children were still in formal council provided education, they would not have had such parental tender care and nurture.

Role of inspection in future:

• In our opinion there is no need for additional council inspections – the current powers of social services and local councils is sufficient to address inadequacies in home education. Any more powers will surely be easily abused and break the balance and trust between parents and authorities.

Statutory register:

• A statutory register will be upset the balance of trust and freedom of parents to harness the talents and needs of their children. A register easily makes local authorities impose their own agendas and discriminatory interests at the expense of societal break down of the bond of trust between law abiding parents and local authorities.

Whether current regulatory framework is sufficient:

• Among the elective home educating families that I know there has been no abuse of children but rather a supportive niche of parents who are eager to share their joys and struggles. Home educated students in my opinion are much less subject to child safeguarding proceedings.

Equality and accessibility of support for home educators:

• There is not much available council financial support to help home educators especially those with special needs children or high achieving children. It would also be good to see some accessible resources for student examination fees, student grants or access to tuition fees for special projects.

[member of the public]

November 2020