HED0734

Written evidence submitted by Ambitious about Autism, the National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC, The Children’s Society and The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Home Education and Children Not In School - Position Paper

Ambitious about Autism, the National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC, The Children’s Society and The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

This position paper was developed prior to COVID-19 in response to the Department for Education’s June 2019 Consultation on Children Not In School. The themes of this paper are relevant to the Education Select Committee Inquiry 2020 Inquiry on Home Education. This paper has not been published prior to submission to the Education Select Committee Inquiry.

Proposal 1 - the introduction of a duty on local authorities to maintain a register of children of compulsory school age who are not registered at certain schools.

Our organisations support this proposal. We believe that:

• Children not in school are less visible to the networks of adults around them, and less able to speak up. Home education is not in itself a safeguarding risk but lessens the avenues to speak out.
   
•                                                                                                                                                        The number of children not in school is rising.  It is clear more help is needed and a register could help ensure these needs are met at an earlier stage.
   
• A register should increase the contact between local authorities and those not in school, ensure information is joined up, help ensure they receive their education or assessments for safeguarding are in place.
   
• A register should act as a vehicle for identifying children who might need support or assessments.

We believe further work is needed to consider:

• How the views and wishes of the child should be captured as part of the register.

• Those families who are most hidden are still likely to be missing from the register. Additional support will be needed by local authorities to identify these children.

• How other agencies engage and interface with the register and share information will be key. For instance how statutory agencies such as the police engage with the register. 

Proposal 2 - the introduction of a duty on parents to provide information to their home local authority if their children are within the scope of such a register

Our organisations support this proposal. We believe that this duty is needed to enable it to work effectively but that more thinking needs to be done about:

• Enforcement of this duty. School Attendance Orders are one mechanism and a powerful tool but may not always be the best option.

• How parents will be informed of this duty, particularly parents who are disengaged.

Proposal 3 - the introduction of a duty on education settings attended by the children on the register to respond to enquiries from local authorities about the education provided to individual children.

Our organisations support this proposal. This duty covers children who should be on the register, so in education settings other than: 

• A school maintained by a local authority;

• a non-maintained special school;

• an alternative provision academy; or

• a registered independent school (including free schools or academies).

However schools in the four categories listed above should also have to provide information to local authorities about children during transition – i.e. children from primary who do not turn up at secondary. Information should be provided about where the children are going after primary. Local authorities will need help maintaining the register in a meaningful way.

There should be sanctions for settings not complying but we are not in a position to stipulate which ones would be suitable.

Proposal 4 - the introduction of a duty on local authorities to provide support to home educating families - if it is requested by such families.

Our organisations support this proposal.

This duty should be introduced to ensure home educating families are supporting children to receive their legal entitlement to a suitable education. We agree it should only be provided when requested by families rather than the support being enforced. However home educated families need to be made aware this support is available should they request it. We also believe the following points should be further considered:

• When a child might not want support through their parents and carers they should be able to access support independently/ directly.

• Where the parents wish for their child to return to school how they can be supported to do so.

• How disengaged parents will be made aware of support and how to access it.

• Whether there is any scope for per pupil funding to be allocated to local authorities to be spent on support for home educated children.

• How resources can be made available to parents to deliver the new Relationships, Sex and Health education curriculum.

• How this support can link to needs assessment for children, including  assessments of special educational needs or early help.

This position paper is supported by Ambitious about Autism, the National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC, The Children’s Society, and The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. 

December 2020