HED0865

Written evidence submitted by Mrs Thorpe

1. Duties of local authorities

• Local authorities already have powers to act where they have reasonable grounds to believe an appropriate education is not being provided at home. They also have powers to act where there us genuine concern about a child’s welfare.
• Is a statutory register if home educated children required? No, there is no such necessity. It is the parents’ responsibility to educate, not the state's. Parents do not need the state’s permission to educate their children. The state struggles to provide a suitable education for thousands of children in its schools and is in no position to regulate education in the home.

2. Home educated children enjoy many benefits, including:

• Curricula and programmes of study tailored to their individual needs,
• From a young age, children are able to pursue interests which cannot always be cultivated in school, e.g. engineering, Latin
• Considerable amounts of individual attention and tuition,
• Engagement with those who are most concerned for their welfare and progress,
• Time to address specific learning needs and the opportunity to progress at a pace most suitable to the child,
• Protection from inappropriate peer pressure and behaviour,
• The opportunity to socialize with a wide cross section of society in a range of settings and for involvement in a wide range of activities, rather than  meeting a designated group of people every day at school, limited in age range and for a limited range of activities. Home educated children are popular with employers because they have socialised with those beyond their peers,
• Home education fosters independence and self-motivation; this is one reason they are popular with higher education establishments and employers.

3. Access to support for children with specific educational needs should be possible within the existing framework. Most home educating parents are aware of their children’s needs and have decided that the home is the best place for learning. As an experienced teacher of children with special educational needs and disabilities, I agree with them.
4. The current framework is sufficiently regulated. Many state schools are unable to ensure the wellbeing and academic achievement of thousands of children. Off-rolling is evidence of this; so is the high incidence of bullying, sexual and other assault and poor academic performance in many schools.

• Do not conflate unregistered schools with home education.

5. The impact of Covid-19:

• Many children in schools have experienced considerable disruption because of school closure during the first lockdown. Subsequently, because of infection and self-isolation of large numbers of schoolchildren, many have missed lessons. This has been much less of a problem for home-educated children.

November 2020