home education
home education | help and info
The education of children during their early years is almost entirely in the hands of their parents, who usually are very effective teachers. Some parents feel that when their child starts school, professionals take over and that they are not themselves competent partners in their child's education. But parents who educate their child at home do not have to be teachers or employ a qualified tutor for their child.
what does the law say?
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The law is found in the Education Act 1996. Section 7 states that the parent of a child who is of compulsory school age has a legal duty to see that their child receives:
'efficient full-time education, suitable to his age, ability and aptitude, and to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.'
The last two words are crucial. Parents are free to choose whether or not their child goes to school; they can choose education 'otherwise' than at school. This usually means education based at home. It is important to note that the education provided must be 'suitable' for the particular child.
what is a 'suitable' education?
Some legal guidance on the meaning of a 'suitable' education is given by one court case in which it was held that a suitable education:
- prepares the child for life in modern civilised society, and
- enables the child to achieve his or her full potential.
Some education authorities seek to impose their own views of what is a suitable education and have a rigid view of this, often assuming that professionals know best and that education at home must necessarily be organised like education at school.
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Children who are home educated:
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Others arrange for home educating families to be visited by an education welfare officer, and ask these officers, who are usually trained as social workers and not as teachers, to make their own judgements about the suitability of the child's education. Judgements reached in this way are open to question. Sometimes they are imposed by LEAs as if they were law, which they are not.
Parents need to know how to respond to this kind of intervention. There is no legal duty to prepare a detailed scheme of work, to divide the work to be done into subjects, to have a structured curriculum, a structured timetable or a list of books. Some parents may like to have these things, but it is for you to decide. You should, however, take reasonable steps to satisfy the education authority that proper arrangements have been made for your child.
do I need permission to home educate?
You do not have to ask permission to home educate unless you live in Scotland. Strictly speaking, you do not have to inform the education authority of your decision to home educate, but it is advisable to do so. In Scotland, however, the situation is different and parents must obtain the consent of the education authority before a child can be withdrawn from state school.
If your child has not yet begun to attend school, there is no need to inform the LEA that your child is going to be home educated. You simply get on with it.
If your child is already at school you must write to the headteacher stating that you are withdrawing your child from school. The school must delete the pupil's name from the register and inform the local education authority that this has been done. However, when a child has a statement of special educational needs which names a special school, the child's name may not be removed from the register of that school without the consent of the education authority.
This information was provided by the Advisory Centre for Education (see help and info), an independent national charity offering advice to parents on their children's education.
(March 2002, resources updated December 2004)
Read on for details of relevant organisations, websites and reading.
