Home-schooling: comments and reactions

Mick Brooks, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said:

"Bullying is a strong word but there are pupils who are less able to form positive relationships and that leads to problems - and in some cases that would eventually lead to the child being taught at home.

"Special educational needs is fascinating. In my own experience when I was a head teacher we had a child who as diagnosed with autism, but his parents were adamant that he was not sent to a special school - which in our opinion we wanted to happen. And they ended up teaching him at home.

"Schools have targets for truancy and attendance and you could see how they could arrive at an agreement to sign children off - it's quite a good loophole, although I have no first-hand experience of it, and do not condone it."

Ken Cridland, secretary of Lancashire NUT, said:

"Schools are more stressed places these days; that's the teachers and the pupils, because of league tables and targets.

"It doesn't surprise me that there might be some schools that are exploiting a loophole over home education - as it solves a problem for schools with problem students under pressure to hit targets.

"And it solves a problem for parents that might eventually face prosecution over truancy.

"More generally, the overall hike might be an indication that the curriculum is not what's wanted, and parents are taking their children out of the system."

Frances Molloy, acting head of education welfare at Lancashire County Council, said: "I think there are a couple of main reasons why there has been an increase.

"First is that with the spread of the internet and it is more of a viable option for parents to home educate now - there are more resources. We find there are clusters of families that do it in communities.

"Also, for some students who are finding school problematic, home education is a positive route they can go down.

"We are aware that in a small number of cases parents might be using this option to avoid prosecution".

A spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council said: "A number of parents are concerned across the country about the perceived change in emphasis in education led by the drive to raise standards, and exemplified by regular testing at several ages, league tables, and emphasis on core subjects and they believe that they can deliver a more holistic and rounded education themselves without being bound by a prescribed curriculum.

"This may be a reason for the increase. We do not record the reason given, if any is given, as there is an absolute right for a parent to withdraw a child and educate the pupil themselves."

A spokesman for Leicestershire County Council said he did not know why his county's numbers had increased.

He said: "Leicestershire has recently appointed an officer to liaise with home-educating parents and assess the educational provision being made for their children.

"It is recognised that local authorities do not have unrestricted powers of enquiry: they cannot demand access to children or entry to individual homes.

"It is also the case that there is a considerable range and variety of alternative education being provided for children outside school."

Carole Rutherford, a 50-year-old who home educates her two autistic children in Sunderland, co-founded a support group called Autism-in-Mind.

She said: "We support an ever growing army of parents who are now home educating their autistic children.

"The majority do so after fighting for many years for the correct educational provision for their children.

"Many of our children are having breakdowns and coming out of the system needing treatment for mental health issues."

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