UK home-school cases soar
Updated on 26 September 2007
A massive rise in home schooling. A freedom of information request uncovers evidence that more and more parents are giving up on state education.
A massive rise in home schooling. A freedom of information request uncovers evidence that more and more parents are giving up on state education.
It's Monday afternoon in Bromley, Kent - it's term time but not for Samuel 10, Joshua, nearly 12, and 5-year-old William. All educated at home by their parents - cooking, blogging and drawing all on their curriculum.
Two years ago, Samuel who has aspergers was taken out of school after he was bullied and began to self harm. His brother was given the option and just a day after Samuel left, decided he'd quit too. William - also on the autistic spectrum - hasn't been enrolled.
Schooling isn't compulsory - ensuring your child gets an education is. In the Newsteads' case, that includes regular trips to the library and museums - and meeting up with other home educated children. There is no reliable data on how many of these children there are - estimates say up to 50,000 - but the exclusive data obtained by Channel 4 News Online shows it's rising.
Channel 4 News Freedom of Information request:
Authorities reporting increase in children being home educated: 80 per cent
Average increase: 61 per cent
134 local education authorities in England, Scotland and Wales replied to our freedom of information request.
Of those with year-on-year trends, 103 - or 80 per cent - reported an increase in the number of children they knew were being home educated.
And in those authorities with figures for the last five years, there's been an average increase of 61 per cent in the number of children being educated at home.
In some areas it's far higher - Lancashire for example has seen an 829 per cent increase in home schooling since 2002.
One of the common drop out points is when a child moves from primary to secondary school. If they don't even start primary school, it's likely they won't even feature in the statistics.
Reasons for home education
- Idealogical objections
- Special educational needs
- Bullying
- Best schools full
- Prosecution
There are various anecdotal reasons given - Many parents reject conventional education or are unhappy with special educational needs provision. Their child might have been bullied or the best schools full
And Channel 4 News has learnt that some parents of truanting children say they're home educating to avoid being prosecuted
Unlike in school, there are no standards set to monitor the home educated - local authorities rely on the cooperation of parents, and can only intervene if they have a real concern about the education a child is receiving.
Government response
A spokesman for the Department of Children, Schools and Families said in response:
"These rather speculative findings must be understood in context. We are talking about very small rises of no more than a couple of hundred, set against the eight million children that are taught in mainstream education. In a study last year, the proportion of home educated children known in nine local authorities ranged from just 0.09 per cent to 0.42 per cent, so this practice is still extremely rare.
'the proportion of home educated children known in nine local authorities ranged from just 0.09 per cent to 0.42 per cent'- Department of Children, Schools and Families
"It is also not clear whether rises are due to better reporting by local authorities, rather than a genuine increase in home education. We should therefore be extremely wary of drawing rash conclusions on what is by no means conclusive data.
"Our aim is for all children to get the highest quality education. Parents are free to choose whether this is in school or at home, but the records show that they should have every confidence in state education.
"We have the best ever generation of teachers working with a broad and engaging curriculum and record investment in both mainstream and special schools. And Ofsted reports that behaviour is generally good in the vast majority of schools.
'Parents are free to choose whether this is in school or at home, but the records show that they should have every confidence in state education'- Department of Children, Schools and Families
"So while I believe it is right that parents should have the option of home education, there is absolutely no reason why any parent should have to look beyond the school system to get a good education for their child beyond their own personal preferences.
"But if they do choose to educate their children at home, local authorities must make sure their children get an appropriate education by, for instance, checking samples of their work at regular intervals."
