HomeSchooler.org.uk

HOME EDUCATORS REACT WITH ANGER TO GOVERNMENT THREAT TO FAMILY PRIVACY

Parents across the country yesterday flooded the email inbox of Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, in protest at the government's plans to intervene in home education.

The protest, coordinated at short notice through home education groups, blogs, and email lists, is the first of a series of actions planned by families who feel that the recommendations of Graham Badman's review are disproportionate and invasive of children's right to privacy.

Home educators were shocked by the recommendations of the review, published last week, which included:

- local authorities having the right to enter family homes without having to show that they have reason to believe a child is at risk
- officials having the right to question children alone, without their parents or any other adult being present, for an unspecified length of time, without any evidence to suggest that the child is at any risk of harm
- home educating families being required to ask permission annually to educate their children outside the school system, and to report to the authorities every time they move house.

These measures are widely viewed as disproportionate, given that in his report, Graham Badman stated:
"I can find no evidence that elective home education is a particular factor in the removal of children to forced marriage, servitude or trafficking or for inappropriate abusive activities."

Linda from the Badman Review Action Group, where some of the protests have been coordinated, explained the sense of outrage within the home educating community:

"People are offended, hurt, and upset. We have thought hard about how to meet our responsibility to educate our children. Home education is not always easy, but we do it because we think it is the best thing for our children. For the government to say our children must be questioned alone, with the clear implication that we are automatically suspected of abuse because we home educate, is a real kick in the teeth for thousands of responsible, loving parents."