HomeSchooler.org.uk

Dear Ms Gilbert,

We are a national network formed to take action in defence of the freedom of families to choose to educate their children outside the school system. At the time of writing, we have 733 members.

Some of our members have been approached by their local authorities and asked to participate in a research exercise being undertaken by Ofsted. Having read your letter which was supplied in answer to a Parliamentary question on 10th November (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm091110/text...) and having also seen the questionnaires your inspectors are sending to home educators in the sample authorities, we are gravely concerned by the erroneous assumptions which appear to be underlying the process.

Our concerns are:

1. Parents who provide education for their children directly are not subject to inspection by Ofsted, nor by local authorities. We do not understand why Ofsted is undertaking to provide "independent inspection evidence about the quality of provision and outcomes for this group of children and young people". Is this about the quality of education provided by parents, or about the quality of services provided for home educating families by local authorities? Your letter to the minister is not clear on this point.

The letter to parents also does not explain the purpose of the survey. It compares the process to an inspection in a school, and states that the inspectors will not be able to comment about the local authority when meeting with parents. This suggests that the purpose of the exercise is to inspect the local authorities. However, the accompanying questionnaires ask about the content of the children's education in some detail. This is nothing to do with local authority services, and indicates that your survey is an inspection of parents' own educational provision.

In this voxbox video,"FAQs: Why Personalised Learning", parents and children
share just a few of the reasons why people may chose home education, and
show how personalised learning allows children the freedom to learn in their
own way....see Video here...

"Last week, I asked "Is the summer bad for your child's brain?" Peter Darby (seen here with his family), founder member of online home education group, Action for Home Education explains how summer wasn't the problem....

"It wasn't the summer that worried us. It was the rest of the year.

It was the summer between my son's reception year and year one at primary that set us on the path to Home Education. It was seeing my son's devouring of anything that fired his curiosity during that break that cemented our decision.

My son fought against school. He told us he liked his teacher and his friends at school, but just couldn't express why he resisted. "Resistance" consisted of, at the very least, daily arguments about getting ready, which could lead to screaming matches, which could induce asthma attacks or vomiting. Which over a year of weekdays led to all of us dreading Monday morning.

Reports back from the teachers, however, told us that our son was bright, not remarkably so. Quiet in lessons. Cheerful enough, easily distracted.

At home he was voracious. Any opportunity to learn something new was taken. Granted, we were deliberately taking time to engage him with what we would now call “learning opportunities”, like going out, or looking at books together, or watching TV while talking about it. This is something that a teacher can't do, admittedly, but surely, we thought, they are trained experts. They'll have techniques that make up for that?"...more...

"Informal Learning: An Interview With Dr Alan Thomas MSc, PhD, FBPsS" is the
second in the series of videos commissioned by Education Otherwise.

Dr Thomas is a developmental psychologist, author and a Visiting Fellow at
the Institute of Education.

"Two parents put forward contrasting views on home education plans

In the first of a special series of summer debates on education fault-lines, two home-educating parents put forward contrasting views on government plans for local authorities to monitor them more closely:

Have your say and cast a vote in the poll on the right
Simon Webb is a home-educating parent who fears that some other families are limiting their children’s futures, and says ‘Yes, children deserve better than a scrappy, unbalanced education’

As the father of a 15-year-old girl who has been educated at home since birth, you might expect me to be a firm supporter of home education. But I have grown increasingly sceptical about it. Many of the children being “home-educated” would probably be better off in school."...more...

"I suggest other home educators and home educated children let her know of their doubts

Dear Maire, Bruce and Beth,

Thank you for your email regarding home education. I have spoken with the Deputy Children’s Commissioner, who was actually a member of the review group. She is supportive of the recommendations that the report proposes. She appreciates your concerns and is sure that any visits undertaken by the local authority will be done in accordance with the child’s wishes and her best interests."...more...

Thank you to Ceri for this:

My hubby is French, so we've been checking out the situation there. Although we
knew they already had compulsory registration & monitoring, we were completely
unaware of the recent developments. In March 09 a new education bill was passed,
which dictates the curriculum to be followed. If that's not bad enough, it seems
to be dictating the method of delivery of said curriculum. Age related targets
therefore come into play, and obviously any form of autonomy goes out of the
window.

The three main HE orgs in France are outraged by the lack of proper consultation
before imposing the new legislation, and are basically feeling that it marks the
end of any form of diversity in French education. (It seems this will all also
apply to previously exempt private schools too - but I haven't read all the
details yet).

As I haven't spotted anything about this on any of the lists I lurk on (blush -
sorry, always too busy to post!), I thought I should flag this up, as it is
making us wonder if some of the pressure for the Badman review etc. might be
coming from Europe, and we're also wondering if we should be launching a wider
European campaign or if there is anything we can do to help our neighbours in
France? We will continue looking into this.

The freedom we have enjoyed until now is getting rare. We need to persuade
people that diversity is something to be proud of & to cherish. By quashing all
forms of education other than those imposed by the state we risk losing so much.
It would be nothing short of irresponsible to allow this to happen.

"The answer to why we are having so much trouble implementing technology
in our schools may have less to do with the technology, and more to do with
the changing educational paradigm that the technology has enabled. Because
of twenty-first century technology, education no longer means the same thing
as it did in the past."...

Mark writes about child-led learning...