Invisible Children - Dispatches Ch4

[Note: I have edited this post, not to polish my raw feelings or thoughts, but because someone pointed out to me that I coloured the children's commissioner's words dark red, and the links have also appeared in red.  I have now gone through this post, and changed her words to blue.]

Before this program started, I stated: 

“I don't expect it to be balanced reporting. It's entitled "Skipping School: Britain's invisible kids" yet claims to be about home education.
Home Ed kids are NOT skipping school, because school is not compulsory. Nor are HE kids invisible - ALL children who have been deregistered from schools are KNOWN to the LA; and according to a past Chair of the Education Select Committee, Graham Stuart MP, HE children are "peculiarly visible".”

Unfortunately, my fears were far from unfounded. This post is a collection of my thoughts as I watch this program, so may not be as polished and eloquent as I hope I come across usually.

From the introduction, the program conflated welfare and education. Anne Longfield, the current children’s commissioner, has not even basic understanding of home education, nor of “children’s rights”. She made a number of statements that highlight her ignorance and I have coloured all her words blue.

There’s no such thing as “a classic home educator”. Has she asked schooled children if they want to be there? “creating own curriculum” - is she equally as anti private schools who create their own curriculum?

Success of education is NOT based on exam result – for starters, exams are not compulsory. “Should be doing GCSEs in 4 year’s time; what chance does he have?” - short-sighted nonsense. Learning is a lifelong skill. Plenty of children leave schools without qualification, and it is sad that they are so “schooled” that they think this failure is lifelong.

One statement I have made, and quote regularly is

“I think there are three dangerous lies about education that seem to be automatically be accepted as correct:

1. Learning only happens in school 

2. Learning stops at age 18 

3. Learning is difficult”

It is so sad and depressing that the children’s commissioner believes these fallacies!

Night School, college, OU, plenty of people who have qualifications at the “right” time, retrain and have a career change in midlife. It is a bad, old-fashioned view of education that thinks that education only happens within schools

Off-rolling – 88% councils are concerned of off-rolling – why are they chasing home educators, rather than schools?

“No matter how bad it is, I’m not convinced removing children from school is the answer” 

Contrast this to this Papyrus document that states 200 schooled children commit suicide every year!

If families are known to SS, then they are NOT invisible.  Khyra Ishaq and other supposed cases of HE – NONE of them are because of HE. They were ALL KNOWN by SS and other governmental departments. In the case of Dylan Seabridge, a retired head teacher who raised concerns a year before he died – so he was known!!! If there were welfare concerns, why weren’t SS contacted, as they DO have rights to enter the home!?!

There are already adequate powers to ensure the welfare of children - it is that services are not using them, and then blaming HomeEd as a scapegoat!

Non-registration at a school is not a “loophole” - HE is the legal default position, hence why you apply to register in school. Children are registered at birth, children are registered at death, registered at school, and registered when they emigrate. Simple maths would give the remaining number.

Illegal schools – is NOT home education, and should not be taken out on home educators. Ofsted have powers to deal with them; most home educators do not want to use schools of any kind. “This is not home education” - if she knows that it is not home education, why is she mixing them up in a program, to give home educators a bad name.

“why aren’t they at home if they are home educated?” Again, another sign of Anne's ignorance about home education, albeit said in the context of illegals schools in this instance.

“no one knows how home educators do academically” - A quick google has come up with a number of studies:

Research Literature from Home-Education.org.uk

Difference in Academic Achievement between Homeschooled and non-homeschooled students

Impact of schooling on Academic Achievement
Academic Achievement and Homeschooling

“There has to be a register of home educators” why?  what benefit will it have for home educators?

In conclusion, watch the program if you want to.  It just goes through the same old myths about HE and some blatant untruths.
I'll leave it to other bloggers who are more articulate than me, to go through each point in the program in more depth.  This was just my initial reaction from watching the program.