Welsh Consultation: Draft Statutory Guidance (1)

The Welsh Government has recently opened a new consultation that affects Home Education.  It opened on the 29th July, and runs until the 21st October. Click here.

Now, I am not Welsh, and don't know whether I'm allowed to complete the consultation or not.
However, I am opinionated and have this blog, so I might as well use it to go through the documents, in the hope it is useful to someone somewhere.  Before responding to the consultation, it would be worth taking some time to read other people's thoughts too before reply, but don't wait to long if you are happy to respond - based on the English consultation in April of this year, only early responders got invited to the face-to-face consultation meetings; I don't know if there will be the same approach in Wales?

Here are my thoughts about the introduction to this consultation.

So, here are my raw, unfiltered thoughts as I read through the Draft Statutory Guidance: 58 pages long.  Anything I C&P I'll colour RED. (Apologies if this is an issue for anyone who may be colourblind.  I'll try and make it obvious in text too by indenting.)

Overview

This document provides statutory guidance for local authorities on arrangements for identifying children of compulsory school age who are resident in their area, who are not on any maintained school roll, not in education other than at school (EOTAS), not on any independent school roll and not receiving a suitable education. 

As I said on my previous post on this topic, I would like to know the legal definition of the word 'and' because in my understanding this paragraph excludes home educators.

1.5

Home education is a key aspect of parental choice. Balanced with that choice is the expectation that local authorities can assess the effectiveness of parental provision to ensure it will cause the child to receive a suitable education. In order for a local authority to carry out that function, it is not unreasonable to ask parents to explain their approach. However, it is the parent’s approach and delivery that suitability should be judged against, not the national curriculum.

If suitability of education is assessed according to parent's approach and delivery, how can we be sure that they fully understand the different approaches of HE? For example, will a parent's word be sufficient, or will they have to see the child, or the child's work? What if the parent is unschooling, so there is no formal, and little written work? What if the child is advanced in knowledge (compared to school-aged peers) but behind in reading or writing? What guarantees do the parents have with regards to judging?

1.12

Children who are home educated are not required to follow the national curriculum or any other specified curriculum or meet criteria for the number of learning hours. The home education approach can be anywhere on a continuum from a formal, structured, schedule-based and mostly within the home environment, through to autonomous or child-led education. Moreover, it can vary over time and subject. For example, a child might move from a more autonomous approach when younger to one that is more structured for GCSEs (if the child chooses to sit them). Over the course of a year, home education may be more structured throughout the winter and more responsive to the weather or local opportunities during the summer. Some subjects like mathematics may be delivered with a structured approach, while others like history by an autonomous project. 

 As far as guidance goes, this is actually quite positive (but this is relative - much I've seen has been absolutely crap!.  I do worry, however, that by naming specific subjects, it encourages LAs to see them taught only that way.  For example, whilst I prefer to tutor maths using books (books are *my* preferred method of learning), it is perfectly possible to radically unschool maths.  The biggest thing against mathematics in this country is that many many people think maths *has* to look like how it was taught in school, which wasn't taught well, so they didn't understand, so they are now fearful of maths; whereas in reality, maths is all around us. Algebra is all around us. Trigonometry is all around us! It's not scary, it's just that people have been badly taught.

Section 2 is all about the legal side of HE and Human Rights of the child.  Most of it seems pretty straight forward.

2.12

The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 will replace the current SEN framework and comes into effect from September 2020. 

Section 13 of the Act places the duty on a local authority, where it is brought to its attention or otherwise appears to it that a child has ALN, to decide whether the child has ALN. The duty is not specific to particular groups of children and would include those who are home educated. Under section 14 of the Act, if a local authority decides the child has ALN, it must prepare and maintain an individual development plan (IDP) for the child.

The last line of the ALNET (Wales) Act 2018 says that for all children with ALN there MUST be an IDP.  I'm not hugely knowledgeable of SEN tbh, but I know that some home educated parents are thankful for having EHCP, whereas others are desperate to get rid of it.  I can envision, therefore, that the 'must' might be an additional bind for HErs who are aware that their children have SEN but have the flexibility in their daily lives to cater for it without external intrusion.

2.14

Article 12 of the UNCRC provides a right for children to express their views and for due weight to be given to those views, in accordance with the age and maturity of the child. This does not, however, give children authority over parents. Local authorities, through their services supporting the participation of children, should consider how the individual and collective voices of home educated children can be heard. 

This bit caught my eye, because of the difference between it and the English consultation, which implied that HE children want to be in schools and are being forced to stay at home because of their evil parents.

2.18

Local authorities should note that the caveat in s.436A ‘so far as it is possible to do so’ should be interpreted as meaning the local authority should do all that is reasonable, practicable and appropriate to identify children. See section 5 for more information.

And we're back to that word 'and' again.  s.436A says about finding the identities of children not in school AND not receiving an education.  Since HE children are receiving an education, they should be excluded.

2.20

Scrutiny plays an important role in promoting continuous improvement in the way in which local authorities deliver their services to their communities. Local authorities should report to relevant scrutiny committees and elected members in relation to home education matters at least annually. Reports could include topics such as (but are not limited to):  numbers of home educated children and any identified trends  issues to consider  good practice  risk assessment  forward-planning  factors contributing to home education (SEN, perceived bullying, unmet need, avoiding prosecution for non-attendance, etc.). 

Hmmm... I do wonder why they want to know the numbers of HErs, and in turn why that requires the children to be on a database?  If they want to know numbers in order to spot failing schools (shouldn't OFSTED or the Welsh equivalent, if it's different spot that) that could be a good thing, but really if you had an anonymous survey that would do the job just as well.

2.21 and 2.22 seem to be good things.

2.23

In addition, it is expected that home education officers work closely with other departments in the local authority, such as the education welfare service (EWS) and EOTAS teams, to identify and support home educated children. The EWS and home education teams should work together to prevent de-registration where it is not a fully informed, voluntary choice. This will include acting as an intermediary between the school and the learners’ family to help resolve any differences impacting the learner’s education. Where a child has been de-registered, the local authority should meet with the family as soon as possible to determine the reasons for home education. Where appropriate, the local authority should assist the family in re-application for school places or EOTAS provision. 

This, otoh, has the potential to be much more worrying. To me this reads as if they clearly think that school is the best place for all children, and whilst they accept that some parents may choose to HE, in most cases this is the wrong decision and children should be re-registered in school as soon as possible.

Schools off-rolling and getting rid of problem students by tricking parents into HE is a problem, but the LAs need to work with schools and school-parents, rather than HE parents.
Additionally, many parents who initial deregistered because they felt they had no choice, realise after a few weeks or months that their child is so much calmer and eager to learn in a home environment, they they wish they never sent their child to school in the first place!  By persuading these parents to re-apply for school places immediately, mean their child could spend many more unhappy years in school and not learning to their full potential.

Section 2.28-2.32 deal with off-rolling in more detail.

2.33

If it appears to a local authority that a child is not receiving a suitable education they must serve a notice in writing on the parent requiring that parent satisfy them within the period specified in the notice (no less than 15 days), that the child is receiving such education. If the local authority is not satisfied, or in the absence of that information then they must issue the parent with a school attendance order (SAO) in respect of that child, which details the school the child should attend

What has happened to the first part, about making informal (or even formal) enquiries, before serving a notice?

3.4

Section 29 of the Children Act 2004 allows regulations to be made that will require local authorities to maintain and populate a database of compulsory school aged children in their area in order to assist them in identifying those who are not on a school roll, education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) register or independent school roll. 

Here they haven't even made the pretence of looking for children who are not receiving a suitable education! Comparing this to the 'overview' of the consultation, you can see they have omitted the most important proviso of the whole thing!  As a reminder, here's the overview again: "This document provides statutory guidance for local authorities on arrangements for identifying children of compulsory school age who are resident in their area, who are not on any maintained school roll, not in education other than at school (EOTAS), not on any independent school roll and not receiving a suitable education."

Also, it has been stated that the database itself isn't part of this consultation, and as such, these sections should not, imo, be included here.

3.5-3.14 talk a lot about sharing information, but hasn't gone into detail about how privacy will be respected and data protected.

The end of 3.15 says about truancy sweeps:

If professionals come across a home educated child, they will need to notify the relevant local authority. Home educating parents need to be made aware that professionals involved in truancy sweeps may need to verify any information given to them in these circumstances. 

Whilst the topic of issuing Home Education cards can be controversial, it may be sensible for parents of HE teens who may be without them to give their children at least a paper copy of the law (a summary, not the whole thing!) and their contact details, so sensitive children can feel prepared if confronted with truancy officers asking intrusive questions.

3.16

Sweeps may identify children who are not on a school roll and who may be from families who are reluctant or refuse to engage with statutory services. Truancy sweeps, when arranged appropriately, can therefore be a useful way of making contact with this group.

 As I'm going through these documents in order, I have not yet come across the part that says parents MUST engage with LAs (though I assume I may do when I get to the Handbook for HErs).  Additionally, it is interesting when you compare 3.15 and 3.16 that 3.15 talks about Home Educated children, and 3.16 talks about children not on a school roll - clearly the assumption is now that you are ONLY Home Educated if you agree for your children to be on this database and the LA knows about you.  Until then, you are this class-less (or maybe the underclass?) breed of children not on the school roll.

3.17

Local authorities should be cross referencing school admissions data with the live birth register to identify reception aged children not registered at a school. It is important that local authorities try to reach as many potential first admission learners as possible, and have data sharing agreements to facilitate cross checking of children entering statutory provision against partner databases (such as early years, child care teams and health). 

If the LAs are doing this, then surely they don't need the parents to inform them of their decision to HE?


Whew, this is hard going. I'll continue section 4-onwards in a new post: Click Here