Last night, at 10pm, the Education Committee published its Strengthening Home Education Report. Apparently, this was so that it could be discussed in today's papers, yet I know many journalists got a heads-up what the report was going to say, so already had their articles written and waiting. Home educators, otoh, had to wait until it was actually published before being able to read it.
I have not yet read the report myself, though I have seen some people's reactions to it. I thought I would share my reaction with you, as I read it and jot down notes. There may be the occasional swear word, but fuck it - I'm an adult.
So, opening up the report I can see that it is 67 pages long. Joy.
Looking at the contents list, under "Summary" it begins - a statutory register for children out of school...
"The Association of Directors of Children’s Services projected that as of October 2020 more than 75,000 children were being educated at home, an increase of 38 per cent from the previous year"
The ADCS numbers are inaccurate. This has already be clarified by WCW of Education Otherwise, yet the Education Select Committee (ESC) still continues to use it.
"It is simply not good enough that we are only able to make a best guess at the number of children receiving EHE, especially when the Department for Education itself acknowledges that there is “considerable evidence” that many children may not be receiving a suitable education"
Really? I'd like to see this "considerable evidence" as it all seems anecdotal and made-up to me.
"The Committee remains deeply concerned that we cannot support children who may have been ‘left behind’ during the pandemic without knowing who they are and how many of them there are."
'Left behind' does not make sense when talking about home education. The law clearly states that the education must be suitable to their age, ability and aptitude. I am much more concerned about the children in schools who genuinely get 'left behind' because they do not have the individual support needed in order to keep up with the rest of the class.
"Without a national register for EHE, we have no equivalent intelligence about the impact of covid-19 on the participation in educational activities of the full range of children receiving EHE."
The Centre for Personalised Education (CPE) recently held a conference with leading academics entitled "Research Exists". The research is there already, and there is still some ongoing research regarding to covid (for exam THIS research project looking at the impact on HErs trying to take exams during covid). If Robert Halfon (Chair of the ESC) refuses to attend such conferences, how does he expect to find out about the evidence? Oh yeah, by bringing in a register... (See my thoughts on bringing in a register HERE).
"During the inquiry hundreds of parents that home educate their children told us about the benefits they see from EHE."
There were actually over 1000 responses to the HE Inquiry, it's just that they have only published a few hundred of them.
Summary Recommendations:
1. A Statutory register for children out of school
As I've said before, a register will not achieve anything that they are hoping it to. They keep saying that the evidence from home educators cannot be trusted to ensure that all HE children are receiving a suitable education, but unless they search every single house (which may be next steps, who knows?) anybody who is nefarious will simply not register their children. They are encouraging people to snitch on their neighbours for having children.
"Once the register is up and running, we expect the Department to collate, analyse and publish anonymised annual data on the number of children out of school so that stakeholders are better able to understand trends and create effective policy in response to them."
And that's what this is about, really. Stakeholders in a children's education are the child themselves and the parent. Schools are involved if the child is registered at school, and the LA should only be involved if there is evidence to suggest that an education is not taking place. Creating work for paper-pushers within the government is not a good use of tax payer money, especially when there are already researchers from various universities who study trends and can actually understand what they are looking at.
2. Supporting children with SEND and home education
"We do know that for some families EHE is not truly ‘elective’, especially those where children have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and do not get the support they need from the school system. No-one should be forced into educating at home through lack of support—instead the Government must act to ensure that schools are able to provide proper support for SEND in the first place."
This is not a HE thing. Instead they have conflated two things, and are using it as a way to 'encourage' more children back into school.
The government must act to ensure schools are able to provide proper support for SEND - absolutely! If a child is in school, they should get all the help and support they need in order to get the education they deserve.
Some parents of children with SEND do look into HE due to the lack of support and services on offer at school. These parents are then split into two groups - parents who decide that HE is the best way for their children to get a good education, and those who feel forced into home education. This latter group is then split into a further two groups - those who realise HE is totally flexible and therefore the best place for their children to get a good education, and those who still wish they could send their child to school. It is this latter group of parents that need the support. Having already used a school, these children will be known to their Local Authorities. A register will not make a difference here.
"To ensure that families who are considering EHE receive the right information at the right time to make the best decision for their children, we call for the Department to reconsider the creation of an independent, neutral advocate which has the responsibility for co-ordinating all statutory SEND processes and could support families where a choice about EHE is being made."
Will this "independent, neutral advocate" have knowledge about home education and have firm links with the home educating community, or will it be someone else to suggest that children with SEND need to be in school, and therefore yet another hoop for these parents to jump through?
3. Assessment of a 'suitable' education
"Local authorities must be able to assess the educational progress of children who are home educated at least once a year, in order to take reasonable steps to reassure themselves that EHE is providing a ‘suitable’ education."
So, I'm not even out of the initial summary of this document (bottom of page 4) and already a recommendation for a register has turned into "at least" annual monitoring.
"However, as a minimum, home-educated children must have equity of access to the next stage of their education, work or training with their schooled peers. This means attaining essential standards of literacy and numeracy, while also taking into account the different paths that children with SEND might follow."
"Next stage of their education" means, imo, age 16+ when they go off to college/sixth form or apprenticeships. At a push, it could be brought back to age 14 (when schooled children start studying for their GCSEs) to ensure that these options are available for home educated kids, but however you look at it, it does not mean there should be annual monitoring.
Then there's a sentence about LA staff needing effective training, which I totally agree with, but again, there should be input from one of the national HE organisations (Educational Freedom, Education Otherwise, or whoever) to ensure that this training is correct wrt HE, and not just pushed from the government/ESC to make even more LAs act unlawfully.
"While we know that a number of local authorities do more than the bare minimum, local authorities must have the ability to see children (at a venue of the family’s choosing) and evidence of their progress as appropriate, even where educational content and style varies widely from the school curriculum"
So a child no longer has autonomy over themselves or their belongings? They cannot refuse to meet a stranger? They must hand over their work to be scrutinised by some random?
Small consolation - but at least they have said "at a venue of the family's choosing", rather than demanding to see and inspect children's homes and safe spaces too.
4. Better data on outcomes
As I've already said, there has even been a conference entitled Research Exists. Even anecdotally, join a national HE facebook group or two, and you can see loads of examples about outcomes from home education.
Personally, I don't think this section is a bad thing, however, it should be voluntary (whilst acknowledging that may skew the data slightly).
5. A level playing field on access to examinations
"The Department for Education must work to establish the appropriate level of entitlement, to which examinations the entitlement will apply, and the additional funding the Department will commit to support this, in order to help EHE children gain the qualifications needed for the future education, training and employment that will allow them to play active roles in society."
Apart from the derisive suggestion that only people with specific qualifications "play active roles in society", I do think there should be better support for HE kids taking exams. However, these should not be limited to specific subjects, qualifications nor age of the child - they should be available as and when needed.
This is the end of the summary of the document. In Part 2 I will go through the introduction of the report.
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