Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Home Education Centre
Section 1: As recommended by Helen Southworth,
member of the Children, Schools and Families Committee: further
written evidence from Zena Hodgson on behalf of the Home Education
Centre, Somerset in response to the points raised by the Committee
on 14 October 2009
Section 2: As requested by Annette Brooke,
member of the Children, Schools and Families Committee: further
written evidence from Zena Hodgson on behalf of the Home Education
Centre, Somerset in response to points raised at the EO Parliamentary
Event on 20 October 2009
SECTION 1
Q44 Mr. Stuart: There seems to be quite
a discrepancy between the articulate representatives of the home
education community and what local authority officers say is a
large bulk of people who are perhaps less articulate and less
capable, which prompts authorities to believe that the Badman
recommendations will provide support. What is your response to
that?
There already exists within the home education
community itself a very efficient local and national support network
in terms of advice and connectivity between families and groups.
This support network is easy to find and access, for instance
through the internet and local libraries. LAs are often unaware
of the extent and efficiency of these networks, as by their very
nature they need little or no input from the LA. Many of the questions
and support that home educated families seek are addressed by
the home education community itself. If and when families require
additional support from the LA, dialogue between the EHE community
and the LA often occurs through EHE groups/representatives, as
the individuals themselves are not always so confident in those
situations. It does not mean that the information is not disseminated
down to these families.
Since the true numbers of home educators are
unknown, then the LAs cannot assume that the families they actually
see is a significant number/truly representative proportion of
EHE families. LAs are most likely supporting families that have
been referred to them by schools, having just left the school
system possibly under traumatic circumstances. They are first
seen by the LAs, often very promptly after leaving state education,
in a possibly distressed state at a point when they have not yet
had time to get over the trauma and decide which direction their
educational provision should take. LAs should receive better training
in how to assist these few families, the reaction should not be
to change legislation that will affect the large majority of home
educators for which there is no problem.
Q49 Chairman: Zena, as a Member of Parliament,
I know children disappear all the time in my constituency. It's
a very real concern. It isn't only runaway children, but children
who disappear overseas and when you try to track them it is impossible
because we don't have the data. I am sorry, I have to correct
you on that as a working constituency Member.
Children disappearing is not an home education
issue. Children that are home educated, but are not "officially"
known by the LA have not disappeared. LAs, in our experience,
are far more aware of the home educators in their counties than
the number officially on their records. The recommendations proposed
in the Badman review set out to simply catalogue and monitor law
abiding EHE families, it will not solve the problem of disappearing
children. If the recommendations are brought in as legislation,
I have no doubt that the statistics for this wider social issue
will still exist.
Q52 Annette Brooke: I would like a straight
yes or no answer from each member of the panel. Imagine a very
simple registration scheme that gets rid of all the strings and
conditions in the Badman report and literally signs up—given
that if a child goes to a local school, there is knowledge that
the child is at the local school—just to providing the knowledge
that a child is being home educated at X address. Let us start
with a very simple principle and at least we would get some indication
of numbers, although I accept what you said, Fiona. Do you feel
strongly about the simplest of registration schemes?
No, there should be no compulsory registration.
The very simple principle we should start with
is that forcing any minority group to register with the authorities
on the basis of mistrust through unsubstantiated concerns is legally
and morally unacceptable. Singling out a minority group in this
way is discriminatory and should not be used simply as a method
of convenient administration for the Government.
It is proposed that registration of families
is automatic "if there are no safeguarding concerns".
Therefore it is not automatic. Families are going to be
required not simply to register but be subject to scrutiny in
their own home before registration is granted. This is shifting
the balance of power to LAs, allowing them to decide whether home
education is suitable for particular families. In deed it is a
shift in burden of proof in law.
As an analogy; it is alleged that it is statistically
more likely for a terrorist act to be carried out in this country
by a Muslim. Following the same logical path that is being applied
to EHE, we should therefore for the sake of national security,
force all Muslim families to be registered and check their home
every six to 12 months to make sure that they are not potential
terrorists. This proposal would be discriminatory and disproportionate
to the supposed risk, it would be a waste of tax payers money
and an intrusion by the Government into private family life. The
same discrimination is being proposed for EHE families.
Q57 Annette Brooke: May I pursue that
question? Obviously, you can now register voluntarily. How many
of you are registered, or were registered?
I feel it is worth pointing out, that now that
a good collaborative relationship between Somerset LA and EHE
families exists, more families have been voluntarily coming forward
to register. Families feel more trusting of the LA, they do not
feel that the LA is looking to catch them out or judge them unfairly.
They are beginning to feel that there is better understanding
and real, unconditional support on offer.
However, many families have clearly asserted
that should the Badman recommendations go through they would withdraw
from the relationship. Even more important to note is that some
of our local EHE advisors/inspectors in the southwest have stressed
that they may feel unable to continue under the new proposals.
Q59 Paul Holmes: On the Badman report's
suggestions about requiring a statement of learning, I know that
a number of home educators—both nationally and the ones
I've met in Chesterfield—have been very concerned about
that and the implication that it might be imposing all sorts of
very restrictive prescriptions. Does anybody want to elaborate
on that?
Educational plans make no consideration for
the child-led approach to EHE; where there is no way to predict
a child's potentially ever changing interests. There can only
be a commitment by the parent to facilitate the child's learning
and development. Indeed it would be difficult to come up with
a standard criteria for a statement of learning that would be
able to encompass the diverse range of learning styles found within
EHE.
Whatever the style of approach, during home
education and especially in the first year of home education,
families may frequently re-evaluate their approach in order to
find a style that best supports their individual child's learning
needs.
In fact good practice would suggest that re-evaluation
should take place throughout the child's education. If parents
feel they must adhere to the model they first suggest, they could
well impair the child's learning for the sake of conformity and
fear of the authority of the LA officer.
Q66 Paul Holmes: Some parents who are
home educators are very committed to autonomous learning, some
are looking at rebuilding a child's self-confidence and dealing
with special educational needs. You have others, as Simon was
saying, who will get eight A*s at GCSE. There is a vast range.
Going back to earlier evidence, what about all those parents,
many of whom we do not know about, who have not got a clue how
to cope with any of this? I have always admired home educators
because of the amount of work that they do. I am a former teacher,
but I could not teach science. So, what about all the home educators
who are not in these self-confident, different and contradictory
boxes?
The answer to this is the same as for Q44.
There is an extensive and efficient local and
national network of support within the EHE community itself. Families
ask for and receive support and advice from these sources all
the time. Indeed as support officer for HEC, I receive many new
and ongoing enquiries on a whole range of issues every week. There
are also many, many groups, large and small all over the country
where parents come together and share ideas and skills to help
further their learning experiences.
Q69 Mr. Carswell: I have a general question
for the panel. In Clacton, the parents of 16 children have,
rightly in my opinion, refused to send their children to a school
that they believe is not able to provide the children with a proper
education. They have successfully demanded that they receive a
home education grant from the local education authority. Is this
something that you welcome, and do you think that the sort of
extra regulation and oversight demanded by Badman could be conditional
on receiving the grant? If you get the grant, you can be overseen
by the state, but if you do not, it should leave you alone.
Unconditional financial help can and should
be made available to home educators upon reasonable requests for
specific support. I find it hard to believe that families would
ever have the possibility of receiving direct, standard funds
to spend on their child's education as they saw fit. However,
I do think that it is possible to set up a system for access to
grants in order to gain assistance with specific things such as
exams, without having to submit to state control over the family's
EHE provision.
In December 2008 Somerset County Council
awarded the HEC a specific home education grant of £10,000 for
equipment to cover the learning requirements of children aged
between 0-16 years old. No conditions of oversight by the
state were made in order to receive the grant; the HEC co-wrote
the contract, chose and purchased the equipment. This was the
first of its kind in the UK.
Home Educators Yeovil, a group developed by
two of our members to support the community in the south east
of the county were also awarded an home education grant of £2,000 in
September 2009.
Jane Lowe: The problem is that the
local authorities don't leave people alone—they interfere
with what is being done.
Q74 Mr. Chaytor: But there is no registration
scheme in place yet, so how can you make that assessment?
When families de-register their child from school,
the LA is informed, they are registered EHE. At HEC we are currently
supporting a number of conscientious HE families in neighbouring
counties, with legitimate reasons for home-educating who have
experienced discrimination at the hands of poorly informed support
services.
Home Education is not necessarily "school"
at home between 9am and 3pm. For many home educators it is a lifestyle.
In this context it is not the fear of accountability that worries
HE parents, but the invasion of privacy; the subjective analysis
of where we live, or the appearance of our homes with the potential
to influence the LA advisor's assessment.
If the LA officer has a negative opinion of
the diversity and breadth of the home educating community, it
will ultimately affect the outcome of the visits.
Q77 Mr. Chaytor: I am just curious as
to why you are so reluctant to demonstrate the quality of what
you are doing. You are happy to assert it, but not to demonstrate
it.
With regards to English law, it is assumed that
home educators are fulfilling their duty to provide a suitable
education for their child, unless someone can provide evidence
to the contrary. Home educators do not have to demonstrate their
provision. Just as in the same way ordinary citizens do not have
to demonstrate that they are not committing any kind of criminal
act; it is just assumed that they are law abiding unless there
is evidence to the contrary.
Q78 Mr. Chaytor: Lots of children in
mainstream schools and special schools are on the autistic spectrum,
so is it your argument that under no circumstances whatsoever
should there be any objective assessment of the progress a child
has made or of the achievements of particular children who are
educated at home?
Parents with children in schools have delegated
the duty of educating their child to the school and it is right
that the progress of that child is noted and reported back to
the parent. Parents who educate their child at home fulfil the
duty themselves and are therefore best placed to assess their
own child's progress and achievements.
The parents are held legally responsible for
the child. Again, English law states that one is presumed innocent
unless evidence shows the contrary to be true. Therefore it has
to be presumed that parents are fulfilling their duty to their
child and unless evidence to the contrary is forthcoming there
is no reason for the government/local authority to assess the
EHE child or interfere with individual families and their lifestyle
choices that are their legal right to make.
SECTION 2
Somerset Approach to supporting EHE Families under
the current EHE Guidelines for Local Authorities
— Under current legislation and guidelines
a positive relationship has developed between the home educating
community and Somerset County Council.
Somerset EHE team originally approached the
home educating community from the perspective of being a cultural
minority under the Equalities and Diversity department using the
current Elective Home Education guidelines for LAs. The LA approached
the Home Education Centre to establish how the home-educating
community functions and what support and advice was required.
— Under current legislation and guidelines
exams can be accessed in our new exam centre at Richard Huish
College in Taunton, Somerset.
The Home Education Centre held a meeting with
local colleges of FE and the local authority. We were keen to
establish an exam centre where home educated children from across
the region could be guaranteed to sit exams of their choice easily.
Through their previous experience of home educated students' aptitude
and attitude, the college was very keen to accommodate EHE children.
Home educated children are now able to sit exams in any subject
using any exam board.
Somerset County Council has agreed to cover
the cost of sitting exams, assessment and support for children
with additional needs for registered Somerset families.
— Under current EHE guidelines for Local
Authorities the EHE community can receive financial support.
In December 2008 Somerset County Council
awarded the Home Education Centre a £10,000 grant for
equipment to cover the learning requirements of children aged
between 0-16 years old.
The centre co-wrote the contract, chose and
purchased the equipment. The remit was clearly set out; the Home
Education Centre was to purchase equipment and resources to support
children aged 0-16 years across a wide range of subject areas.
We bought resources that families found difficult/expensive to
provide in their homes. HEC provided the LA with the accounts
and copy of receipts for the £10,000. The local HE advisor
was then invited into HEC to view the resources in use.
Somerset LA did not ask for information about
individual families, they enquired as to the approximate number
of Somerset families we support, as the HEC also supports families
from Devon and Dorset. Some families are registered with their
local authorities, some are not. This was the first grant of its
kind in the UK.
Home Educators Yeovil, a group developed by
two of our members to support the community in the south east
of the county were also awarded a grant of £2,000 in
September 2009.
— The Home Education Centre has recently
developed a working relationship with Somerset Connexions service.
Like Somerset County Council they are happy
for us to set the terms of our access to their service. We are
putting together a list of requirements, so that Connexions advisors
can tailor their support appropriately.
We intend to work collaboratively on enabling
EHE children to access work placements and apprenticeships. Connexions
are happy for us to benefit from their database of employers and
from the health and safety checks and liability insurance offered
by the Connexions service.
October 2009
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