Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Written evidence submitted by by Dr Harriet Pattison, School of Education, Liverpool Hope University (CWSB117)

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Introduction

I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Liverpool Hope University. I have a long-term academic interest in home education and have undertaken research, both here and at the Institute of Education, UCL on a variety of home education issues, including the philosophical, pedagogical and political. This research now spans about 2 decades. I have published extensively on the subject.

Executive Summary 

T his submission covers concerns on the following arising from my research on home education :

1. Introduction of register

2. Content and maintenance of register

3. Provision of information for local authorities: parents

4. Local Authority Support

5. School Attendance Orders

1. Introduction of register

The register risks obfuscating the complexities of safeguarding with the physical location of the child. Many families move into home education because their child is at risk in school. A recent survey of 569 home educators revealed a range of issues including physical violence, threats, emotional trauma, racism, transphobia and other forms of bullying and violence which had not been satisfactorily resolved within school (Pattison in preparation). The risks within school need to recognised and addressed in decision making on home education and should be considered as part of the safeguarding approach. Indeed, the most effective way to ensure safeguarding is through working with families, rather than against them. Unfortunately, the register is seen as an indication of mistrust and is likely to cause greater alienation, particularly among minority groups (Pattison, 2020; Pattison, 2024). Data from the above research shows that that trustful, understanding relationships between LAs and home educators are possible; this should be further investigated to determine a basis for best practice alongside greater consideration of how home educators could be meaningfully supported.

2. Content and maintenance of register

This section appears to be based on an understanding of education restricted to school style didactic pedagogy. Home education may be based on, or may include, other styles of education which do not lend themselves to this type of accounting. Research has shown that many home educating families adopt educational approaches in which learning opportunities are embedded in everyday life and in which education and learning opportunities are an ongoing part of life, activities and social interaction (Thomas and Pattison, 2007, Pattison, 2016). This style of education is particularly amenable for children with learning difficulties, neuro-diversity, poor confidence, those who have struggled with school pedagogy and behaviour requirements or those who are recovering from emotional trauma, the latter often associated with negative experiences in school. I have undertaken specific research on informal learning, particularly on informal learning to read. Children who have struggled and failed to meet targets in school have been able to recover and go on to learn successfully through such approaches, their literacy experiences coming from environmental sources rather than teaching material. It is vital that this is recognised, otherwise the chances of positive outcomes for these children are likely to be lost.

3. Provision of information for local authorities: parents

My colleague, Dr Alan Thomas, used the journals of a home educating parent tracking her daughters informal learning as part of a research project (Thomas, 1998). This prolific journaling represented hours and hours of parental input and dedication and the equivalent in research time to unpick. The demands made of parents and LAs in this section seem to be an equivalent to this and are therefore unrealistic, likely to be highly time consuming, difficult to accurately maintain and very stressful. Overall, the result is therefore likely to be detrimental to education rather than supportive.

4. Local Authority Support

As the above shows, the reality, possibilities and achievements of home education may be subject to misunderstanding, ignorance and mistrust. Research (in progress) shows that relationships between LAs and home educators are often highly fraught and negative. Part of this, at least, stems from the lack of understanding home educators often report, mirrored by the lack of specific training for LA staff. This needs to be urgently addressed before more powers are conferred on or before what the LA "considers fit" can be taken as an adequate legal criteria.

5. School Attendance Orders

Of particular concern here is the wording of "how a child is being educated and what the child is learning" 436I(2)b. As discussed above, LAs are frequently not well informed on styles of home education. In addition, my research has shown that learning trajectories within the greater freedoms of home education may vary considerably with those expected in schools. For example, my research showed that many children educated at home learn to read ‘late’ in comparison with school expectations. They frequently learned on different trajectories, ie becoming literate as in acquainted with vocabulary, grammar, syntax, genre, narrative etc, before, rather than after, independent reading. This is a perfectly viable possibility within a different educational environment and one which holds the potential to circumvent many of the early reading difficulties encountered by beginner readers in school (Pattison, 2016). However, if this is not properly understood it is likely to lead to poor decision making by LAs at this point.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Relations between home educators and authorities have been notoriously poor for decades. There is an urgent need for bridge building, understanding and positive ways to recognise and embrace the practice and the undoubted educational opportunities that it offers some children. Like home education, school is a complex environment which does not provide an undifferentiated experience to all children. An acknowledged situation of falling confidence in school provision, a rise in unmet SEND diagnosis and provision, a mental health crisis and increasing numbers of children for whom the target driven regimes imposed onto schools is simply unbearable mean that safeguarding criteria for many children in school are not being currently met. Home education represents an important safety valve for many children and legislation should be seeking to keep this open and accessible.

Research points towards the following points which should be furthered in consultation with the home educating community and appropriate experts:

Ensuring parity of process across LAs based on respectful adherence to the law as it currently stands

Training and education of LA staff involved in home education in the pedagogies, practices, philosophies and practical needs of home educators

Recognition that school and other state institutions do not guarantee safeguarding and that over-intervention in families causes damage to children and families

Establishment of the needs of home educators on both national and local levels and a commitment of resources and expertise to furnish these   

Parent advocacy, liaison groups and a national and transparent complaints procedure to be put in place. 

Research (Pattison in pr eparation ) shows that trustful, understanding relationships between LAs and home educators are possible; this should be further investigated to determine a basis for best practice.  Further research on how home educators could be meaningfully supported needs to be undertaken. 

I am happy to contribute oral evidence or to provide copies of research cited here and others.

References

Pattison, H. (in preparation) Home education, safeguarding and reaction

Pattison, H., & Holmes, S. (2024). Whose children are they? Using Kymlicka on multiculturalism to evaluate rights and freedom in Christian home education. Oxford Review of Education, 1–19.

Pattison, H. (2020) Muslim Home Educators in the Time of Prevent. International Review of Qualitative Research 00(0) 1–23

Pattison, H (2016) Rethinking Learning to Read. Shropshire: Educational Heretics Press

Thomas, A and Pattison, H (2007) How Children Learn at Home; Continuum, London.

Thomas, A. (1998) Educating Children at Home. London: Cassel

January 2025