An Education Revolution: Do we need a new paradigm for home education?

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An education revolution:

Do we need a new paradigm for home education?

Does home education have a future? If so, what does it look like?  And is a paradigm shift required? I approach these questions from a somewhat unique perspective, so providing some context might be a good place to start. On a personal level, although I loved formal learning, I loathed the social aspect of my school years.  Unquestionably, our decision not to send our son to school was influenced by this and we home educated for eighteen years. Professionally, I worked as a social worker within the children and family’s sector – including within child protection – and later qualified as a teacher.  I now work as a tutor, academic mentor and home education consultant. I can, therefore, see the past and the future of home education through a variety of different lenses.

Education, education, education, is a mantra with which we are all familiar.  Given its transformative powers, education is or, at least it should be, an issue of both personal and public concern. And whether we are discussing state, private or home education, each will have strengths as well as weakness, adherents as well as dissenters.  However, there is one matter on which most people will agree – education is not working for many children and that needs to change.

Media coverage, on an almost weekly basis, is sounding alarm bells over education provision in the United Kingdom. Whether it’s too much testing; the absence of special educational needs provision; low educational aspirations; declining standards; bullying; crumbling school buildings; teacher recruitment and retention difficulties, or children missing from school, we are left in no doubt that the education system is no longer functioning as it should. And that brings us to the Schools Bill and, more specifically, for the purpose of this article, to home education.

Families home educate for a whole host of reasons, and this makes for a schismatic community. This is something which often happens naturally within groups. While there may be a shared belief in the right to do something, it does not correlate that there is agreement on the process or the ultimate objective.  Think of it as a Venn diagram, but where there is very little intersection. At the present time, there appears to be a number of distinct camps within the home education community, which means that there is not one universal voice. Opinions about what home education should look like vary tremendously and it can be the cause of considerable friction, tension and hostility. For the purposes of this piece, the perspective is coming from a structured learning approach, where curriculums are valued, and academic pathways are followed.

Education is one of the key determiners in children’s life choices and life chances. It is important for a cohesive society that those of us who are able to contribute do so and that, within reason, we are self-supporting. There will, of course, always be members of society who need additional assistance, and it is incumbent on those of us who are in positions of advantage, to provide an environment where everyone can thrive. What remains the same, however, is that every child should have access to good quality education and that they should have equal access to the same opportunities. At the end of their educational ‘careers’, young people should have the knowledge and skills which will empower and enable them to contribute to society.

There has been a great deal of media coverage about children “missing in education”.  And, indeed, there should be genuine concern for those children who are not receiving a suitable education. There is a clear distinction, however, between this group of children and those who are genuinely being home educated.  Children in the latter category are not, by definition, missing from education, because it is being delivered at home and many are receiving a better education than they would in either the state or private sector.  And the increasing numbers of schoolteachers who are electing to home educate their own children, says a great deal about their own despair at the current system.

Many of those who are committed to academic pathways for their children, have home educated from the outset and all the way though to university admission. This has provided, for some of us, an opportunity for introspection and reflection. As with most issues in life, there are often narratives which compete with one another to be heard. And people’s experiences will influence their discourse, especially when it comes to matters affecting their children.

There are many who have concerns about the School’s Bill passing into law. Indeed, there is an action group devoted entirely to resisting this piece of legislation and some of the concerns are valid. There should be some caution over diluting the right of parents to determine the best interests of their own children, for it would represent a seismic paradigm shift – taking child rearing from the private into the public sphere. It has the potential to be seen as “state ownership” and clearly it is something which needs to be navigated carefully. Moreover, there are also concerns about the registration of children being home educated and the monitoring of their education. Partly, although not exclusively, the government is hoping that this will be an extra safeguarding measure. Sadly, children being on a school register has not stopped abuse happening and has made it no easier to detect. Someone intent on harming a child will find a way.

Furthermore, there are also concerns about how the local authority will determine what constitutes an appropriate education. How will it be funded?  Will those employed have a full working knowledge of different pedagogy? Will they be suitably qualified to be able to comment on different subject areas? What lateral freedom will be given to teach more unusual subjects?  Will home educators only be able to take those exams deemed appropriate by the local authority? And if it is to be subject to government intervention, what financial support will be given to home educators? Considering that there is a dearth of examination centres, many home educators rely on private provision. The cost of taking a GCSE privately can be in excess of £200, with an A Level being £400 plus and it is even more for science subjects where there are practical exams. Given that many home educators take eight or nine GCSEs and three A Levels, that represents a considerable sum of money which the government would need to find.

Without some formal learning and some qualifications, children are being done a great disservice. 

Conversely, however, there are reasonable arguments in favour of what the government is proposing. Firstly, mandatory registration (as opposed to voluntary registration) could assist in formally identifying those children who are not in school, to ensure that their educational needs are being met and that they are genuinely being home educated. There are children who, despite not being in school, are not being “suitably” educated at home either. It should be a concern that section 2:11 of the Department of Education’s own guidance states that, there is no legal requirement for children to acquire any specific qualifications. Without some formal learning and some qualifications, children are being done a great disservice. Secondly, it would enable education officers to aid those families who might benefit from additional support in their home education journey. It should not be a green light for overzealous intervention, and there is no reason why that should happen; it could simply assist in helping to ensure that children are receiving the education which they are entitled to and provide signposting to resources where necessary.

We live in a competitive world, and we need to work in order to live. Qualifications are, therefore, important in helping to secure employment. It may not be a system which many like but, nevertheless, it is the system we currently have. It is therefore of some concern, that the same government guidance on home education mentioned earlier, also states that home educators do not need “to provide a broad and balanced curriculum”; “to give formal lessons”; to “mark work done by a child” or to “formally assess progress”. While children can and do learn well informally, formal lessons give them an understanding of discipline which will be something to which they are subjected later in life. A broad curriculum gives children a taste of a variety of subjects and, through which, they will be able to decide for themselves what interests them and which ones they would like to pursue. Marking a child’s work and monitoring progress, allows strengths to be identified and weaker areas to be worked on. Just as with the school system, home education can and does have issues and it can go wrong.

Home educating a child is a step which should be considered carefully. It’s a huge responsibility and commitment.  Done well, it is intensive and requires a great deal of parental input. It can also be a lonely and isolating experience, especially for young people, and this is not something which the home educating community often has the courage to talk about. Reflecting on our own experience, I now see – and wish – that our son had experienced more learning with his peer group. This is something which could now be more readily achieved with the emergence of online education platforms. Children will have the opportunity to engage with their peer group, making learning a shared experience which is of enormous value. Moreover, having access to a range of adults who can teach and inspire children, enhances the joy of learning as a shared journey and brings a sense of camaraderie.

There are an increasing number of families choosing home education, who are seeking clear and definitive advice on structured learning, who are planning to take exams and who are anticipating university as the ultimate goal. But they also have concerns about how to do this, to ensure that their children’s futures are protected. For these families, it seems sensible to have some form of regulatory body who can assist them in ensuring that they have the right advice and resources.

There is a certain inevitably that the School’s Bill will be passed; it has come before parliament on two previous occasions and has cross party support. It seem highly unlikely that it will fail on the third time of asking. It is vital, therefore, that the government seeks the input, advice and experience of long-standing home educators, particularly those who put learning centre stage. We need to be involved in the dialogue to produce a paradigm which works in the best interests of children’s future education. Unless we are seeking to remove ourselves entirely from society and living, like Thoreau on Walden, then we need to accept that we all have a part to play in that society.

With the exponential rise in home education, monitoring of home education can help to ensure that a good quality of education is being provided to those children. Dissenters of that view will point to the fact that the current education system is not necessarily excelling in this department. While that may be true, home education has the opportunity to showcase just how well it can work; how successful home educated students can be and, in the process, we might well be able to educate other professionals. It is also a community which aims to raise educational standards, not lower them.

And where the government requires something of the home educating community, it is also reasonable to expect that same community will demand something in return. This means more, and greater access to, exam centres; funding for GCSEs and A Levels; a governing body perhaps, to provide accurate information on exams and higher education; a pool of well qualified tutors from who home educators, where necessary, can gain assistance and an assurance that those doing monitoring are professionally qualified, skilled and experienced. These suggestions will be met with unease by some, and their concerns should be listened to. Clearly the objective should be about ensuring and protecting the right of every child to a good quality education.

The future of home education has the potential to look really good. While it may be regarded by some as an unnecessary and oppressive encroachment, education officers – trained well – could be a valuable source of guidance and support to home educators. A governing organisation which sets out protocols to be observed and provides comprehensive advice on exams, apprenticeships and university entrance is much needed. At the moment, families tend to rely on an array of social media groups for this information. Given that there are now so many groups – many with a significant membership, where it is simply not possible to moderate all comments – not all the information is necessarily accurate. The nature of social media means that it is very easy for misinformation to take hold and so one centralised body to which families could be referred will go some way to ameliorating that situation. Funding could help to support home educated students to take the exams they need and greater access to exam centres would be welcomed by all. Using online education platforms to deliver some education would give home educated children a sense of connection; a feeling of belonging and of not feeling different. There is a human need to fit in and children feel this even more acutely than adults. It would stop the disconnect between being home educated and the educational norms of wider society. This does not have to be a naïve view, because home educators can and should be involved in the process. We all need to work together, to ensure that children have the best educational futures.

By Alison Nicole Blair-Bullett, former social worker and teacher in post compulsory education. Now a social science tutor, academic mentor and home education consultant. Together with Emma White and Jane Porter, Alison runs the group, ‘Home Education for Academic Excellence’.