Much has been said in the House of Lords during the passage of the schools Bill, in respect of remedies available to home educating families if their local authority does not act reasonably. This brief analysis examines the facts behind that contention. A parent can complain to the local authority. Freedom of information requests made […]
England: why parents choose home education
The Department for Education (DfE) and Baroness Barran, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School System, who is leading the Schools Bill in the House of Lords, are forming policy and guidance for EHE. Education Otherwise believes that any policy should be based on accurate data. To that end, a survey was taken of […]
Home Educating Families’ Views of Local Authority Requests for Samples of Children’s Work
Increasingly, local authority staff in some areas are seeking samples of children’s work from home educating parents. A survey of 2,217 home educating parents finds that the seeking of samples of a child’s work is adding to the increasing divide between home educating families and their authorities. It is without doubt that public bodies need […]
Deregistration: Schools and local authorities failing to act lawfully
Short blurb: The Centre for Personalised Education report on parents’ experiences of deregistering their child from school demonstrates a clear divide between legal requirements and actions of schools and local authorities in practice. Parents who declined a m,meeting with the school had their deregistration unlawfully refused in a third of cases. Click Here For The […]
Home Education Trends: Post Lockdown
Following publication of our report ‘Home Education: The Covid Effect’, on trends in home education, this report examines continuing trends in parental choice to home educate their children and how Covid 19 arrangements have continued to affect those choices. There is increasing positive narrative around home education with current indications suggesting a shift away from […]
Home Education Support and Engagement Report
At the heart of any successful support for our children’s future wellbeing are consistent good relationships, not only for our children, but also when dealing with third parties who have a legitimate interest in their welfare. ‘Regulation impacts on child wellbeing and…home educators take different motivational postures based on a range of factors, of which […]
Registration of home educated children: efficacy and effect.
Dr Rebecca English, Senior Lecturer Faculty of CI, Education & Social Justice, QUT. Work in the home education field is principally concerned with choice. It explores who chooses to home educate and why. Much of this work is qualitative (cf English, 2016; 2019; 2021a; 2021b), and much of it is concerned with participants’ accounts for […]
Home Education Trends: The Covid Effect
Full report link Following on from publication of our preliminary report on trends in home education, this report examines continuing trends in parental choice to home educate their children and how Covid 19 arrangements have affected those choices. Home educating families tell us that narratives around home education have shown signs of increasing positivity during […]
Research on visibility and engagement of home educated children within their communities
At Education Otherwise we know that home educated children are highly visible and engaged within their communities. The following key findings from a dissertation submitted to the University of Derby in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a degree of Master of Arts in Education by Jennifer Alburey in January 2021, confirm this. These findings […]
Elective Home Educating Parents in Portsmouth: Perceptions of Local Authority
Relationships between Portsmouth City Council and home educating families broke down in 2020 to the point that a Judicial review was brought by a home educating parent. This report examines relationships between those parents and the Council, finding that home educating families considered their relationships with the council to be founded on fear and intimidation. […]
