They have not wasted any time…

…getting the Consultation up. I have not wasted too much time in responding – take that as you will.

Respondent Information Questions

Please tick the box that best describes you as a respondent.

Home educated child/young person

Home educating parent

Organisation representing home educating families
Local Authorities
Other organisation with responsibility for children
Other

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Consultation Questions

Do you agree that these proposals strike the right balance between the rights of parents to home educate and the rights of children to receive a suitable education?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: The proposals assume that the rights of the parents and the rights of the child are diametrically opposed. As a home educating parent, I am constantly working with the well-being and ‘rights’ of my children uppermost. This ‘striking the right balance’ is simply spin.

Do you agree that a register should be kept?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: Children are registered at birth. The obnoxious ContactPoint has been launched. What more do you need?

Do you agree with the information to be provided for registration?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: It serves no purpose.

Do you agree that home educating parents should be required to keep the register up to date?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: Of course not. The register serves no purpose other than to provde a tool in order to further destroy the family unit and the family’s autonomy to live their lives within the law AS THEY SEE FIT.

Do you agree that it should be a criminal offence to fail to register or to provide inadequate or false information?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: Can this government possibly bring in a few more laws so that we can all become criminals more easily? I really don’t think there are enough laws. Now you want to make defending our privacy a criminal offence.

6 a)

Do you agree that home educated children should stay on the roll of their former school for 20 days after parents notify that they intend to home educate?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: Have been unable to see the logic in this. Can only think that it will provide a ‘window of opportunity’ for a bit of underhand persuasion to get the child back into school. Most schools will re-accept a child after deregistration.

6 b)

Do you agree that the school should provide the local authority with achievement and future attainment data?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: If a child is being home-educated then, at that point, the LA has nothing to do with the child’s achievements and attainment. Education is and always has been, the responsibility of the parent.

Do you agree that DCSF should take powers to issue statutory guidance in relation to the registration and monitoring of home education?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: Strongly disagree because it is obvious that Graham Badman/Ed Balls have no idea how an autonomous education takes place. Conventional thought sees education as something that begins and ends. Education begins at birth and ends at death. It cannot be monitored or measured without a detrimental effect on the individual concerned. A child can learn to read at four or a child can learn to read at 13 – in the long term, i.e. a lifetime, it will make very little difference.

Do you agree that children about whom there are substantial safeguarding concerns should not be home educated?

Agree

Disagree
Not sure
No Response

Comments: If it has come to the attention of Social Services that a child is in danger from its parents, then of course action should be taken. I cannot help but mention the several high profile cases where a child’s precarious home situation was ignored over and over again. However, it is unlikely that a parent choosing elective home education is doing it because of a wish to hide abuse. I would guess that 99.999 cases of abuse happen to schooled children, purely because of the ratio of schooled to ehe’d.

Do you agree that the local authority should visit the premises where home education is taking place provided 2 weeks notice is given?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: If the parent and child wish to have a visit then fine. Many children are uncomfortable with strangers and would not be happy about sharing their work (which they, of course, own) with someone they do not know. Additionally, it is doubtful that LA personnel would understand the myriad ways in which home-ed families operate. If there was cause for concern over welfare issues then I would voluntarily take my children to my GP for examination. Unless there is cause for concern, then no one other than currently designated authorities should have the right to enter another human being’s home unless invited to. To insist is a gross invasion of privacy. The more I read and hear about the powers that some people think they have over others, the more I realise that keeping families as autonomous ‘units’ that underpin the fabric of our society is not the government’s priority.

Do you agree that the local authority should have the power to interview the child, alone if this is judged appropriate, or if not in the presence of a trusted person who is not the parent/carer?

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: Absolutely not! Where on earth did this idea come from? No one ‘interviews’ my child/ren without me being present or agreeing to it. What right does anyone have to insist this happens? Unless the child is deemed to be at risk from the parent, when in which case the child would be removed by SS, as is supposed to happen currently, then no one has the power to direct, control or demand a closed interview with a child. THIS is tantamount to abuse. This is open to all kinds of potential problems. I am hardly able to believe these recommendations/questions.

Do you agree that the local authority should visit the premises and interview the child within four weeks of home education starting, after 6 months has elapsed, at the anniversary of home education starting, and thereafter at least on an annual basis? This would not preclude more frequent monitoring if the local authority thought that was necessary.

Agree

Disagree

Not sure
No Response

Comments: No, unless the parent requested it. The most helpful thing the LA can do for us, is to leave us alone to get on with our lives. We do not require monitoring. We are content with our educational provision. We are extremely satisfied that our children are developing and achieving at a normal, if not above normal, rate. If we need help, we’ll ask for it.