The Home Educator Series (part 1)
... or, are you thinking about starting, but don't know where to start?
Maybe you have always thought you would home educate your children, or maybe you haven’t ever thought about it before but school just doesn’t seem “right”. Or maybe you don’t want to commit any particular thoughts to actions right now, but you want to know what you might do, if you did start thinking about home education.
Well, first off, here’s what you need to know:
In the United Kingdom, home education is not only legal, it is the default option for educating your child. Education of a child is compulsory, school is not. Many parents choose to opt-in to the school service who then take on the legal responsibility to educate the child. If you choose not to opt-in to school, the legal responsibility lies with you as the parent or guardian.
As education is a devolved issue, there are variations in law for the different countries within the United Kingdom. It is important you understand the legalities for the country you live in. My experience lies within England and therefore I discuss the laws pertaining there.
The Education Act 1996, states that the education for a child should be “efficient, full-time and suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have”. You are not required to follow the National Curriculum, nor do you have to teach any particular subjects or topics by law.
Home education in of itself is not a safe-guarding issue and cannot be used against a parent or guardian as a reason to engage Social Services.
You do not need to be a trained teacher or have a teaching qualification in order to home educate.
You do not need to follow a timetable or work to set term dates. You can even go on holiday whenever you like…
Home educated children can and do sit a multitude of exams and receive qualifications. The cost of sitting any exams sits with the parent. There is no state funding.
“What if my child hasn’t started school yet? Do I have to tell anyone I am home educating?”
Legally, no. As the law expects you to take the responsibility of educating your child yourself, you do not need to tell anyone that you are home educating.
Of course, it isn’t a dirty little secret, but it’s not something you need permission to do. You can just… do it. Comforted in the knowledge that the law is on your side.
“What if my child is already registered at school and I want to home educate?”
If your child is at a mainstream school, and does not have a School Attendance Order, you only need to send a letter or email to the school, stating that you will be home educating and that you wish to deregister your child from the school.
The school must then accept your deregistration request, without barriers or requests for more information, and they must then inform the Local Authority of your intention. You do not need the permission of the school or the Local Authority in order to home educate, and they cannot imply that you need it. Once you have submitted your deregistration, your legal obligation to the school has ended.
There are additional rules in the event that your child has SEN and is at a special school, in which case, you do need the council’s permission to home educate.
“The school/local authority says I have to attend a meeting before they will approve my home education request”
In the UK, the legal right to home educate is just that: a legal right. It isn’t a request that needs approval. If your child is at a mainstream school and you have submitted a deregistration letter/email, you do not need to attend a meeting to discuss it further.
The school that some of my children originally attended promptly confirmed receipt of my deregistration email and notified the Local Authority without any barriers/delays or requests for further discussion. As it should be. Do not be afraid that you are doing anything wrong.
And as a starting point, that’s it. There are, of course, nuances that will be relevant to your family, which can’t be covered in a general advice post. There is an excellent website, Education Otherwise, which offers a wealth of knowledge on all things home education, including advice on any specific situations.
But also, in this Home Education Series, I will be covering off as many of your home education questions as I can think of, right down to the minutiae, so stay tuned