Home education news

Home education clampdown 'an infringement of civil liberties'
Parents could be banned from educating children at home in a move branded a "very bad day for civil liberties".

A home educated teenager gives her view
I only did my first year in primary school, and all my memories of it are horrible! I used to get really badly bullied all the time.

Voice welcomes home education review
Voice: the union for education professionals has welcomed news that the review of home education in England is recommending a national registration scheme.

Parents should educate children as they wish
Even in its current decrepit state, the Government has not lost its unappealing appetite for control. ... it arrogantly assumes that state functionaries are better qualified than parents to decide what is right for their children.

Government moves to tighten regulation of home education
Ministers today unveiled plans for a major toughening-up of the regulation of home education, forcing families who opt out of schooling to register annually ... Groups representing home-educating families condemned the moves as "draconian".

Home schools 'should be checked'
... so they want to protect them. But home education groups say the government should stop being so suspicious of them and give them more support.

Home educators made to register
The review has not found any evidence that home education was being used specifically to conceal trafficked children, or forced marriages. ... home educators say authorities should stop treating them with suspicion...

Crackdown on home-schooling as parents face annual checks and registration
...parents last night branded the proposals an 'extraordinary' intrusion by the state into family life. They fundamentally undermine parental responsibility to ensure their child is receiving a good education, they said.

'We are shocked and horrified,' said Ann Newstead, a spokesman for Education Otherwise who herself home educates four children. 'The police don't even have access unless they believe a crime is taking place so local councils will be given more powers than the police,' she added. 'This is an attitude of the state which says you don't know how to bring up your child and we need to tell you how to do it. We are told what to put in children's lunchboxes, how they should eat healthily, how we should keep them safe on the net, how they should go out to play more. There comes a point where you have to say, please don't assume parents are not capable of bringing up their own children.'

Parents face being struck off for failing to safeguard children
Local authorities will be given powers to prevent parents from educating their children at home if a child’s safety is in question, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has confirmed.

Home education parents to face council inspections
Parents who home educate their children will be inspected by council officials and ordered to send them to school if standards are not met, a Government review said today.