“I never taught them to read”: the damage of not having to register home educated children
Fears the home education system is failing children.
In England there is currently no legal duty on parents to inform the local authority of their home educated children.
Local authorities have no formal powers or duty to monitor the provision of education at home. Even if local authorities make an enquiry to establish what education is being provided, parents have no legal duty to respond.
There are increased concerns about the rising numbers of children, not on a school roll, who are unknown to the local authority and may not be receiving a suitable education.
Sarah Parker (not real name) has always home educated her eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. This family chose not to register their children with the local authority so that they would not interfere.
When asked about how they approach home education, Sarah responded: “We very much follow our children’s interests.
“Like my eight-year-old son just isn’t interested in reading and writing so we don’t push it.
“He is getting into story books now, but we have to read them to him as he can’t read himself.”
Not being able to read, at an age when most children in mainstream education can, appeared to be a common trend in home educated children. Most parents didn’t focus on the teaching of reading and writing if it didn’t interest their child.
Mary White (not real name) has also always home educated her children and is unknown to the local authorities. She teaches her eight-year-old and five-year-old children whilst working part time.
Mary chose to home educate her children so that they could have more time to play. She said: “Today we didn’t do any lessons, we just decided to spend the entire day playing with a foam board and making it into different objects.
“I’m more child led then curriculum led.
“I do have an advantage though because my children can read fluently even though I never taught them to read, it was just luck. I think they must have just picked it up from me reading out loud.”
All children are entitled to receive an education that allows them to reach their potential and live a fulfilled life. While many parents who home educate do well, this is not the case for all.
A teacher who runs classes for home educated children said they think there should be more input from the local authorities in home education. From their experience, home educated children generally lack the basic skills they need.
The teacher disclosed: “Not in all cases but our home educated pupils tend to be academically behind.
“We have children as old as 11 who can’t read which makes it particularly difficult when learning lyrics.”
The teacher added that they think there’s slower social development amongst home educated children. They believe this comes from a lack of interaction with other children and people in authoritative positions.
The government’s ‘Elective home education guide for parents’ states that local authorities have a minimum expectation for literacy and numeracy in assessing the suitability of education.
However, local authorities can’t monitor whether children are receiving a suitable education if they are are unknown to them.
A report from the Office of the Schools Adjudicator stated that: “Local authorities were clearly worried that many of these children were unlikely to receive sufficient education at home and that any existing problems were likely to be exacerbated.”
Although, for some children, home education can be very beneficial.
Claire Taylor took her child out of school as he was unhappy and not ready for a formalised style of teaching. Claire is a Cambridge graduate and ensures her son receives a balanced education.
Reports from tutors say her son is thriving and above the level he should be for his age. Claire said: “I make sure he is academically where he should be.
“I am getting him into the idea that going to school when he’s older can have great pluses as the teachers are experts and the facilities, like science labs, you just don’t have at home.”
However, even when the local authority are aware of home educated children, in some cases, there still seems to be a lack of support.
Claire alerted her local authority that she is home educating her son but has had no contact from them. She stated: “I keep records of everything in case I am contacted but I think I must have slipped through the net.”
A significant issue with local authorities not monitoring home education is ensuring the safeguarding of children.
The Coalition for Responsible Home Education state that while school attendance does not prevent abuse, it can serve as a deterrent.
The home education teacher expressed how they think safeguarding home educated children should be a massive concern as most abuse is flagged at school. An unregistered child at home could go years with no intervention because no one is aware of them.
The teacher explained: “I had a case where a girl came to a home educated class for the first time and if I ever went near her or tried to put her in place she would flinch.
“Her behaviour was very withdrawn, and it was like she was trying to be invisible which, for me, rang alarm bells.”
The teacher reported their concerns to the NSPCC. They never saw the child again and were never informed as to what happened.
An NSPCC spokesperson said: “It is vital that a register is in place to ensure young people who aren’t in school are identified so local authorities can offer them and their families the support they may need.”
The lack of ability to identify and intervene in children who are absent from school is a particularly pressing issue at the moment. According to official Department of Education figures, in 2022 more then 140,000 children were “severely absent” from school. This is a sharp increase from the 60,244 absent cases in 2019. These children are now not really on anyone’s radar.
For that reason, there is now a greater need for local authorities to be able to identify children being kept at home to assure that they all are receiving a suitable education and are being safeguarded.
A youth worker and governor explained that in her experience parents don’t alert the local authorities of their home educated children as they feel judged and criticised: “It feels like if you aren’t part of the system then they don’t want to know.
“There’s a divide between authorities and home educated parents and that is where work needs to be done to make more positive relationships between families and services.”
Last year, the Department for Education proposed a new measure in the ‘Schools Bill’. The measure will place a duty on local authorities in England to establish and maintain ‘Children Not In School’ registers, and provide support to home educators.
The registers will help ensure local authorities are aware of the children not in school in their area so that they can undertake their existing responsibilities more effectively.
The proposed new measure is still under review.
I contacted numerous local authorities for a comment but have not yet received a response.
