Home Education South West Newsletter                         May 2010

Will our next Government be brave enough to take the initiative and allow more freedom in education?

Politicians often talk about getting away from a ‘one size fits all’ education and the need for personalising education for our children.  They preach about families deserving a real choice in education.  However, none have truly demonstrated their trust in parents and educational providers in allowing them real freedom to do what they do best.

Home education has much to offer the educational system as a demonstration of successful alternative provision without constraints of Governments targets, as this research from Canada shows, Fifteen Years Later.  Yet even as a legal option in the UK, parents are not informed of this choice.  They do not receive any information about EHE as their child approaches 5yrs, only an information pack helping them to make their school choice.

The Conservatives have made a lot of noise about championing the ‘Swedish free schools’ model, an example of which is Lemshaga Akademi.  Unfortunately, as usual they are not fully embracing the concept but only taking parts of it, which will result in a failed mediocre attempt at something new.  They have also talked about letting parents run schools.  However in both cases they propose to let educationalists and parents set-up schools whilst still maintaining a tight hold on the reins with regards curricular and pupil intake.  They will not be ‘free’ schools, just a small step in the right direction that will not make enough of a difference.

In the US we have seen the emergence of charter schools such as High Tech High.  Again here are lessons to be learnt about how, with true freedom, schools can help young people learn more enthusiastically and efficiently.  High Tech High has shown that it is possible to teach and prepare students for work and life in the adult world whilst escaping away from the traditional teacher at the front scenario.  Pupils learn by way of project based activities, working as individuals and teams to problem solve and develop ideas.  Some of the teachers describe themselves as ‘guides’ not teachers or lecturers and are continuing to develop their learning agendas alongside their students, realising genuine new ways of providing education.

The Green School in Bali, although fee paying again demonstrates what a joy the educational journey can be if you allow more freedom to explore, more freedom to let a larger age range of children learn together, more learning by doing opportunities, more genuine parental contribution, more freedom to continually adapt and change in response to the changing world around us.

Home education and more freedom in other learning environments could give us a more holistic approach to education.  Giving individuals the opportunity to develop their own learning will result in happy, confident, enthusiastic learners for life, achieving what is best for themselves whilst contributing to the wider community.                    

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The law & guidelines surrounding EHE have not changed.

Home educators across the country are giving a sigh of relief now that the HE part of the CSF Bill has been dropped in its entirety.  This means that the DCSF guidelines for LAs and the law as described in section 7 of the Education Act 1996 stand.  However, during the last year it has been evident from the actions and communications of LAs, that they had been led to believe that the changes to the law were a done deal.  They have also been led to believe that there would be more money available in order to support HE and have felt the pressure to identify the home educators in their area. Their inability to be able to provide comprehensive information for the Graham Badman report was seen as a failing.

In the same way teachers are being more pressured to monitor welfare issues in their pupils, so EHE departments are being leaned on to check that home educating families are safe and well, also that they are able to identify ‘Children Missing Education (CME)’ in their area.

The days of debate about whether or not to bring the subject of HE to the attention of  the media and Government for fear of change has passed.  After this recent battle to preserve our rights it is extremely likely that the law surrounding HE will be revisited and debated by the next Government.  However for now, the law has not changed, parent carers still have the primary responsibility for their children. LAs cannot force access to ‘see’ the child without good evidence of cause for concern. 

It is important now, as in the past, to remind them that they are our public servants.  They should be there when we need them to help us carry out our job, not the other way round.

Local HE groups

Share your experiences with the rest of the south west home education community

With more and more home education groups setting up in the region, we now have a real opportunity to learn and benefit from each others experiences.

If you belong to any groups and are willing to share what you have been up to with other home educators in the area, please send in your news or articles to HESW.

Here are just a few of the things groups have been getting up to recently:

• Group trip to ‘schools day’ at Lyme Regis Fossil festival
• Group trip to Ancient Technology Centre in Cranborne
• Registered group with ‘Tesco for schools & clubs’, collecting vouchers for resources

Yoyo Games - play, make and share games.  Download gamemaker 8 and start building your own games in no time.

Teachers TV - although designed for teachers, there are many useful videos and resource links which compliment subjects being studied at home.  There are also introductory videos to give you ideas and get you started in many subjects areas.

Timez attack - teaches multiplication whilst your child plays a fun video game.  The base version is a complete game (not just a demo) and is FREE to download.