Homeschooling on the increase - Tutor Hunt Blog

Homeschooling on the increase Homeschooling on the increase - up 40% in just 4 years Homeschooling on the increase - up 40% in just 4 yearsSchoolsThere are many reason why a parent might choose to home school their child. Perhaps the most common one is because a child is being bullied, and their parents, confident they can provide them with a safer environment and a comprehensive education, choose to remove them from their school. Another reason might be where parents of a child with learning disabilities feel their child is not thriving in school, and elect to educate them at home. Parents who are relocating may find themselves unable to immediately secure a place for their child in their chosen school, and rather than letting them become acclimatised to a temporary environment, decide instead to homeschool them for a period of time. Homeschooling has always been an option chosen by relatively few parents - a major survey, carried out 6 years ago, showed that around 29,000 children were homeschooled during the academic year in 2013. This number may sound large, but given the fact that there are more than 10 million schoolchildren, it is a relatively small percentage. There is however evidence of a precipitous rise in homeschooling over recent years. A new survey, conducted by councils across the country, shows that there has been more than a 40% increase in homeschooling over the last 4 years. I was interested to learn that there is not currently a compulsory registration system for pupils who are homeschooled. Parents who are providing lessons for their children away from the school system are obliged to follow the national curriculum, but they are not currently bound to disclose an itinerary of the lessons they are teaching their children. The previous education secretary Damon Hinds attempted to make it compulsory for all homeschooled children to be registered, though at time of his resignation this summer his pans had not been effected; I have however heard his replacement, Gavin Williamson, is continuing his work in this area. Speaking about homeschooling Mr Hinds was ready to admit that the vast majority of home schooled pupils were receiving an exemplary education, although there are unfortunately many `children who are not getting an education at all, or being educated in illegal schools where they are vulnerable to dangerous influences â€" the truth is, we just don`t know.` There have been concerns that some home schooled children missing out on parts of their education - disappearing off the radar, as some have said. The new registration will enable authorities, for the first time, to know exactly where children all children are receiving their lessons; and it is hoped that the problem of children attending illegal schools will also be alleviated. Last year the Children`s commissioner`s for England called for greater supervision of home schooled children, and issued a warning that as many as 60,000 children, many of whom have special educational needs, are permanently out of school, and `off the grid` I was a teacher for more than 15 years, and in all that time I only ever encountered a single family who decided to remove their child from our school to home teach them. It certainly seems that, over the last few decades, more and more parents are choosing this option. I have heard anecdotal evidence that there are growing numbers of people who are disillusioned with government, and aggrieved over state intervention when it comes to their child`s education. I read an Ofsted report that claimed there`s evidence for many pupils being `off-rolled` by schools (a term I was not familiar with) which means schools effectively forcing parents to homeschool their child. I`m not sure what the reasons for this would be - the report did not elaborate further - but it certainly sounds concerning. A new report from the schools watchdog has cautioned parents that they could be making a `knee-jerk` decision to home school their children. Its chief Inspector Amanda Spielman has warned that homeschooling should not be chosen `simply to resolve difficulties` children are facing at school. The report said that many parents were acting impulsively, choosing to remove their child from their school and mainstream education after just a day, and that they weren`t considering any other options. Taking a child out of school was often the result of a breakdown in communication between a parent and a school, and `In extreme circumstances, moving a child to home education took as little as a day.` 3 months ago0Add a Comment