Tonight I am feeling betrayed and let down by a man who in all reality has no responsibility to me at all.
Lord Lucas has placed an amendment against the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill as follows:
311 Insert the following new Clause—
“Support for home education
Support for home education
(1) The Secretary of State shall establish a body to be known as the Home Education Consultative Committee (the “HECC”).
(2) The Secretary of State shall appoint to the HECC such persons as he considers appropriate.
(3) The Secretary of State shall consult the HECC whenever he intends to make proposals that will have an effect on home educating families.
(4) The HECC may undertake investigations into areas of policy or practice in relationships between the government and the home educating community.
(5) The HECC may produce and promote guidelines and examples of good practice in relationships between the government and the home educating community.
(6) The HECC may make proposals to the Secretary of State for changes in practice or policy of home education.”
So why is this a problem?
Well, let’s have a look at what the Secretary of State did when he wanted a review of home education. He appointed some bloke who knew nothing about it, who took a wide range of responses, chopped them up to suit his purposes, ignored academic research that he didn’t like the look of and came up with a list of recommendations that are so far from the five principles of good regulation to make you want to cry. What makes us think that a HECC appointed by a secretary of state would be any more responsive to home educators at large?
Perhaps it would be as responsive as the current largest home education support charity. Cue more hollow laughter.
I suppose we should have seen this coming. If you read more on what Lord Lucas has been saying recently in parliament, it appears that despite many of us attempting to persuade him to the contrary, he thinks EO is representative and that their ideas are sound. Or maybe, just maybe, as he wasn’t elected, and this government is hardly democratic in its makeup he just doesn’t care.
I am tired of this. I have written to my MP and not had so much as an acknowledgement. I would like to be listened to, but I have no faith that it will happen. I have commented on newspaper articles and written to journalists, and I would really really like to believe that in a democracy, my voice will be heard.
But I think I may need to shout louder. I think that this system is rotten to the core, and it’s time for change. In the meantime I will continue to lobby “my representatives” as well as the leaders of the other political parties, but I am also thinking that a system that doesn’t recognise my right to self-determination or listen to my voice is not a system that has a right to tell me what to do. If necessary I will withdraw my cooperation – this government only governs by the consent of the governed, and if enough of us withdraw that consent, then they have a real problem.
I have always been a law abiding citizen, but then again, I’ve always thought we lived in a representative democracy. I’m coming to the sad conclusion that we do not any more and that as such, this government has no legitimacy and no right to my cooperation. It’s a rather scary thought, but one I feel I have to face up to. I am saying No to the DCSF.
tbird says
when you do get a reply from your MP it will be a standard letter, everyone I know with a Conservative MP has pretty much got the same letter. It’s sympathetic to our concerns, will bear in mind our points if it’s raised in parliament and points towards the consultation thing that we all did as soon as it came out. In other words, lip service.
Tech says
wholeheartedly agree, sadly 🙁
suzyg says
If you write to your MP, and ask her/him to get a reply from a government minister, they are obliged to do so. This can be a futile exercise, of course, as the minister will doubtless send a standard reply, but it does give them an indication of the mood of correspondents. I would book an appointment to see your MP at his/her surgery, take relevant documentation, make copies to leave with the MP, and ask them to pass on your comments to the minister. If you can take a couple of other home edding parents with you, so much the better. If the MP isn’t sympathetic write to the local paper letting people know how disappointed you are (politely of course.)
Carlotta says
Have just included the latest summary of figures on abuse in the HE community in my latest letter to MP. So far the figures suggest that the rate is LOWER than the general population.
.-= Carlotta´s last blog ..Letter to my MP =-.