The consultation is available for responses online.
My response follows. I was submission 2042, my understanding is that the usual type of number responding to these things is around 300. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get ten times that number? Please, pass it on to your friends, your relatives, your home ed groups and get ppl stuck in and answering.
Consultation Questions
1 Do you agree that these proposals strike the right balance between the rights of parents to home educate and the rights of children to receive a suitable education?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: It is not the right of parents to home educate, it is the responsibility of parents to provide an education suitable to age ability and aptitude either by attendance at school or otherwise. In some cases it appears to me that that responsibility can only be fully discharged by home educating.
2 Do you agree that a register should be kept?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: Not unless you are going to start registering all sorts of cultural minorities. We are doing nothing illegal, we do not need to be headcounted. Mandatory registration (or more accurately annual licensing according to these proposals) is being suggested for local authorities convenience, it adds nothing to the home education experience for the families involved except more hassle. Those who wish to can come forward voluntarily as they do now.
3 Do you agree with the information to be provided for registration?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: Do not agree with registration.
4 Do you agree that home educating parents should be required to keep the register up to date?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: Do not agree with registration.
5 Do you agree that it should be a criminal offence to fail to register or to provide inadequate or false information?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: Do not agree with registration.
6 a) Do you agree that home educated children should stay on the roll of their former school for 20 days after parents notify that they intend to home educate?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: No, this is just allowing for time for LAs to hassle families.
6 b) Do you agree that the school should provide the local authority with achievement and future attainment data?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: In many cases, particularly where SEN are concerned, schools do not have realistic views of children’s abilities. If these were passed to LAs this would give many problems to parents already in a difficult position.
7 Do you agree that DCSF should take powers to issue statutory guidance in relation to the registration and monitoring of home education?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: The current statutory framework is sufficient to need, what is required is training for LA officials to understand their rights and responsibilities.
8 Do you agree that children about whom there are substantial safeguarding concerns should not be home educated?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: Surely children for whom there are substantial safeguarding concerns should not be in the home environment, so the question is moot?
9 Do you agree that the local authority should visit the premises where home education is taking place provided 2 weeks notice is given?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: Stop beating around the bush, you are talking about visiting ppl’s homes. I see no need for this to occur, again, the powers that already exist are sufficient and do not require invasive home visits.
10 Do you agree that the local authority should have the power to interview the child, alone if this is judged appropriate, or if not in the presence of a trusted person who is not the parent/carer?
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: I do not see why the local authority requires powers greater than that of the police investigating a crime. No crime is being alleged here, but a legal route to educate children.
11 Do you agree that the local authority should visit the premises and interview the child within four weeks of home education starting, after 6 months has elapsed, at the anniversary of home education starting, and thereafter at least on an annual basis? This would not preclude more frequent monitoring if the local authority thought that was necessary.
* Agree
* Disagree
* Not sure
* No Response
Comments: The current system of enquiries is sufficient to need. This suggested timetable does not take into account deschooling, settling in time or anything else. I’d also like to know where the funding is supposed to be coming from to pay for all these extra visits for all these children who are currently not known about or visited at all. And the properly trained and experienced personnel with detailed knowledge of how home education differs from school education for that matter.