There can be little doubt that in the right, carefully contrived circumstances, a child may thrive under a regimen of autonomous education. There can also be little doubt that a good many feckless and lazy parents use the excuse of "autonomous education" to neglect their children. Tony Moony and Myra Robinson, like the present author famous betes noires of the autonomous educators, frequently refer to what they see on housing estates. (Projects to American readers.)
What snobbishness! have they not heard of Paula Rothermel's research? Don't they know that working class parents can also home educate their children? Let me take you now to a typical, rundown housing estate in the London borough of Tower Hamlets and demonstrate the nature of the problem.
There are three "autonomously educated" teenage boys hanging round the estate during school hours. One is of Bengali origin, the other two white. Two are fourteen, the third is fifteen. The fifteen year old and one of the fourteen year olds have statements of special educational needs. Until six months ago, all three were regular and fairly persistent truants. They would usually go in to school for registration and then try and slip away to spend the rest of the day sitting in the stairwells of tower blocks or stealing sweets and soft drinks from local shops. When efforts were made to prevent their truanting and keep them in school, they caused so much disruption that the game wasn't worth the candle.
I have never been able to discover just who at the school encouraged the parents of these boys to deregister their children in order to "teach them at home". I do know that the staff breathed a sigh of relief and everybody agreed that it was the best solution to a tricky problem. These days they still smoke in the stairwells and sometimes play violent computer games in the flat of one of them whose mother is out at work all day. They are the envy of their mates and I suspect that it will not be too long before there are a few more "home educated" youths on the estate.
There are at least one or two such unfortunate children on almost every housing estate in Hackney and Tower hamlets. Significantly, talking to the parents of such disaffected youths invariably elicits the claim, "We're autonomous." It is a catchphrase gleaned from the internet. It is young people like this about whom some local authority officers are desperately worried. They may not form the majority of those who are technically being home educated, but there are enough of them to be a cause of real concern.
This is not a world which most of those posting on the HE-UK and EO message boards ever encounter. A world where books and learning are utterly unknown. Perhaps this is why they are reluctant to acknowledge its very existence, let alone discuss sensibly what is to be done about this great and growing problem.
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Ah, but what does one ( ie me, you, the LA, the home ed orgs) do about it? Off-rolling isn't confined to inner cities...here in middle class Hampshire it is alive and well....I could list several teens off rolled by our local comprehensive in the last few years...one of my daughter's closest friends was off -rolled this year. Again I can't determine who made the parent sign a de-reg letter - the school or the EWO. but it happened. The said girl is now of course post 16, so since the beginning of August has been enrolled on an "E2E" course (to make umeployable teens employable) for which she gets EMA - but she still isn't turning up full time!
ReplyDeleteThis is happening all the time. I think that I have previously mentioned Firfield School in Newcastle, which was actually handing out letters to parents deregistering their children. All they needed to do was sign them. Boy, did Firfield look good on the truancy statistics that year. (1998).
ReplyDeleteIt is usually done these days by a carrot and stick approach. First the parents are threatened with prison for truancy, or with having their kids taken into care. Then a casual remark is made about the process for deregistration. I don't think that all this does anybody any good; the schools, the children or home education in general. It is one of the reasons why I think that the law has to change. At the moment the LAs police themselves, but one of the recommendations of the Badman report was to make the DCSF responsible for this. Graham Badman actually referred to this practice in his report. He's no fool and like everybody else, knows what a scam this has become.
The problem, Simon, is that even a competent writer like you couldn't make that hypothetical situation sound like a real one.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see you exercising creativity but doesn't help your cause.
Thank you Anonymous. You perfectly illustrate what I said in the last paragraph about this being a world unfamiliar to people such as you. Have a look at recommendation 15 of the Badman Report. That's the one where he urges the DCSF to take action to prevent LAs advising parents to use home education in order to avoid things like permanent exclusion. But hey, you carry on in your illusions!
ReplyDeleteHas any one every been inspected by Tony Moony? he is always rolled out by the state controlled BBC to talk about home education.I have also heard that Myra Robinson talking a load of crap about home education and of course wanting loads of new laws over home education all for you own good of course.of course hardly any one takes any notice of these 2.There like you Simon no trust in parents until you been checked and rechecked to make sure your not guilty.
ReplyDeleteIf these children are not being home educated then why are the LEA not issuing a school attendance order? if you know who these children are Simon you must report them at once to the LEA saying that these children are not geting a suitable full time education.
The truth of the matter is that scare story like this are used to attempt to bring in new laws over home education forgoting to mention that the LEA have the power now to take action over any child who is not getting an education.
if as Simon says these children are not geting an education i very doubt that any new powers will do any good because i can not see the children going back to school and the school does not want them is Simon saying there must be forced into a school there do not want to go to? how will it work take them by force to the school? the nwhat stay with them all day? who would police social worker? these children have been failed by the very people ie teachers social workers who are supposed to be there to help them!
most people do not care if these child do or do not get an education.most people are only intersted in there own children and often pleased to see these children gone from the school!
You know Anonymous, you are coming out with the sort of response that I want so perfectly, that I cannot help but suspect that you are some friend of mine whi is obligingly acting as my stooge or fall guy! I shall be posting a long piece tomorrow about the current legal situation and why it is wholly inadequate for the job.
ReplyDeleteim no friend of yours! dont make it to long! It is not inadequate for the job and why have you not reported these children to there LEA?
ReplyDeleteyou know when you sell a house you now have to have a hrp pack checks on the house before you can sell did you know that no one has been taken to court for not having one and a number of sellers are not having the hrp pack and esate agents buyers are not brothered but when the new law was passed people where told your be fined and your notbe able to sell but it appears this has not happened why?
Okay - Mr Anon two from the top.... so are you accusing Simon of making up the whole de-rolling thing? I am not sure I agree with Simon's solutions, but I cannot see how you can deny the fact that it happens!!
ReplyDeleteOh Mr Anon two above this post (not sure if you are the same one as above)... surely you are missing the point - what Simon wants to do is not to report X Y or Z...but change the law that allows this to happen in the first place?
ReplyDeleteThis is very common practice, even in our small community. I know of two boys, both 14 who have for various reasons been trouble for the schools, they have done the behavioural school, psychologist, moved schools, LEA threats of prison etc etc but last year all of a sudden they became home educated. I have my suspicion that the parents have been coerced into de-registration just so authorities can wash their hands of the problem, now they just hang around the bus stop causing problems for the police.
ReplyDeleteHas the system failed them? I’m in two minds, part of me says yes and they might have done more offered collage out of school tutors rather than try to force them in to school which for obvious reason didn’t work BUT then I think there’s only so much help you can offer someone before you say enough is enough.
Anonymous asks “why are not reported to the LEA”, they are reported but the Schools and the LEA were involved in their removal so they turn a blind eye.
Thanks for posting that Amy. I am aware that people may not agree with my solution to this problem, which is new legislation, but to deny that the situation even exists is amazing. I'm flattered that Anonymous thinks that this is a figment of my imagination, but even I could not have dreamed up the idea of schools and LAs collaborating with parents in order to remove their children from education. It confirms what I already suspected, that many home educating parents live in a rather rarified atmosphere and do not know how the real world works! (Not you and Julie, obviously).
ReplyDeleteYes, and the most amazing thing is that it appears that neither Amy or I live in areas where you might expect schools to be struggling - this is market town middle England!!
ReplyDeleteAs to the solutions- schools shouldn't get away with such tactics - they are only doing it to make their lives easier. Parents should be encouraged to realise that home education means that - and well meaning but misguided home educators who offer them advice that enables the whole cover up to carry on should remain quiet. The educational system ought to be better for such "school failures" .... I could go on endlessly but then I suspect that the whole issue of good parenting would come up....another can of worms!!
Julie-simon.amy- simon not reported those children to the LEA have you simon? I dont see how changing the law will change anything these children for a number reason do want to be at school you amy not like it but there dont and no amount of force will change this. they better off at home because these childre nare notdraft and no full well that they not wanted at school by the teachers or the parents of the other children
ReplyDeleteWe know how the real world works Simon only to well! with LEA officers telling lies along with teachers who also do this or the sly phone call?
Either way the children are not getting an education, but at least the family are not suffering emotional torture and bullying from the LEA when they are 'home educating'. How likely is it that they would learn anything if they managed to force them into school?
ReplyDeleteBTW, I honestly don't think that parents who de-register for this reason will have enough understanding about autonomous education to fool the LEA if they follow the current laws, even if they can copy and paste from the internet. A few following questions about the theory and the parent's philosophy and a request for other evidence such as a list of resources they have in the home (with photos as evidence), visits (with receipts if necessary), an independent review by another professional, etc. would soon reveal that they have no real understanding of autonomous education or were not carrying it out in practice. If any do happen to 'good' enough to fool them in this way they would certainly be capable of pulling the wool over an inspectors eyes for an hour or two a year. If anything it would be easier. And I still fail to see why the answer to an LEA/school failure or abuse of the system is to make life difficult for all home educators. How is this fair or justified?
Well, Hello! I'm not the same person posting as 'anonymous' above (although the lack of spelling and grammatical errors should demonstrate that). Just call me "Anonymous the Second" ;p
ReplyDeleteAnonymous the first: You're really convinced that the situations described by Simon don't exist? Why ever not? Home Educators do mostly do a fabulous job, I suspect (I can't state anything categorical, as I just don't know all home educators in this country personally - do you?). Unfortunately, there will always be those who abuse the system, and in the case of home education, we as a society have a duty to protect those children registered as HE but not being educated at all.
"Unfortunately, there will always be those who abuse the system, and in the case of home education, we as a society have a duty to protect those children registered as HE but not being educated at all."
ReplyDeleteTrue, but should this be at the expense of genuine home educators as recommended in the Badman review?
"should this be at the expense of genuine home educators"...good question. There always has to be some sort of compromise, in my opinion. It is a bit like vaccination (now that is a hot issue amongst home educators going on the amount of time the subject occupies home ed list time). In an "ideal world"- for my own child - everybody else should be vaccinated except my child. So to protect all home educators, "no one" should have home education made harder for them. Or alternatively only those who are actually going to "properly" home educate should be allowed to. I come across locally people who hold to either view everyday. The former group would argue that it isn't their affair - others can do what they want- freedom is their watch word; the latter group argue that the "not really HE" either directly affect public perception of real HE (and therefore their own children) or how the LA treats them OR they have more altruistic views of the protection of children - ie that good education is important. I suspect Simon is in the latter category..because he can hardly have had "bad experiences" for his own daughter from either LA or public. Those who dismiss such views out of hand try to negate any sense that mankind does bear some responsibility for the welfare of others.
ReplyDeleteIn fact though this category of the off-rolled child is surely easier to deal with - it is the schools and LAs who should stop it happening - perhaps schools should face fines if it is detected. There should be more funding for alternative provision - around here there is limited access to PRU's and tuition for the disenfranchised - perhaps there are better schemes?
done the spelling wrong again did i? oh dear who cares? we do not have a duty if HE is not being home educated thats your excuse for poking your nosie into every one house just in case i want start in your house and search it all over just in case you got a child hiding somewhere i start under the foorboards!
ReplyDeleteJulie-
Who cares if a few people are using home education as a cover? no one does really until the causes of the school failing are dealt with and also we have to face the fact that some children are not ever going to thrive in a school no matter what you do. i guess a lot of people want these children in school out of the way it does not matter that they learn nothing there just out of the way but of course these children are no fools and knows that the school does not want them! ther just a problem to be manged the chidren know that the teachers really want rid of them maybe Simon could set up a school for the mas he cares so much about them? mind you would you want him checking/testing you all the time?
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"good question. There always has to be some sort of compromise, in my opinion. It is a bit like vaccination"
ReplyDeleteIf the measures result in more good than harm as is (probably) the case with vaccines, I am in agreement. But for example, I think automatic access to the home and a right to speak to children alone with a specific duty to check on the safely and welfare of the child would not achieve this. More harm is likely to result from false positives than will be achieved by recognising genuine abuse. I'm not sure what measures are planned to ensure that parents are not forced to off-roll for the benefit of the school, but they should pass this 'more good than harm' test.
Good point, Sharon. This why when an application for an Education Supervision Order is being considered, the guidance is that it must only be granted if the granting of the order would be better for the child than not granting it. I think this is a good principle.
ReplyDeletewhat education supervision order who for? when? for us? tell Jim to hurry up then and get on with it? lets have one we burn it!
ReplyDelete