Friday 4 December 2009

The Tasmanian Model


During his review of elective home education in this country, Graham Badman floated the idea to a number of home educators of a system rather like that operating in Tasmania since 1993. Few parents found the idea enticing and when he came to write his report, he described it as "A step too far". So what is the "Tasmanian Model"?

Home education in Tasmania is monitored and regulated by a body called the Tasmanian Home Education Advisory Council. This is run by six members. three of them are home educators and three are appointed by the Minister of Education. The THEAC is answerable directly to the Minister and because it was set up and run by home educators themselves it commands a good deal of respect from home educating parents.

It would be interesting to know what objections home educating parents might have to such a body for home educators here. Some were uneasy at the thought of Education Otherwise being regarded as natural partners in such an enterprise. For various reasons, some parents are not over enamoured of EO, seeing it as unrepresentative of home educators. There could well be something to be said for the idea of something like the Tasmanian system and I would be keen to know what others think about it.
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8 comments:

  1. Julie5 December 2009 at 01:30

    I thought the Tasmanian model didn't just have a policy making type committee as described above, but home educators were the actual contacts betwwen other home educators and the committee - so they assisted/ inspected and approved HE for others?
    I could see a HEAC working in theory - after all it would be good to have real Hers involved in planning and policy making, although in practice since there are groups of home educators which seem to hate each other, no one would ever agree to who should be on it. However the role of home educators "inspecting" others is even more unlikely to be acceptable; I suspect that it only works in Tasmania because it is such a small area, and perhaps the majority of HEers are more uniform in their outlook and aims than is true here. Also it isn't being proposed during the current battles....where it appears that some/most people won't accept any change.....
    My own view about the way forward is that local negotiation is the only possibility... if better relationships are developed and some families can get the support/resources they need from the LA, it will encourage more openess and others will "sign up" for what they can get....

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  2. Anonymous5 December 2009 at 22:34

    I can't see the need for any model at all.

    If a need for registration and monitoring was ever proved, I guess more people would be interested in a discussion of what type of model would be useful.

    I would be thinking in terms of the way La Leche League or other parent support networks operate. LA's might 'signpost' new HE'ers towards contact with mentor parents, on an entirely voluntary basis. (Because if it's not voluntary, it's not support.)

    Mrs Anon

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  3. Anonymous5 December 2009 at 22:35

    I didn't seem to be able to comment. Are you moderating comments again?

    Mrs Anon

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  4. Anonymous5 December 2009 at 22:36

    Ah, okay.

    Mrs Anon

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  5. tracy6 December 2009 at 05:04

    Hi I am a home educator and feel that we already have part of this process in place. we have Education Otherwise, which could work well with other officials but no one seems to acknowledge this or want to mention this.
    I can't understand why there is so much bitterness in this respect. At the end of the day surely all we want is to give our children the best, not fight each other because we have it right. Home education can not be truely regulated to the extent school education is, as every child is allowed to learn the way that is best for them.
    Yes there are lots of hidden agendas, but then when politics are involved there always is, but surely we should all be fighting from the same corner, not opposites.
    I do not find it constructive to write or read degoratory statements about other people. It's not about differences its about giving children what they need.

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  6. Simon Webb6 December 2009 at 05:37

    I don't belong to Education Otherwise myself and am certainly noy against them. It is a fact though that some people di get annoyed at the idea of EO being the obvious choice for a role in monitoring and supervising home education. There is rivalry between them and Home Education UK and many parents said that they would never co-operate if Education Otherwise were official partners in scheme like the Tasmanian Model.I was curious to know what others thought.

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  7. tracy6 December 2009 at 07:37

    I thnik its time to put differences aside before we loose everything we work for, but just don't want to be involved in playground behaviour of slagging off others. I feel that there should be an organisation which speaks for home ed, but can't understand why there is so much anymosity to education otherwise. They have so much knowledge at their fingers that it would be stupid of others to alienate them.

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  8. Anonymous6 December 2009 at 14:12

    I'm with anonymous person #1. The question is not *what* kind of regulation, monitoring, registration and other bureaucratic meddling. The question is *why*.

    You're asking what colour biro I'd like to fill the forms in with, but I see no reason to fill them in at all.

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