Over on the EO list a few days ago there was a rather sad message which cast light upon two different aspects of home education in this country. Some guy has a sixteen year-old daughter who wishes to go to college. She needs four GCSEs to do the course which she wants and now her father is asking how to go about this. This is the first aspect of home education in the UK which is illuminated. Not just on the Internet lists but among ordinary home educating parents is a vague belief that one can get into college or university without any formal qualifications. Often, parents talk hopefully about portfolios and interviews and the claim is made that colleges and universities actually prefer home educated children without qualifications because they are so original/mature/bright/individual. Parents such as the one I mention above, absorb this nonsense and it is only when their children hit fifteen or sixteen and start asking around about colleges that the awful truth hits them; they cannot get on an academic course like A levels or the equivalent without having GCSEs. There then typically follows a period of panic before the child is persuaded to settle for a less demanding and academic course.
The story above is in many ways a tragedy and this tragedy is largely the responsibility of those who continue to spread the myths about access to higher education. Getting coursework authenticated is all but impossible outside a school or expensive distance learning provider. This makes GCSEs very tricky for home educators. With the introduction of the controlled assessments in a year or two, they will be completely impossible. This leaves IGCSEs. It is hard to find a school or college which allows private candidates to take these and the typical cost will be about £150 per subject. Studying for IGCSEs is far more rigorous than GCSEs and for a sixteen year old starting the syllabus from scratch will take at least a year or two of hard work. Almost certainly, the child mentioned in the post on EO will not now be doing the college course she wishes to do. This is because the father did not make any enquiries earlier and was lulled into complacency by the prevailing myth system perpetuated by many home education activists.
The other interesting part of this business is the response to this question. Three people gave advice to this father. This is about average for educational questions of this sort. Compare this with the responses to a question on another popular home education list, that of HE-UK. A woman posted a question there a few days ago and the gist of it is this. She has de-registered her child from school, in her own words;
'After I followed the correct procedure to withdraw my daughter from school to resume her home education, there was some miscommunication within the LA.'
By the way, one senses that there is a little more to the subsequent story than meets the eye. 'To resume her home education' makes me suspect that this child has probably been taken out of school before and then sent back again. Be that as it may, the local authority served her with a notice giving her fifteen days to show that she was providing a suitable education for her daughter. This might be a little hasty on their part, but I would guess offhand that the last time she was being home educated they had trouble getting evidence of the education. At any rate, there is no difficulty here, all the mother needed to do was contact them and explain the situation. She did so and the matter was cleared up. She is now determined to pursue a complaint against her local authority.
The response to this post has so far generated twelve posts and I have no doubt that there will be at least as many today. This sort of grudge is very dear to the hearts of some home educators and indignation and anger are running high. Two things strike one here. Firstly is that three people answer a question about education on one list, but a dozen respond to a complaint about a local authority on another. Most of those are on both lists and it suggests to me that quite a few people are more interested in grudges against local authorities than they are about education. The other thing which is odd is that if I had just embarked upon the education of my daughter, my energies would be fully occupied with planning and arranging this education. The fact that the local authority sent me an irritating letter would be a minor matter which I could deal with briefly. It seems to be a very big thing for this mother though. I can't help wondering if all the fuss she is generating is designed to distract her local authority and discourage them from asking further questions about the education which she is providing. It would be interesting to know what sort of relations she had with them on the last occasion that she home educated.
There are Internet lists which deal specifically with education and examinations, but many parents get no further than joining Education Otherwise and Home Education UK and then being on their lists. The focus is often upon conflict with local authorities and central government rather than educating one's child. When education is mentioned, it is often only to reassure parents that children are the best judges of what to learn. The father who posted on the EO list has discovered too late that this is not really so. If he had planned a little bit more in advance, his daughter would probably not be in the pickle which she is. Local authorities often try and warn parents about this and this too makes some people angry. Several posts have been made about local authority officers who asked whether children would be taking examinations. The fools! Have they not heard about autonomous education? Perhaps a little more planning for educational outcomes and a little less time spent pursuing grudges and complaints might not be a bad thing on the Internet lists. Otherwise, their influence upon parents is likely to be negative and their ultimate effect upon children harmful.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yes, I do agree with you about the nature of the HE lists - they do seem to be the place where either there is a lot of discussion about battles with LAs, or where there is intellectual debate about the nature of liberty etc. Good advice is out there though, if you know where to look - local support is invaluable and things like the HE exam list can be excellent.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought that comes to me is that often the discussion about finding alternative routes to further or higher education is often in relation to young people who clearly are "bright" by any standard and who may also have some other unusual interests that get them noticed out of the crowd if they do apply to uni without standard qualifications. Yet there are a lot of home educated young people who don't fall into this category and it is far harder to bypass the regulations if you don't have so much going for you. As a parent of an SN child, I know that her college wouldn't have accepted her to do the current course without the regulation 5 GCSES. Yes, they would have found her a different course, but she wouldn't have wanted to do that and because of her autism she interviews badly - no way she was going to sell herself in an interview. For her, it was the traditional route that got her in; interestingly as well, the college wouldn't count her alternative qualifications in things like computing as one of the GCSES (even though she had in fact taken them in adult ed courses at the same college)
What it comes back to is the need for good information.
It's important to remember that a significant number of children are being home educated solely because the local authority, for whatever reason, cannot or will not provide them with a suitable education within the meaning of the 1996 Education Act.
ReplyDeleteParents are focussed on the immediate problem - getting their child out of a harmful/distressing/ineffective educational environment, and are already disenchanted with the school and/or local authority.
Their model of education - that the child will attend school and take GCSEs at 16 like most others - has had to be abandoned and they have no idea what the future holds, or whether the child will be in a fit state to take GCSEs or at what age. It's a hurdle you jump when you come to it. Government keeps changing and moving the hurdles anyway, so it's not much good planning too far in advance.
I don't think the idea that there are alternative routes to further or higher education is a 'myth' at all; universities have a good deal of flexibility regarding entrance requirements and only last week at a conference our local connexions service proudly described how they had put together a flexible education package for 17 year old who had missed years of school (not EHE - school refuser) in order for him to gain entrance to a college course.
I think that most people with queries about exams get directed pretty swiftly to the exams list, which is where they will find those most likely to be able to help them. This is probably more valuable than lots of people with four year olds chiming in on a more general list.
ReplyDelete£150 seems quite steep as a fee for sitting an IGCSE as an external candidate, by the way. Home ed children round here used a centre this summer that charged £50 each.
Has the father/daughter actually applied for the course to see if the college would accept her yet, possibly after some kind of internal assessment? Two of my children have been accepted onto college courses that supposedly required 4 GCSEs without having any over the last 3 years.
ReplyDeleteI spoke to a home educator recently whose child has been accepted on a postgraduate course despite not having a degree. I think some Colleges and Universities are probably more flexible than others.
ReplyDeleteSimon wrote,
ReplyDelete"The other interesting part of this business is the response to this question. Three people gave advice to this father. This is about average for educational questions of this sort. Compare this with the responses to a question on another popular home education list, that of HE-UK."
The three answers appeared to answer his question adequately - they pointed him in the best direction for information and support. I thought of responding but would just have been repeating others responses so didn't bother.
Not sure it's fair to compare responses on different lists either. For a start, EO's list had only 26 posts over the last week compared to 100 on the HE-UK list! You are not comparing like with like again.
"Home ed children round here used a centre this summer that charged £50 each."
ReplyDeleteTell me Allie, where are they charging this amount? The reason I ask is that my daughter sat hers at the David game College in London and we paid £120 each. This was rock bottom and took a great deal of finding.Most people pay more. Mind you, it is an independent school and therefore charges the market rate. Anybody charging £50 cannot be doing it as a commercial proposition; is this a state school? I am really interested in this.
"universities have a good deal of flexibility regarding entrance requirements "
ReplyDeleteThe problem here suzyg is that it seems impossible actually to track down the colleges who will allow a student to study A levels without having any GCSEs or the universities who will enrol students with no formal qualifications. every time somebody names such a place, i chase it up and see what the score is. So far without success. Is this 17 year-old going to study A levels or is this a vocational course?
"I spoke to a home educator recently whose child has been accepted on a postgraduate course despite not having a degree. "
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting. Which university and what subject?
Simon said "Tell me Allie, where are they charging this amount?"
ReplyDeleteI am clearly not Allie, but I can tell you that a few independent schools are charging £50 ish (including the one I do the entries for in Portsmouth). The motivation is the " public benefit" clause for the fight of independent schools to retain their educational status (and thus tax benefits). This is part of the 3 P's campaign from the Independent Schools Council. In contrast the tutorial centres (one of whom you mentioned) are a lot more expensive, because it is part of the way they make money. My dd did physics IGCSE at such a place in Southampton, which cost £150 in total.
Despite the fact though that some schools are charging less, it is still not a very good situation in some parts - either no centres at all, or pricey ones - we have candidates come to Portmouth from a huge area, - other than (pricey) Southampton, the next nearest places which are known about is those in the Oxford area in one direction and Brighton in the other.
Anon said "Two of my children have been accepted onto college courses that supposedly required 4 GCSEs"
ReplyDeleteYes, but that just isn't the case everywhere and for all courses - some places where we live are determined to stick to their rules; they are often oversubscribed anyway and so can be picky. I know some places can be flexible (one of my sons benefited from this for a vocational course) but other places and courses (especially A levels) can be much more rigid.
I am not advocating that all HE children should be forced into doing GCSES - it is all down to informed choice though, and for that informaton is an obvious prerequisite!
"The motivation is the " public benefit" clause for the fight of independent schools to retain their educational status (and thus tax benefits)."
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for that, it makes it very clear now! If only my daughter had taken her examinations after the crackdown on charitable status. At least it's good news for home educators.
Yes, the centre used here is a local public school - Lancing College. They offer IGCSEs at £50 a pop and were very helpful indeed.
ReplyDelete"This is interesting. Which university and what subject? "
ReplyDeleteAfraid I spoke to them at home-ed camp so do not have contact details to check the details with them. All I remember is that it was a London University in an academic rather than art subject.
"Yes, but that just isn't the case everywhere and for all courses - some places where we live are determined to stick to their rules; "
ReplyDeleteYes, I realise this, that's why I asked if they had contacted the college about it rather than stating that they would accept them without GCSEs.
I know a family in another area whose children had to start on a level 1 course instead of the level 2 course they wanted so it took an extra year. It worked out well though as it gave them chance to get used to how the system worked. They began the year with just passes but ended the level 1 course with distinctions once they knew what the teachers were looking for. They then gaining distinction stars in the level 2 course. They began university at age 19, the same age as 'normal' students who have taken a gap year (but the HE children had effectively had 11 gap years!)
I also know of a child in another area who had a similar experience but the college moved them up to the level 2 course after a few weeks once they had seen the level they were working at. Colleges do vary according to area and, of course, the popularity of particular courses.
I agree that A levels are a different issue altogether. If your career choice requires A levels the child will hopefully be academically inclined and have been happy to study for GCSEs and, hopefully, the parents were clued up enough to organise them. But again, if they find out at 16 that they need GCSEs it will only add a year to their studies (if they take IGCSEs via correspondence, for instance). Many students take a gap year so they could still start uni at a 'normal' age.
"the crackdown on charitable status"
ReplyDeleteNo one seems very clear (as far as the schools and the Charity Commissioners are concerned) whether this will work, though. The CC seems to think entirely in terms of bursaries, which can be very expensive to a small school. The large more famous schools are wealthier anyway, often offer quite a few bursaries historically and are also sometimes involved in community schemes already. The biggest HMC school in Portsmouth (my eldest went there, free) does a lot with music and state schools. Recently it hosted a whole barrage of activities for local schools (and home educators) when the NASA astronauts visited "on tour". They are a rich school who can fund all these things without concern; but that particular school isn't interested in external exams because they don't need to do anything else.
I am not sure if any London schools have become involved- most home educators I know are still talking about travelling to Cambridge.
"Perhaps a little more planning for educational outcomes and a little less time spent pursuing grudges and complaints might not be a bad thing on the Internet lists. Otherwise, their influence upon parents is likely to be negative and their ultimate effect upon children harmful."
ReplyDeleteHow harmful can delaying qualifications for a year be? If a child is capable of A levels they should be capable of arranging to study and take the necessary IGCSEs via correspondence over a year with their parent's help and support. If they are unable to do this I suspect they would fail A levels anyway. I agree that it could have a harmful effect on a child if the parents do not support them once they have decided they want A levels, but this is a different issue entirely and obviously not autonomous education.