I have been trying to put myself in the position of some home educating parents in Dorset. Apparently, Education Welfare Officers have been turning up out of the blue, with requests to speak to the parents and see their children. I would guess that this is part of the aftermath of the Khyra Ishaq business, with the local authority making sure that they actually have sight of home educated children. They clearly want to know that the children on their books as being electively home educated are still in their area and alive. Predictably, a few people are complaining about this process and threatening to denounce the unitary authority in Poole to Nick Gibb.
Now I was never over keen on having any local authority check up on my child. Haringey were vaguely aware of her existence when we lived in Tottenham, but on moving here, she fell from sight entirely. I meant to notify Essex that we had moved here and that my daughter was being home educated, but somehow never got around to doing so. She finally came to their notice when we were stopped by a truancy patrol. I was happy to give my name and address, we were not hiding, and the result was more or less annual visits from then on.
Here is the question. if, in addition to those visits, an EWO from Essex had turned up on my doorstep, would I have been angry and refused her entry? Almost certainly not. I would most probably have been mildly irritated and I am sure that my daughter and I would have had a bit of fun at her expense, but I would have had no difficulty in allowing her into my home to see that my daughter was still alive and living in Essex. Why actually would I have objected? The local authority try to keep track of children coming in and out of their county and this is quite right and proper. I am not over concerned about the legal niceties of this; Section 436a or CME and so on. It just seems sensible to me that if Essex know of a child who is not at school, they might pop round and see the kid from time to time. if nothing else, this assures them that the child is still in the area and to some extent their responsibility.
I do get the impression sometimes that some home educating parents spend a lot of time looking for ways to be offended or discriminated against. It is as though they have hair triggers and the slightest thing sends them into a rage. Most of us try to rub along with officialdom as best we can, even if it means meeting and engaging with complete idiots. It is very rare for those working for hospitals, the police and local authorities to be actuated by malice. They may be blundering fools, but they usually mean well. Where children are involved, I think that everybody tries to do their best. I am sure that it might be slightly irritating to find an EWO on your doorstep, asking about your child. I am not quite so sure that an appropriate response is to contact a Minister of the Crown to complain about it!
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old Webb says- an EWO from Essex had turned up on my doorstep, would I have been angry and refused her entry? Almost certainly not
ReplyDeleteThats because your a wimp Webb and will alow strangers into your house to interview your child on her own to check for abuse juust becuase she is home educated!.
you then go on to say-It is very rare for those working for hospitals, the police and local authorities to be actuated by malice. They may be blundering fools, but they usually mean well
you do get quite a few cases where blundering fools can do real harm to children/family being taken into care or threats of child being taken into care on the say so of a blundering fool! if the blundering fool does not like your house or the family you will find this fool can cause you a lot of trouble! if EWO doe s not liek your home education you will find it will cause you a lot of problems on the say so of one blundering EWO!
the police do not have quite so many blundering fools becuase they have to stick to evidence for anything so can not make up things so easy about people police have to stick to a legal framework before arresting any one which is only right!
LA's EWO do not like legal frameworks as this stops them from makeing it up as they go along!
mind you we never had a visit from any EWO or LA staff i think there have given up LOL been home educating since June 23 2003! but i can assure you that Peter is still alive LOL OMG Peter has escaped from the celler Webb!
Drone, drone, drone. We have heard all this before.
ReplyDeleteE-
Darren.
Darren says- Drone, drone, drone. We have heard all this before.
ReplyDeleteglad to hear it! just becuase you heard something before does not make it wrong! one bit of good news we found Peter he was at takwon do class
This was another thought provoking post.
ReplyDeleteI had to have a think about this, what would I do? If and EWO turned up at my home I would probably not let them in. Not because I have anything to hide but I dont accept unannounce visits from anyone. Well, maybe the police, if they were insistant ;)
My arguement generally would be that my child is home educated and not missing education. Also that I regularly see opticians, paediatricians, Ed Psychs, Drs and Dentists. We attend umpteen different groups for HE, college courses and general interest groups- my children clearly arent hidden.
I wouldnt be cross though because I agree with Simon that whilst they may be idiots, they only think they are doing thier job.
I would be happy - no, not happy, but I would accept it -if they passed our details on to the LA. I would understand it if the LA then thought they should make informal enquiries. I would probably send them a really long report and still only produce my children if it were necessary.
If it became necessary then of course I would produce my children because we dont have anything to hide and becuse I am not about to be deliberatedly provoking towards an official when they think they are doing their job.
"The local authority try to keep track of children coming in and out of their county and this is quite right and proper."
ReplyDeleteWhose county? A county does not belong to an LA any more than a child/family, moving in or out of that county, belongs to an LA. The council are the servants of the people of a county.
"I am not over concerned about the legal niceties of this; Section 436a or CME and so on."
Gosh! You really should be more concerned, but it is up to you how you feel about the legality of your interactions with the state. You will find, however, that many HEs are very conceerned about the 'legal niceties'. Currently, our rights as parents are upheld by these 'legal niceties' - it is essential that we protect them.
"It just seems sensible to me that if Essex know of a child who is not at school, they might pop round and see the kid from time to time."
Why is this sensible? What has a council to do with the child at all? If a child is not registered with a council and there is no evidence of wrongdoing, what business have the council visiting a family?
"if nothing else, this assures them that the child is still in the area and to some extent their responsibility."
A child is not the responsibility of a council (unless the child is in care, in which case the council is acting as parent). The child is the sole responsibility of its parent.
"Most of us try to rub along with officialdom as best we can, even if it means meeting and engaging with complete idiots. It is very rare for those working for hospitals, the police and local authorities to be actuated by malice. They may be blundering fools, but they usually mean well. Where children are involved, I think that everybody tries to do their best."
ReplyDeleteThis is a red herring and has nothing whatsoever to do with whether an official is acting legally/proffessionally or not.
I would prefer that they not waste our money on these visits. How often is the family out and the visit a waste of time even by their warped definition? I would much rather the money be spent on families and children that actually need help. Many families ask for help but are not given it, yet here they seem to think they have money to burn on pointless jollies out of the office visiting families who may not even be home.
ReplyDelete'if, in addition to those visits, an EWO from Essex had turned up on my doorstep, would I have been angry and refused her entry? Almost certainly not.'
ReplyDeleteAnd if you'd just been on your way out?
Or had a doctor over because your child was sick?
Or if you and your wife both had stinking colds and were letting your daughter watch Disney movies that day while you all stayed in your pjs?
Or if your dog had just thrown up at the same time as your washing machine had flooded?
Or you daughter had a goose egg sized bump on her forehead from playing rounders at Brownies the previous day?
Any one of those situation might cause me to say, 'Please could you make an appointment.' Would that have been the case for you? If not, maybe some of us are just a little more private and protective about our home and family life than you. Personally, I don't like the idea of living in a fish bowl.
More than one of those situations at the same time might even cause the visitor/nosey parker to make a judgement that my family was 'chaotic' and needed 'focused support'.
Margaret
I have very mixed feeling about the whole thing...
ReplyDelete- on one hand I do feel quite sorry for those in the LA who end up making such decisions. I am sure that most of them mean well, and that they are in the end motivated by the fact that if some terrible disaster occurs to a home ed child, inevitably they get all the stick. I can remember immediately after Khyra Ishaq died, the local MP was interviwed and was asking all sorts of rhetorical questions about who to blame...
- on the other hand such random visits can't be enforced (unless of course they drag child protection in and hand it over to social services) and I am firmly against lying, so any time an LA bod tries to pretend that there is legal basis for their actions, I am extremely narked if they are in fact telling lies in order to get their own way.
- furthermore, LAs are stupid if they ignore the power of the internet. They may have got away with various things in the past but now as soon as someone receives a letter or a phone call they don't like, everyone hears about it. So many families won't cooperate because they are forewarned. It is all down to carrots again- many families wouldn't mind cooperating a bit more if they got something out of it. I know they won't succeed with all families that way, but any sort of random check won't work at present either.
- finally, I am not convinced that sending complaints up the Govt food chain will do anything either. The one case where a complaint was made (somewhere up north) the LA denied thay had ever said or done anyting, and no more action seems to have been taken. So it is all appearance as far as I can see, rather than action, so pointless. What may work better is more local action and dialogue; naming and shaming doesn't seem to have done much so far.
Teacher Julie says-So many families won't cooperate because they are forewarned. It is all down to carrots again- many families wouldn't mind cooperating a bit more if they got something out of it
ReplyDeletebut no carrots are being offered here by HCC? only more of the same ie threats and lies!