This is not exactly a brilliant piece of publicity for home education:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/3453184/Theresa-Riggi-banned-her-kids-from-playing-with-other-children.html
Before anybody says anything silly; no, I do not believe that this is typical of British home education. It might not exactly endear the practice though, to those who know nothing about it but what they see in the papers.
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gran Sylvia Riggi to fly 4,400 miles to the UK twice a year to check on them
ReplyDelete2 checks a year that is more than crazy old Badman wanted and it never saved those children.
Yes, I would agree. It is quite a bleak picture it paints of Home Education in this country. But what can you do? My brother is a journalist, and would have used the same hook if he had written the story. Unfortunately, we have to accept that 'different' sells.
ReplyDeleteWhich is yet another reason to be angered when some factions of Home Education insist on behaving so 'differently'.
Loz says-Which is yet another reason to be angered when some factions of Home Education insist on behaving so 'differently'.
ReplyDeleteare you saying you got to do home education the right way? the Webb way? what are you angered about those that do home education a different way to you?
@peter and carol. Thats not what I am saying. HE can be done any way individuals choose to do it, there are no rules - remember. However, some insist on making it a very cloak and dagger affair. (read simons previous posts). It is this behaviour to which I was referring.
ReplyDelete'the Webb way'
ReplyDeleteI like this; it sounds like the Charles Atlas body building method. Perhaps I could turn 'The Webb Way' ito a corespondance course?
...as opposed to the 'old webb' way? =P
ReplyDelete'...as opposed to the 'old webb' way? =P'
ReplyDeleteAh, you mean 'Webb Classic'. Not to be confused with 'Old Worn Out Webb'.
'Ah, you mean 'Webb Classic'. Not to be confused with 'Old Worn Out Webb'.'
ReplyDeleteOf course. I understand the classic version is soon to be available as a pdf file...is this true?
loz says-However, some insist on making it a very cloak and dagger affair.
ReplyDeleteyou mean that some home educators will not allow their house to be invaded by LA staff?
you all so say-HE can be done any way individuals choose to do it
but many LA's and Old Webb/Ed Balls M.P/ crazy Badman want home education done the right way the Webb way with loads of GCSE's and A levels all passed as measure of a home educators success. no exam results no good home edcuation according to them! indeed Webb and his daughter where doing everthing their could to help to get the law changed on home education which woudl have made it very hard to do just do home education!
I can understand the view point of 'no exam results, no good home education' however, I do think it is also a very subjective one.
ReplyDeleteIf a child has absolutely nothing to show for the education they have received, then that is not a good thing.
Surely even the most hardened AEer will accept that these days some form of qualification is needed in order to attain a job?
I think you will find that this was the result many were in fact aiming for (in a round about way). The fact that most AEers took it as a personal attack against their educational methods is not the politicians problem, they are only concerned with the childs welfare, not how bruised a parents ego is/might be when faced with having to show some evidence of what they have achieved.
However, all this is completely irrelevant to the current post.
"Surely even the most hardened AEer will accept that these days some form of qualification is needed in order to attain a job?"
ReplyDeleteSince the young person makes the decisions about their education (with advice from parents and others, of course), it's not really up to the parent, but yes, in my experience they do appreciate the need for qualifications depending on what they want to do. I know several autonomously educated young people. They have all gained qualifications of one sort or another and are either working or in further/higher education as we speak.
Loz says-is not the politicians problem, they are only concerned with the childs welfare, not how bruised a parents ego is/might be.
ReplyDeleteBut it is parents who bring up thier children not the politician? their thought there could by pass the parent and get away with it but it back fired on them and a wave of anger was unleashed on Labour/Balls and indeed it does matter how a parent feels if he/she feels under attack this is not good and could effect family life! politicians dont care about children if thier did we have a far better state school edcuation system than we have now. its all show with them as most politicians send their children to a private school but want every one else to go the a state school!
you also say-If a child has absolutely nothing to show for the education they have received, then that is not a good thing. what do you mean by show? exams? no exams you have failed at home education?
The home education angle hardly jumps out at me here - the real issue is a) the woman was mentally ill and locking herself in the house and b) the Sun is interested in freakish behavior.
ReplyDeleteWay more time is spent on her avoidence of Halloween trick-or-treating than on home ed in the story.
Getting back to the actual case; it is a terrble story and clearly the mother was ill. Although they moved here from the US (where of course HE is seen as more mainstream), it appears that the mother chose HE as a means of keeping her precious children safe (in her eyes) - something which also motivated her final terrible actions.
ReplyDeleteHindsight is a wonderful thing - I am sure that father will spend the rest of his days wondering whether he could have saved his children; of course had he actually refused to return them after an access visit then he would have been the one in the wrong (and depicted in the press as the evil child snatching husband).
This isn't really an HE story - but as Simon says the press are likely to catch on to that aspect of the story- because that is what they do. The fact that relatively little has been made of it is actually a reflection on more "exciting" news - ie Libya and the exploits of Prince Andrew...
"If a child has absolutely nothing to show for the education they have received, then that is not a good thing.
ReplyDeleteSurely even the most hardened AEer will accept that these days some form of qualification is needed in order to attain a job?"
Why do people seem to have gained the impression that AEs do not like qualifications? We often hear of autonomously educated children gaining various qualifications and entering university. All of my AE children have gone onto further and higher education. Some may dispute the necessity of GCSEs (though plenty of AE children have chosen to take them), but I've not seen anyone say that all qualifications should be avoided.
I think this case will be bad news for those home educators who don't get out much and aren't seen to be involved in things outside the home. LAs will regard that as a warning sign.
ReplyDeleteRe qualifications, not everyone wants to do them in the same time frame. Some children just aren't ready at 14 to 16, but with a couple more years maturity behind them will do well. It seems better to let them have that time rather than feel failures at 16.
Most AE children seem to go on to do some studying and formal qualifications even if they don't start on this until post 16.
'Most AE children seem to go on to do some studying and formal qualifications even if they don't start on this until post 16.'
ReplyDeleteWell, yeah. In the end, it becomes obvious that most people need them.
People who, when their kids are 6 and 4, lecture people at great length about how they will not be doing exams find themselves helping their kids take them at 14/15/16 or later.
I know, because I (and almost all my HE group) was one of those irritating people ;-)
"People who, when their kids are 6 and 4, lecture people at great length about how they will not be doing exams find themselves helping their kids take them at 14/15/16 or later."
ReplyDeleteI've seen this attitude about GCSEs, but not exams/qualifications in general. People usually go on about the alternatives such as the OU and BTECs. There was certainly no automatic anti-qualification feeling amongst the autonomous educators I've spent time with over the years - but maybe we move in different circles.
'maybe we move in different circles.'
ReplyDeleteIndeed.