Tuesday 19 July 2011

Wigan appoints home educating parents to monitor home education

It looks as though Wigan has decided to adopt the so-called 'Tasmanian Model' of monitoring home education. They have appointed two parents who are themselves home educators and who will be inspecting the provision of other parents. This is in sharp contrast to the usual sort of person doing this job, who is typically a former teacher. The fun and recriminations have already begun and we shall have to see how this new scheme actually works in practice.

Here is how Wigan, a town in Greater Manchester, went about finding somebody to do the job for them:


http://www.wigan.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/BD24787B-61A0-4ED8-9F76-59891A4AFCCE/0/SLALetter.pdf

In the interests of lively debate, I thought that readers might care to know that Wigan feels that:

' we have a duty to ask for evidence that a suitable education is being
provided.'

I seem to recollect that some parents do not believe this to be true...

9 comments:

  1. Well, let's be honest, they are probably going to do a much better job than whoever was in post before!

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  2. Shame they haven't bothered to read the Government's guidelines or the law.

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  3. Am I missing something? The link takes me to a letter inviting people to tender for a contract. It doesn't say who got the contract, or specify that Wigan feels it has a duty to ask for evidence or even give details of what that contract involves.

    Assuming that Wigan does believe that now, that could well change once people with more relevant experience are in post and in a position to make changes. Until then, I don't see much point in judging anyone on what they might or might not do.

    And, as Simon said in a different context a few days back, believing that hardly puts Wigan in a minority, does it? I'd be fascinated to see how many LA's actually follow the law to the letter rather than seeing how much they can get away with. My nasty, cynical streak suspects it won't be that many, but it would be so nice to be proved wrong.

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  4. 'Am I missing something? The link takes me to a letter inviting people to tender for a contract. It doesn't say who got the contract, or specify that Wigan feels it has a duty to ask for evidence or even give details of what that contract involves.'

    I am really unable to say what, if anything, you are missing. The letter invites tenders for the job of inspecting home educating families. The tender was awarded to two home educators and the quotation about their duties is from Wigan's advice to parents.

    Simon.

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  5. I thought I was missing something too, but thats because the letter doesnt tell us that the position was filled by two home educators so really was little use without an announcement of who would be fulfilling the role.
    Where is your evidence of who fulfilled the position? I am curious as to where you found your information about who took up the position as I could find nothing aobut it during google or council website searches.

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  6. "Am I missing something? The link takes me to a letter inviting people to tender for a contract."

    Simon just gave the link to the letter. You need to search Wigan's page for 'home education' to find their policy documents.

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  7. I noticed on one of the documents it mentioned Jo Berry, is that the Jo Berry I think it is?

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  8. This Joanne Berry was a Senior Officer, Pupil Inclusion Children & Young People’s Services, as long ago as September 2010. None of the documents I've seen suggest that she has ever home educated, so it seems unlikely.

    http://www.wigan.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/9F68F448-3BA2-4D4A-BFEB-3860E79FF7FD/0/SupportedTransferProtocolSept2010.pdf

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  9. Simon wrote,
    "'we have a duty to ask for evidence that a suitable education is being provided.'

    I seem to recollect that some parents do not believe this to be true... "

    Some councils (and government guidelines) don't agree either. Case law has established that LAs may enquire about education provision. There is no legal requirement for them to do so, so how can they have a duty?

    http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=16151

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