I sometimes despair of the home education scene in this country. Many parents, particularly those who belong to internet lists and forums seem to be prone to running round like headless chickens at any available opportunity. Once again, my unwelcome views on the latest of these flaps are being censored on the EO support list and so I thought that I ought to reassure those who are genuinely worried and want the facts.
The latest fear centres around a consultation on what the government call raising the participation age and the rest of us think of as raising the school leaving age. As part of this, there is an intention to define just how many hours constitute a full time education. This has nothing to do with home education, but is to prevent unscrupulous employers from pretending to run apprenticeships and just getting teenagers to work full time.
How does this affect home educators? Well, it doesn't; not in the least. The consultation document makes this perfectly clear, when it says:
'it is at the discretion of the home educator as to what form that education takes'
and
We do not want to set regulations for home education that do not exist pre-16'
In other words, the situation for home educated seventeen and eighteen year olds will not change. Still, what about the whole business of defining full time education? Could that affect home educating parents? Hardly. The favoured figure for the minimum number of hours of education spread over the whole year is five hundred and thirty four hours. Since home education takes place every day, this would mean less than an hour and a half a day!
In spite of the fact that there is nothing to worry about, threads are appearing on various lists marked 'urgent'. Why do people do this? I very pleasantly drew attention to what is actually said in the RPA consulation and my message was not posted, on the grounds that this is 'meta' discussion. This is absurd. Those wishing to spread panic and alarm are allowed to voice their views; it is only when I quoted from the actual document that the discussion apparently became 'meta'. In other words and as usual, facts are not welcome in the debate!
I have remarked before that there seems to be something of a cottage industry in raising fears of this sort and pretending to be working to protect home educating parents from supposed new threats. When I have the time, I shall post more about this.
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It does seem from what you say that Home Educators indeed shouldn't worry although it is easy to see why they might. For example, on hearing that the Gov't wish to define 'full-time' immediately sparked a fear in me that once defined I may be held to that definition in my pursuit of home education.
ReplyDeleteHowever common sense is needed here, not a whole lot of hype.
Think of it like a fire drill, keeps people alert and ready to do what's necessary should something serious come up. Go look at the kerfuffle regarding Kent CC, that's far more relevant.
ReplyDeleteIm not on lists, what have Kent CC done?
ReplyDeleteKent are planning to create a couple of new posts for officers whose job will be to track down children missing from education. They also hope to se every home educated child at least once a year.
ReplyDeleteSimon.
'Think of it like a fire drill, keeps people alert and ready to do what's necessary should something serious come up.'
ReplyDeleteThe danger being that because there is always some sort of panic going on, people won't realise what is serious and what is not. I can't really see anything to fret about in Kent.
Simon.
http://connect.kent.public-i.tv/site/player/pl_v7.php?a=70211&t=0&m=wm&l=en_GB about 2hrs 37 minutes in, they're talking about home education and are showing themselves ignorant of the law. Of course, it's where Badman came from, with all his monitoring and safeguarding ideas.
ReplyDeletehttp://democracy.kent.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=29354 for the accompanying documents. One wonders why Kent think they need three (not two) extra people at a time of cutbacks. Their main duty is to visit every home educating family in Kent, oblivious of the fact that not all of them want or need visiting.
I can't see what the fuss is all about either in regards to either of the two issues. The KCC thing has got quite a few people hysterical already. Now apparently (so I hear) a petition is being put up...I just wonder whom these so called elective home education reps are supposedly representing when they go about sending off protest letters etc. There are loads of home educators that aren't too fussed about such things and are just trying their best to get on with it, yet supposedly these things are done in behalf of all home educators.
ReplyDelete'I have remarked before that there seems to be something of a cottage industry in raising fears of this sort and pretending to be working to protect home educating parents from supposed new threats'
ReplyDeleteTragically true.
It makes you wonder how the Elective Home Education Representatives find the time to home educate in between their crusading,letter writing, representing and petitioning.
ReplyDeleteHow many of them live in Kent?
'It makes you wonder how the Elective Home Education Representatives find the time to home educate in between their crusading,letter writing, representing and petitioning.
ReplyDeleteHow many of them live in Kent?'
I have wondered this myself! I was so busy with my daughter's education that until she was sixteen, I hardly had time for anything else. I have a suspicion that some of these people are the busybody type who enjoy fussing about and telling others what they should be worrying about. You must also bear in mind that some of the more prominent people in this field, people like Fiona Nicholson and Mike Fortune-Wood, are not actually home educating any more. Presumably, they have a little too much time on their hands these days!
Simon.
Pot, kettle, black!
ReplyDelete'Pot, kettle, black!'
ReplyDeleteThis is either a fragment of a Japanese haiku or an imagist poem intended to stand alone. It is to be hoped that the author will provide some sort of commentary to enable us to decipher the thing.
Simon.
Sounds just like the shrill battle squeal of one of those moustacheoed home educating helicopter mothers. On the other hand it could be the sound of a mincing strop from a breast feeding, right on, thoroughly PC home educating dad.
ReplyDelete'Home educators in a panic....again.'
ReplyDeleteJust read latest nugget of paranoia from HE-UK, it concerns rapeseed oil...
Apparently rapeseed oil is carcinogenic and everything in Sainsburys contains rapeseed oil.
"Just read latest nugget of paranoia from HE-UK, it concerns rapeseed oil..."
ReplyDeleteAre you getting a bit old and confused deary? There's nothing on the HE-UK list about rapeseed oil, carcinogenic or otherwise.
You're right, that particular outbreak of hysteria and paranoia can be read on UK-HOME-ED.
ReplyDeleteEasy to get confused when there are so many home ed lists being trawled by the same group of paranoiacs.
I've missed all the fun and games here.
ReplyDeleteSimon, how is your daughter getting along at uni?
'Simon, how is your daughter getting along at uni?'
ReplyDeleteShe's doing very well, thanks. The tutorial system at Oxford suits home educated children very well. Instead of a huge lecture theatres and large group of students, it is just one or two being seen by the tutor. Very much like the way that we worked when I was teaching her.
Simon.
That's great!
ReplyDelete"I sometimes despair of the home education scene in this country."
ReplyDeleteWhat, only sometimes?
It's been long recognised within the home ed scene that although many parents may have removed their child from the school, they never quite managed to leave their bitchy school gate mentality behind. In fact it's been increasingly hilarious to read that bitchy school gate mentality being enthusiastically expressed on the various websites. It's cringeworthy reading, bragging, one upmanship and outright hostility as list member is pitted against list member....only to be corrected by the likes of NT-M or MF-W.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting thing is the sheer lack of embarrassment of those who eagerly kiss the arses of those self appointed home ed gurus.
I suppose there's the proof that there's a nugget of truth in the saying 'empty vessels make the most noise'...those 'empty vessels' also seem to find too much time to write reams and reams of barely thought out shite on websites like HE-UK and uk-homeed and others.