It is no secret that I have many dealings with social workers and teachers. Indeed, such people comprise almost the whole of my family and social circle; an alarming admission! Yesterday evening, I was talking to somebody who works for an inner London local authority. This person felt that her department had been handed a veritable gift from the gods, as far as trying to campaign for the registration of home educated children was concerned.
I dare say that most readers will have seen about the case of the three women who were apparently held at the house in south London:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-lambeth-slavery-victims-initially-lived-in-a-collective-with-male-suspect-8959444.html
One of these women was thirty years of age and had never been to school. In other words, she had been born and then vanished entirely from sight, with nobody asking about her education or indeed anything else. She spent her entire life in this situation, from birth onwards. This is thought by some to be something of a knockdown argument in favour of at least registering children and then looking at what provision has been made for their education. It will be interesting to see what comes of this. Coming so quickly after Ofsted's report on children missing from education, it is seemingly already causing some people to rub their hands together.
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You know when I saw this case I knew that home ed would be dragged into it somewhere!
ReplyDeleteAs it is still news and we obviously don't know a lot of facts, it may be wise to wait until we do, but however terrible this case is, and the one of the Pakistani deaf child previously discussed, I don't know how any sort of registration scheme would help.
Families, even ones with no suspicious intent, move house and I don't think that anyone really knows where anyone is. Some of my children went to independent schools and I am not sure that anyone at the LA knew where they were. Somebody close to me was left aged 3 months with a babysitter and then never collected, so the baby sitter kept her. It was 4 years before social services intervened although they were already dealing with the rest of the family no one noticed one child wasn't actually there. There are lots of peculiar events which happen, but I cannot imagine that a compulsory register for educational status is going to do anything to make things better.
' There are lots of peculiar events which happen, but I cannot imagine that a compulsory register for educational status is going to do anything to make things better.'
DeleteIn some ways, I am inclined to agree with you. You can never prevent wicked or mad people from doing utterly unexpected things. However, by making things a little tougher and well regulated, you might very possibly be able tor educe the scope for such things. It would be chasing a chimera to imagine for a moment that you could ever prevent all harm to every child by any human system.
"You can never prevent wicked or mad people from doing utterly unexpected things. However, by making things a little tougher and well regulated, you might very possibly be able tor educe the scope for such things. It would be chasing a chimera to imagine for a moment that you could ever prevent all harm to every child by any human system."
DeleteBut we're already well down the path of diminishing returns; throwing money at HE registration (even with the fictitious financial benefits claimed by DCSF) will do nothing. A better use of any money would be to ensure access to decent examination systems for all.
If you want to catch child abusers, chase the people doing it such as non-biological carers/step parents and certain ethnic-religious combinations.
Just wondering why, if people are prepared to do such terrible things, they will trot along and register themselves because that's the law?
ReplyDeleteAnd what do you lose if you 'reduce the scope for such things?" I could end deaths in car crashes tomorrow if I banned all cars, but I don't think you'd find many people willing to go back to horses and carts.
And before you say that's hyperbole, for me what is at stake is the question of who, fundamentally, is responsible for a child. Is it a state whose record when it comes to children in care is the stuff of nightmares? Or is it parents who, overwhelmingly, do the best job they possibly can? I get the same feeling around Labour's plans for permanent child care. Who decides what's best for someone who's too young to decide for themselves? The state whose plans and goals can change every five years, or the parents who may make mistakes but overwhelmingly, know and love the child?
I believe the state has to be a safety net, not a straitjacket.
Anne
"Yesterday evening, I was talking to somebody who works for an inner London local authority. This person felt that her department had been handed a veritable gift from the gods, as far as trying to campaign for the registration of home educated children was concerned."
ReplyDeleteThankyou, Simon, for this valuable insight into the mindset of some LA officers. The attitude of this person is worth highlighting and raising with the HE APPG.
Given that it was the work of a small charity - rather than a state bureaucracy - which brought about the freedom of the three women, perhaps there is a case for removing support from and firing many people such as your LA acquaintance or NSPCC stooges, and leaving this important work to smaller, highly focussed bodies such as the Freedom Charity.
"This person felt that her department had been handed a veritable gift from the gods, as far as trying to campaign for the registration of home educated children was concerned."
ReplyDeleteThis very thought crossed my mind when I heard that one of these poor women had, apparently, been living in that situation since birth.
We're home educators who have recently moved to the UK from Scandinavia, and the amount of freedom parents enjoy here is almost unfathomable to us. We think it's wonderful that home educators have so little state interference here, but my concern is that it will only take one child-abusing lunatic to whip up enough public hysteria to drive a change in the law, and a tightening of home educators' freedoms.
Of course this tragic and shocking case has nothing to do with home education but it will definitely strengthen the "invisible and possibly vulnerable children" argument.
Elizabeth
bad or mad parents would not register Webb and tend to move around a lot making it almost impossible to track them and if some did register then what? some box ticking fool from the LA attempts to visit the house? it would not work and would cost a lot of tax payers money to put in place, you can have all the registers in the world but their just a bit of paper which means nothing in the real world.
ReplyDeletewhat you need is to get the good will of people who home educate but you wont get it when we have to deal with box ticking fools from various LA's who have nothing to offer us
Love him or loathe him, Mr Williams has hit the nail on the head.
DeleteOf course, none of what he's said matters to the LA people; they want a convenient make-work scheme that isn't too onerous, guarantees they tick boxes and hit targets, and doesn't require involvement with difficult - particularly violent - "clients".
Love him or loathe him, Mr Williams has hit the nail on the head.
Deletethx I have summed it up in plain English. Box ticking LA;s want a register as it will give them more work funding from the tax payer increasing the amount of staff needed its got nothing to do with taking on the difficult cases as LA.s know full well that these parents/children will not take a blind bit of notice of a piece of paper that say register here.
The only way forward is for LA/s to have something to offer to parents who home educate.I remember saying to that half wit LA officer at HCC whats in it for me/child if i let you come round he had to admit nothing so i said no thx to a home visit and don't contact us again!
Given the latest news - that the alleged captors may have been a part of a Maoist/Marxist collective in the past - Simon's contact in an inner London authority might be well advised to keep its mouth shut and its head low.
ReplyDeleteSuspects in slavery case former leaders of a Maoist commune in south London.Both involved in the anarchist scene and members of the former Anti Nazi League - Unconfirmed reports that they had connections with the Labour Party and a prominent Trade Union. -
DeleteAll sounds like a gift from the gods for anyone who'd like to register and monitor the inner London leftie scene - from socialists to social workers, and any other dodgy beard and sandals types.
DeleteNo doubt GCHQ are already on to it.
"inner London leftie scene - from socialists to social workers, and any other dodgy beard and sandals types"
DeleteWasn't Simon embroiled in that lot somehow?
My children are registered, one visit a year, no advise, no support, no assistance. NOTHING.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/the_half_truths_and_wild_claims_behind_the_brixton_slave_story/
ReplyDelete"So why did the media, politicians, feminists and campaigners lap up this half-cooked, shrill, mostly baseless fantasy about slaves stuck in suburban jails in London? Because it spoke to their already existing prejudices"
He means you Simon.
Oh yeh, and your social worker friends too.
ReplyDeleteoh no, everyone from social services to the education department knew about the child 30 odd years ago....back in the age where EVERYONE had visits. Silly Simon.
ReplyDelete'oh no, everyone from social services to the education department knew about the child 30 odd years ago....back in the age where EVERYONE had visits. Silly Simon.'
DeleteOf course, I am aware of this myth; that in the 1970s and 1980s, all home educating families had visits. It is of course, complete nonsense! I have written extensively here about the situation at that time and in fact hardly any local authorities required visits. They usually asked the parents to drop by the the LEA office and it was not expected that the child would be present. I imagine this comment was written by somebody who, unlike me, was not actually involved in home education in those days!
Tsk sloppy thinking Simon.
ReplyDelete