Oxford

A short, rambling and personal post today. As some readers may be aware, my daughter is in her final year at Oxford, studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics; known generally as PPE.  People sometimes ask whether there is any prejudice on the part of universities against admitting home educated children. I can only say that if there is, I've never seen it. My daughter, after all, did not spend a single day at school. The Oxford system fits in so perfectly with her home education, that it almost seems like an extension of the methods which I used when she was a small child. Let me explain.

Although  many home educators regard me as the arch-apostle of 'school at home', the educational technique that I followed was  largely based upon conversation; we talked about the subjects in an informal way. In most universities, the method of teaching is quite different from this. The students sit in what is essentially  a big classroom. A teacher stands at the front and lectures them. The idle ones can text their friends or let their minds wander during this process, just as they were able to at school.  This is the system even in first class universities such as Durham or York. Oxford is very different. There, much of the teaching takes place by the tutorial method. This means that the student has a one-to-one meeting with somebody who is very possibly the world's greatest expert on the subject under discussion. Even the larger tutorials only have a group of two or three; four at the most.  This means that the student has no choice but to take part and express opinions. Needless to say, this can be a daunting prospect if the man or woman in front of you knows more about this topic than anybody in the world! This method does not suit every young person, but for home educated children it is absolutely ideal.

Another way that Oxford differs from most other universities in this country is in the amount of written work expected.  Most universities require only one or two essays a term. At Oxford, it is two or three  a week. These cannot just be dashed off in a hurry either, not unless you seek to be humiliated on a regular basis. Just think, you might be writing about the German philosopher Nietzsche and the man who will be criticizing your essay will have written the textbooks that you have been studying!   Sustained essay writing of this sort is not taught much in maintained schools these days and so that too can prove a trial for some students. My daughter though was set increasingly long and complex essays from the age of five. Another triumph for home education! 

I think that home education is the perfect preparation for studying at Oxford and I am surprised that we do not hear of more home educated young people going there. It is my impression that their upbringing provides them with a definite advantage in that setting.

Oxford University and home education

My daughter has now been at Oxford University for eight months or so; long enough for me to make a few tentative observations on the matter. The first thing I have noticed is that the tutorial system used at Oxford suits home educated young people very well. At most universities, large groups of students attend lectures in what is essentially another version of the classroom teaching which most of them experienced at school. At Oxford, on the other hand, one professor meets with a few students in a normal room to discuss the subject under consideration. Some of these meetings are one to one.



This method of education is very similar to the conversational teaching which most home educating parents use routinely with their children. The child expresses a view and the parent responds. Instead of one person being a teacher and the other a pupil, it is a cooperative process. This was certainly the way that things were done when my daughter was being educated at home and it worked brilliantly. The Oxford system is simply a natural extension of this.


One thing that my daughter has remarked upon is that many of the students seem to have the same attitudes as those at school. She herself chose to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics because she had always been fascinated by philosophy and, to a lesser extent, by politics and economics. This does not at all seem to be the case with many of the other students. They have evidently chosen to do PPE not because they are interested in philosophy, but rather because this subject is likely to help them get on in the future. When my daughter attempts to discuss some aspect of politics, she has been told on more than one occasion, ‘Oh, don’t talk about work; we want to have fun.’ This struck her, and me, as quite extraordinary. These are young people who still think in school terms of being made to learn things that they don’t want to so that they can get the right qualification.

In which it is shown that home education can deliver at least as good an academic result as that likely to be gained at school

When first I told people that I would not be sending my daughter to school, there were many negative reactions. These ranged from predictions that she would be unable to get a job or go to university, to the fear that she would grow up introverted and weird. None of these things have happened. I have not mentioned it before here, although others have referred to it, but my daughter has a place at Oxford to study philosophy, politics and economics; otherwise known as PPE. Her A level results this morning were as hoped and so she is now assured of starting at Oxford in a month or so.

To my mind, the place at Oxford is not so much an endorsement of my teaching as a recommendation for home education in general. I am far too irritable and impatient to be a good teacher and gaining a place in this way at university was my daughter’s doing, rather than a tribute to my teaching skills. I honestly believe that any family prepared to put in the work and make all the necessary arrangements could do exactly the same as we have done. This proves, to me at least, that home education can be better than any school, even the most prestigious independent ones. Nobody needs qualifications themselves to undertake it, nor do they need much in the way of prior knowledge. All that is needed is the determination to push on with the project and not to be discouraged by anybody else’s opinions. I lost count of the number of people over the years who claimed that it was impossible to study science at home or take GCSEs in history without expert, professional teaching. These people are quite wrong. Anybody can teach their child any subject in the world, even if they know nothing at all about it to begin with. Parents and children learn together.

I suppose that the reason that I am putting posting this, apart from the natural parental pride in my child, is this. I doubt that the fact that a home educated child has secured a place at Oxford University is likely to become widely known. As far as anybody knows, this is the first time that a child who was completely home educated during the statutory ages from five to sixteen has been offered a place at Oxford in recent years. I would like this to become known among other home educators, not as a personal advertisement for my own methods but simply to show other parents that the thing is possible. I firmly believe that any home educating parent could do at least as well as I have managed in this field. Many of them will be able to do better. Home education is perfect for one-to-one tuition and the chances of getting good grades in GCSEs and so on is much higher with this type of education.

Incidentally, I am aware that for some home educating parents, all this is an irrelevance. I do not wish to engage any more in sterile and pointless debates about whether we should or should not teach our children without their initiating the process. The fact is that most parents hope that their children will do well academically. I am making the point here that home educating parents are ideally placed to ensure that their children do do well in GCSEs, A levels, university admissions and so on. Not attending school between the ages of five and sixteen is not only no bar to such achievements, but actually makes them more likely and far easier to attain.