One of the disadvantages of a representative democracy such as ours is that we sometimes have to decide who our representatives actually are. In places like parliament, this is fairly easy; we choose them by secret ballot. In other cases, the people who become the representatives of certain sections of the population do so because they are quick off the mark, unscrupulous or have loud voices. This has happened with certain ethnic minorities, where hundreds of thousands of citizens end up being "represented" by groups of people who have got where they are simply by virtue of being pushy and media savvy.
Education Otherwise is regarded as being virtually synonymous with home education in the UK. Talk about home education and you have to refer to EO. For instance, almost every local authority mentions them when providing information on elective home education. A lot of parents join EO as a matter of course as soon as they make the decision to home educate, even if they then allow their membership to lapse after the first year. I have therefore been watching with fascination as this organisation, once a byword for radicalism and non-conformity, gradually eases itself into a comfortable niche as the establishment's partner in all matters relating to home education.
The signs that this was happening were plain long before Graham Badman started talking about the "Tasmanian Model" of home education practice. Some Trustees of Education Otherwise were very quick to pick up on Badman's apparently chance remarks on this subject and it was obvious that they visualised a role for Education Otherwise similar to that of the Tasmanian Home Educators Advisory Council. Just what the country needs, another quango! Others have noticed these developments and are uneasy about them. As I am not even a member, it could rightly be argued that it is really none of my business, but I have a personal angle here, in that I believe that I am able correctly to identify and empathise with the primary motivation of one of the main players in the affair.
Fiona Nicholson, a leading light of Education Otherwise, is one of those rare parents who have educated their child all the way through from five until sixteen, without once sending the kid to school. The present writer is in the same situation. The quasi bereavement felt as this process draws to a close is a curious sensation, akin I should imagine, to that felt by mothers on their child's first day of school. Some of us in this position sublimate these emotions by starting obscure Blogs and raving on in them about home education! Others, and I suspect that Fiona Nicholson is one of them, cast around for somewhat grander displacement activities to occupy themselves with and enable them to remain involved with home education. Her planned appearance at the Children Missing Education Conference on October 6th has not gone unremarked and I think that we will be hearing a good deal more of La Nicholson's activities as she transforms herself little by little into the official representative of home educating parents in this country. Who knows where this will ultimately lead, a seat in the Lords perhaps?
None of this is meant maliciously, as I am sure Fiona knows. She is, after all, one of the few people on home education lists with a sense of humour and certainly the only one whom I have encountered with a knowledge of the Molesworth books. So good luck, Fiona! I would be very surprised if we do not read a lot more about you in the future, particularly once the new legislation is in place.
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I am not sure that I see the activities of EO (or its trustees) as some sort of attempt to push themselves forward as the decision makers of the future; I genuinely believe that they are all too aware that changes are about to be forced onto all home educators and they are of the Churchillian view that "to jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war." If legislation is inevitable than the more input real home educators have in the process the better, surely? ( by "real" home educators I do include all sorts...not just the proponents of AE, or just structured HEs for example). Sadly some EO members and many ex members don't agree - to them any negotiation or even public speaking to a conference of the "enemy" is unacceptable compromise. Again it is the general sense of paranoia which saddens me most...I know there is little unity amongst the home ed community, but we do need reasoned and articulate argument on all sides.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I would think it was common sense that should, I mean when these changes go through it would be better to have as many people onside as possible. If it means Fiona has to play politics to get people on side then that’s what has to be done.
ReplyDeleteThere is a divide happing between home educators and very few people seem able to see or accept its happing.
An example being I’m all for inviting our local MP and LEA to our home ed group to see what parents do and to get them on side, the second I mentioned this it was like a deathly silence in the room.
"is one of those rare parents who have educated their child all the way through from five until sixteen"
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think educating children all the way through from five until sixteen is rare? It may be rare on email lists, but from my experience of friends and others at local meetings, it seems more the norm. Maybe new home educators are so prominent on email lists because they are the ones that currently need support? I've seen plenty of requests for information and support from home educators at the beginning of their journey and many have been from parents of pre-schoolers. I would guess that those known to local authorities are more likely to have withdrawn their children
Of the five families we are closest to, two home educated from the beginning, two withdrew their eldest child from school within the first year (so they were younger than compulsory school age and did not have to de-register in the the same way as school age children) and the third withdrew their eldest child after two years; they all home educated the following children from the beginning. They may have started home educating because of problems at school, but all have continued for philosophical reasons. The problems at school were the stimulus to look elsewhere and, once they had read about and experienced home education, decided that it was the best option for their family. Out of 17 children, 3 were sent to school at the normal age for less than a year, the rest were home educated from the beginning. I think 4 have gone to school for varying lengths of time (I think the longest was a term) by their own choice and some have started college early, but none have been sent to school.
As regards negotiations with the government. I don't think 'agreements' can or will be reached. The best we can do is lobby against the particular changes we (as individuals or as groups) particularly dislike and I have written to my MP for that reason. I don't think government view us as partners with whom agreements are reached, they will do as much as they think they can get away with (without too much internal party conflict or valid criticisms that hit home with the public from other parties). It is not the moral right of any individual or organisation to agree to the loss of freedoms on behalf of others without exceptionally good reasons(though they may not see it that way).
I said,
ReplyDelete"Out of 17 children, 3 were sent to school at the normal age for less than a year, the rest were home educated from the beginning."
The most observant readers will have noticed that this should have read:
"Out of 17 children, 2 were sent to school at the normal age, 2 for less than a year and 1 for 2 years, the rest were home educated from the beginning."
I have no feelings either way about those who choose to engage with the government on this topic. Indeed, since change is coming, it may well be sensible to work from within to shape it. I have observed four other parents who have gone from home educating to doing things like running a blog, being in charge of an HE message board and attending conferences on the subject. This was not an attack on Fiona Nicholson, more remarking on an aspect of home education. I would be quite happy for Fiona to do well for herself in this role.
ReplyDeleteSharon, Your statistics are interesting - in my experience there are few families in my local group whose children have never been to school. Admittedly if a family chooses to HE from the beginning, they are likely to treat all the children the same way, so the total number of "not school children" is higher than one might expect, because families who withdraw a child from school may do so after having had older children with a successful school career (I would be parent in that category) and indeed many families may only withdraw a single child from school. So that gives us a lot of families whose children have been to school, and a few families but with more children who have never been to school...if that makes sense. I have no idea how this is replicated nationally - most LAS "know" more secondary aged pupils as HE than primary, despite there being more "years" in primary, but then non registered pupils are more likely to remain unknown, so the stats are proably useless!
ReplyDeleteOur local HE group is about 8 years old and so far the oldest "never been to school" is 13...it will be interesting to see how many of them keep their nerve to the bitter end!
I suppose that I started wondering about this business of children never going to school, when my daughter enrolled for college. She told me that the man taking her details did a double take when she said she had never been to school and he wrote, "Never been to school!" on her form and underlined it twice! Shortly afterwards I was talking to Ruma Lacey from Essex LEA about it. She has worked in EHE for years and has never knwon a single child who has been home educated all the way through. Since Essex has over 500 known home educated children, I found this interesting. I have never heard of any on the lists either except, as I said, Fiona Nicholson's son. I would be keen to know what other people have noticed about this.
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems of making sense of what has happened/is happening in home ed is the problems of gathering meaningful statistics. Heisenberg said something about the act of measuring things changing the outcome (husband and eldest son now having debate about what this actually meant..physicists!)...so families who come into contact with our HE group (which is large and extremely active)...are more likely, I think...
ReplyDeletea) to remain home educating - lots of support
b) end up taking a more structured approach -because we offer virtually free maths. English and science tuition for GCSE for those who want
c) are more likely to take exams than not - because of the above and because we are proactive in identifying centres
So getting involved with us must modify the statistics!
Julie said,
ReplyDelete"most LAS "know" more secondary aged pupils as HE than primary, despite there being more "years" in primary, but then non registered pupils are more likely to remain unknown, so the stats are proably useless!"
Remember that secondary aged children known to LAs will include those de-registered during their primary years as well as those de-registered in thier secondary years, so there will inevitably be more secondary age children known to LAs, there will effectively be a doubling effect. Also, as unknowns gradually become known, the secondary numbers will grow in the same way. For instance, if 1 child becomes know when they are 5, the following year a 6 year old becomes known, the next year a 7 year old and so on. After 10 years there will be 10 of secondary age even though 6 became known whilst primary school aged.
"Our local HE group is about 8 years old and so far the oldest "never been to school" is 13...it will be interesting to see how many of them keep their nerve to the bitter end!"
But how would new life-long home educators join a group? They would either have had to ignored groups till then, so why would they start attending? Or they would need to have moved into the area. The oldest child aged 13 in a group that's been going for 8 years fits, they have probably been there from the beginning of their home education or soon after.
When we began home educating we joined the local group where most were parents of young children, I think the oldest was about 10. We became close friends with about 6 or 7 families with similar age children and gradually attended fewer group activities, preferring instead to meet up with the families we knew.
When we moved to a new area we didn't really bother much with the local group as they had plenty of friends already and weren't really interested in many of the group visits. We have probably attended about 7-10 meetings in the last 9 years, sometimes missing several years and then going to a few events in rapid succession. One of the families we connected with sent their children to school from secondary age, in another they began college at 14, but the others have home educated all the way through and have all dropped out of local groups. Their children's ages range from about 12 - 22 now.
Simon said,
ReplyDelete"She told me that the man taking her details did a double take when she said she had never been to school and he wrote, "Never been to school!" on her form and underlined it twice!"
The tutors at our local college had met home educators before though I don't know if they had ever been to school or not. Certainly I know 2 families in this area who have home educated all the way through but I don't know many home educators in this area.
"shortly afterwards I was talking to Ruma Lacey from Essex LEA about it. She has worked in EHE for years and has never knwon a single child who has been home educated all the way through."
Maybe they are like us and most of our friends and have have remained unknown? They are much less likely to know about home educators who have never been to school. Actually, the only family in our group who were known to their LA was the family that sent their children to school from secondary age, I hadn't noticed that before.
"I have never heard of any on the lists either except, as I said, Fiona Nicholson's son."
I'm on lists but have never mentioned that we have home educated from the beginning, it's just not cropped up and I lurk most of the time these days. Of the families I know only 1 other is on a national list. Maybe there is less need for support amongst that group? They joined groups, made friends and received support during the early days of their HE when it's most needed, before the internet really 'arrived'. Certainly we had made contact with our group of friends before we had internet access and well before broadband arrived. Remember dial up access and paying by the minute, whilst tying up the phone line!
Julie said,
ReplyDelete"end up taking a more structured approach -because we offer virtually free maths. English and science tuition for GCSE for those who want"
This fits for us. Our children were only really interested in groups as a source of friends and play activities so we tended to avoid the events that were more formal and once they had lots of friends there was less need for the groups anyway. I wonder if it's difficult for teens new to home education to meet similar age friends? To add to the difficulties, group activities tend to be less attractive to most teens, especially when most other attending are much younger. Maybe the internet and home education camps help?
Yes, the whole "what about social events for teenagers " is a thing which often comes up. New families always want social activites for their teens - but they are really tricky to organise...
ReplyDeleteNew home edders are often ones who have had trouble at school so they are wary of others, and attempts to set things up seem artificial and don't work. Actually getting involved in the tuition groups does work...because they have made friends with the young people they have sat alongside and there is a lot of helping and teaching each other anyway, especially in maths. From those contacts they have made their own arrangements to meet up and get involved in things that interest them. Setting up events with the intention of making social contacts never seems to work.
The whole diversity of home educators also can produce problems ...some of the more conservative Christian families wouldn't encourage their young people to join in certain types of events either. At least a spot of formal learning does bring families together in the first place and then they can get to pick their friends!
It is very different if you have primary aged children...they have played alongside their friends for years and grown up together and probably move seemlessly from meeting their friends at activities their parents had planned to arranging their own social calender themslelves.
I can well imagine that teens recently out of school will feel more comfortable attending tuition groups as a way of meeting friends though the idea hadn't crossed my mind until reading your post. My children have mentioned with some surprise the number of young adults (16-20 year olds) who hang out at college even when they don't have a class. Maybe they see their place of education as the place they socialise? Quite good really that they are happy to spend time there when they don't have to, they must feel reasonably happy and comfortable there.
ReplyDeleteor have NO where else to go? and know that in many cases the parents do not want them around the house unlike home educated chuldren who are wanted at home!
ReplyDeleteVery likely. Good that they have somewhere safe to hang out though.
ReplyDeletenot good then as these children should be wanted at home and this is what uncle Badman should have being doing a report on why do parents not want the children at home with them
ReplyDeletemost college shut at 5 or 6? if not before! wonder where the children hang out then?
Don't you think that wanting to spend time with friends is a normal part of teenage development? Personally my children are mostly happier "doing something" with their fellows rather than just "hanging around" but that is probably because we have indoctrinated them on the merits of keeping busy - be it scrapbooking or taking yet another computer to bits...but if young people want to hang around college it seems pretty normal to me!
ReplyDeleteSimon, that read like a nasty piece of gossip. I'm ashamed that a home educator would write like that about another.
ReplyDeleteJulie the children should be able to hang out at home with there friends? not hanging around at college or school becuase there parents do not want them around!
ReplyDeleteDon't you think that wanting to spend time with friends is a normal part of teenage development? i never said children should not be with friends but of all ages not of one set age like at a school that is not normal?
Sorry Anonymous, which bit of the post sounds like gossip? I don't actually know Fiona at all, this is pure speculation, which may of course be completely wrong. I know how I feel and why I started this blog. I also know how somebody running an HE list feels the same and that she is heavily involved in the thing as a displacement activity because she is no longer an active home educator. I have seen a similar thing happening to to others as their children reach sixteen or seventeen. It looks like some sort of syndrome.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it might have been tactless to draw attention to it, but it would only be gossip if I had heard something about Fiona which led me to suppose that this was the case. If I were that close to her, I probably would not have written this post anyway.
Besides, as Julie G pointed out when she was agitating for my removal from the HE Exams list, I am no longer technically a home educator. Neither, for the matter of that I suppose, is Fiona Nicholson.
Education otherwise do not speak for most home educators.i heard there short of money because of losing members because it appears to like some of badman ideas!
ReplyDeleteI am in my usual muddle about who actually I am replying to (are all you anonymous folk the same gentleman from Hamphsire??) but anyway I think that older teens do have a desire to mix with others of the same age and also that they want to do it part of the time away from their parents. That isn't to say that they are up to anything they wouldn't want their parents to see...but that some sort of "fleeing the nest" is a natural part of growing up. So college may be the place where they choose to do that part of the time.... it certainly isn't my idea of the greatest place on earth, but our local college (South Downs if you are Mr anon of Hampshire) gives the young people access to loud music, coffee shops, playstationish sorts of things , free access to a gym, ICT suite, all sorts of clubs and societies and is open to 10 pm at night - so seeing it full of young people isn't really surprising.
ReplyDeleteHaving said I don't see to be very efficient at dispersing my own young people very far- 2 eldest have bought a house at the bottom of our garden.
Julie- i never said teens should not mix away from home but why does it have to be a college?is that so the teacher can keep an eye on them? and the parents can use it as a babysiting service? dont the young people you know have assess to loud music or playstations? open till ten may as well move in!
ReplyDeleteteens should mix with all ages not just of the same age like a school or college.
your children are very luckie to be able to buy a house at the bottom of your garden! do you check on them or do you trust them? can you imagine the checks Simon would go though with them? he put in CCTV camera to make sure every thing was ok dont forget the garden simon! and the garden shed!
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