Shedding more light on the latest home education 'scandal'

I have been poking around, trying to find out what this famous scandal is that Barry Sheerman has been hearing about. here is something which might be relevant.  A ministerial working group, made up of MPs like Eric Pickles and Nick Gibb,  published last year a report on tackling inequalities experienced by Gypsies and travellers. Very laudable, I hear you say! The report may be found here:

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/files/roma_uk_strategy_annex2_en.pdf

Observe this part:

The Department for Education will introduce the following measure designed 
to tackle poor attendance among Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils. 

Existing legislation (set out in Section 444 (6) of the 1996 Education Act) 
protects mobile Gypsy and Traveller families from prosecution for their 
children’s non-attendance provided that: 

• they are engaged in a trade of business of such a nature that requires 
them to travel from place to place; 
• the child has attended at a school as a registered pupil as regularly as the 
nature of that trade permits; and 
• any child aged six or over has attended school for at least 200 half day 
sessions during the preceding year. 

The Government believes that this concession has come to be seen by some 
schools - and by Gypsy and Traveller families themselves - as giving tacit 
consent for mobile pupils to benefit only from a significantly shortened school 
year. We intend to look again at the impact of this legislation and to consult on 
whether it should be repealed. 

In parallel with this action, we intend to review the statutory guidance in 
relation to Children Missing Education and will make sure this reflects the 
need to identify Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils, who are missing out on 

their education.

A consultation was held this year  on the proposed  change to the  provisions of the 1996 Education Act and many Gypsies and travellers expressed strong opposition to it. Possibly, other home educators felt that it didn't really affect them. The fools! Notice this little bit:

we intend to review the statutory guidance in 
relation to Children Missing Education and will make sure this reflects the 
need to identify Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils, who are missing out on 

their education.

What is not stated explicitly here is that most of those about whom concern is being expressed are technically being home educated. If the guidance on Children Missing from Education is going to be altered, then it will be in a way which refers to home education. For reasons at which I have already looked today, it is unlikely that it would be framed in such a way as only to apply to Gypsies! Readers who wish to know a little about consultation into a change in the law, which closed on February 22nd this year, may see here:

http://www.acert.org.uk/blog/2012/12/11/education-of-nomadic-children-under-threat/


Just to make it perfectly clear, what we are talking about here are changes to the 1996 Education Act, which will only affect Gypsies and travellers, and also a review of the guidance relating to Children Missing from Education; which could affect every home educated child in the country.

Enter a stalking horse…

I am quite interested to know what game Barry Sheerman MP, former Chair of the Children, Schools and Families Committee, is playing. Late on the night of October 16th this year, he tweeted that;

Home education is the next scandal which will eventually come to public
attention. It is being used in ways that deeply concern @Ofstednews

This gives one the impression that he is simply reporting something about which he knows. Ofsted are concerned about some aspect of home education and it will be coming to the attention of the public. Then, three weeks later, he is asking the Secretary of Sate for Education questions such as:

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education
what estimate he has made of the number of (a) girls and (b) boys
registered as being home-schooled who are not receiving an
 adequate education.

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State 

for Education what steps he is taking to 

ensure that girls and boys who are home-schooled 

receive an equal education.

Rather than just reporting this new scandal, Barry Sheerman now appears to be paving the way for it, by hinting that some home educators are providing an inadequate education for girls. The clue is plain; home education is being used as an excuse for sexism  by some ethnic minority and Barry Sheerman is the boy to expose this racket! 

Probably, the community which is being talked about here is that of the Gypsies/Travellers/Roma. There are many of them and it is no particular secret that a lot of their girls leave school at 11 and don’t progress to secondary education. Often, these girls  are officially being home educated; a polite fiction which fools nobody, but satisfies both the families and the local authority. Here is the problem though and what some would regard as a danger for other home educators. If you wish to crack down on the spurious use of home education in this way, then you must either introduce a law aimed specifically at Gypsies,  limiting their ability to choose home education for their children,  or you must change the law for everybody. Historically, a good deal of bad publicity has attended the practice of passing  laws designed to target particular ethnic groups such as  Gypsies, Jews or blacks; I think South Africa and the Third Reich  know who we're talking about here!  This means that  the first option is a non-starter. Which in turn, of course, means that any action taken to tackle this supposed ‘scandal’ will inevitably affect every home educating family in the country.

There is an outside chance that this business about boys and girls receiving an equal education is aimed at Muslims, but I wouldn't have thought that there are large enough numbers of such families to make up any sort of 'scandal'.

Home education in the Gypsy/Traveller/Roma communities

Since it seems likely that Barry Sheerman is hinting that home educated girls in some communities might get a more raw deal than boys, readers might like to read the Ivatts' report, which covers this in depth:

http://217.35.77.12/research/england/education/RW77.pdf