The chances of anyone getting to this thread who will benefit from it is slim to none but still enough to make it worth posting.
In the UK and likely elsewhere there is a lot of fear and panic being spread to such an extent people are becoming scared to involve local authorities in the process. As with most situations there is nothing to be afraid of unless you are a major cause of damage to your children and based on what I have seen even when I thought they were.
There are some very negative impressions given on some facebook threads, one in particular which is administered by someone who will ban anyone who doesn't agree with her scare stories. These areas make it seem that the only outcome from telling the authorities you are educating at home is a surprise doorstep visit from the police and social services and intimidation to get your child back to state education. When you are looking at something as major as home educating this is the last thing you want to see and the reality is instead of supporting fellow home educators this will simply scare them and set them to focusing on imagined hazards instead of providing an education.
The reality of home education law UK version.
If you never send your child to school there is no legal requirement to advise the authorities, if you are removing them from a school you have to advise the school and local education authority. How approachable etc. they are is dependant on the individual, same as anything else but I would advise notifying them whether you have to or not. It isn't essential to eat more than every few days but most of us do and not doing so is pretty stupid.
Removing your child form a school without notifying the authorities is illegal, plain and simple and considering the most common abusers of children are the parents this will raise flags with police and social services who are not only empowered but duty bound to investigate this in order to protect the child(ren) in question. If you are scared out of doing so you will find yourself in a truly terrifying situation and your names will be entered onto a few watch lists as they should be to ensure children at risk are protected. This doesn't mean you are an abuser, but does mean you have behaved as one would.
You can notify and request no visits and the authorities have to abide by your request, but this will be seen as potentially having something to hide so you will be a bit further down the list of putting children at risk. Considering there appears to be no minimum standard you have to teach to, a fact that disgusts me to the core, I cannot see why anyone will not allow a standard scheduled visit, which is the authorities preferred. The fact is offering this will result in a 25% or less chance of the asking for one unless you absolutely insist due to their workload and you will be so far down the list of at risk as not to be seen unless you start burning crosses n your front garden or ordering weapons grde plutonium over the internet.
Personal experience dealing with the local education authority was mixed. The boss in charge of the home education department was an ex-teacher and I felt very much that she demonstrated a case of those who can do, those who can't teach and if you really can't you become boss of home education, she has since gone and everyone else we have dealt with has been fine. We asked them to give us annual visits to assess if we were educating our son to a suitable standard, we have had one initial assessment and not seen them since, the appointment was booked, rescheduled by them and took place with no police or social services presence. The paperwork from the assessment came back saying we were providing for our son better than the state would be able to with reasoning, not a sign of intimidation etc. We havent' seen them since but send them plans and details of the assessments we do every year to be sure we aren't letting our son down and they write back saying thank you.
Truth is they are there to provide a service, not a very good one as they have virtually no information to help you find resources etc. but working with them is very easy and totally painless.
I have witnessed one set of parents who I would say have to be one of the worst set of home educators going and even though they did everything in the most stupid and obstructive way possible they can still educate at home, I use the term very loosely.
The parents in question have multiple children who attended school for a few years and have been removed for home education. On leaving school they were reading at below the level they would be expected to for thier age, math ability similarly below so they would be seen as needing support in standard state schools. After almost 2 years of home education their abilities in basic english and math were below that on leaving school.
For reasons totally seperate they were investigated by social services and because they home educate this had to be investigate this as part of the process. End result with a family evidently educating their children so badly they were not only failing to learn new things but losing the abilities school had given them and at least one having openly stated they wanted to go back to school, was an advisory to return their children to school without any enforcement.
These will undoubtedly have posted on forums about how badly treated they were by the authorities they were constantly fighting with, while totally missing how little education they are providing at home. But even they still continue to be allowed to neglect their responsibilities without fear of reprisals.
The idea of this post is not to encourage people to think in terms of not bothering to educate knowing they can do so, even though it appears parents in the UK can. It is to show people that following the rules is simple and far less stressful than being obstructive. Knowing it's all done by the book and that if you are going to get a visit it will be one organised with a letter coming to you with a requested date and time.
Education authorities are generally quite lazy regarding home education, and there is a lot of work involved in setting up scary visits by police and social services so they won't do it unless they really feel it's needed.
They won't care if you are teaching on a dining table in fact most do, when we showed a desk they were shocked. They know it's expensive so will not expect you to have spent several thousands on kit either.
They want you to have considered all options first and will tell you about the best schools for your child and what they could provide, because many parents don't find out for themselves or schools fail to tell them. This is not pressure it is information, treat it as such.
They want to see what provisions you have made for education and social interaction their opinions on this will be drafted into a report if you get a visit. In the same way as anything else this should be viewed as a tool, none of us will get everything right and arrogantly assuming we do can only damage our children, so take notice even if you disagree.
Making a mistake often means potentially damaging something. Making a mistake on educating your children could easily damage their entire future, so take it seriously and get any help you can. If you advise the authorities and they give you one website link you didn't have, it was worth it. Better to go by the book and get nothing in return than have fear anyway.
Also remember that you may decide to return a child to school, good relationship with the education authority will help here. It is worth it and they aren't the devil's army.
No comments:
Post a Comment