MPs criticise absence of home-school regulation
Parents who educate their child at home face greater regulation and monitoring from local councils
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Wednesday, 16, Dec 2009 12:01
By Emmeline Saunders
Parents who teach their children at home should be more closely monitored by local authorities, a group of MPs have said.
The children, schools and families (CSF) committee criticised the government over the lack of regulation in home-educating.
Committee chair Barry Sheerman said the onus must be on local councils and agencies to know which children are in school, which are home-schooled and the ones who are missing, but stressed that council workers should not take on a "more overt safeguarding role".
"If a balance is to be struck between parental rights and guaranteeing that all children have access to a good education, local authorities must work positively and cooperatively with home-educating families," he said.
Between 45,000 and 50,000 children are taught from home in England, but a lack of basic data means local councils urgently require improved methods to get detailed information, the report stated.
Opponents of home schooling have argued the absence of regulation could leave some children isolated, without a varied and 'proper' education, or even at risk of harm.
The committee has called for the introduction of a "more precise" definition of what constitutes a suitable education, with local authorities working closely with families to "strengthen parental responsibility" in providing their children with a 'quality' education.
A voluntary "light-touch" registration scheme for home-educating families has been recommended by the committee, with a review after two years to see if a compulsory registration programme would be viable.
Data would then be shared with other local authorities, such as the police, NHS trusts and HM Revenue and Customs.
It was suggested that parents should provide a "statement of educational approach" to inform local authorities what they intended to teach their child. This would be supplemented with yearly meetings with council officers.
The report also criticised the government's "unfortunate" handling of the earlier Badman review into elective home education, saying the CSF department had not paid "sufficient attention" to the matter to offering effective support and services to home-educating families, and had underestimated the cost of training council workers.