Call To Register Home-Schooled Children

[naomi24]

//Children taught at home should be recorded on a compulsory register, England's children's commissioner has said.

The number of children home-schooled is "rocketing" and "no-one knows how they are doing academically, or even if they're safe" Anne Longfield said.

Her report estimates almost 60,000 pupils were taught at home at any one time in 2018.
She also had concerns about provision for special educational needs (SEN).//

I think this has to be done. It seems ridiculous that children in school are monitored so closely – to the extent that parents are fined for taking them on holiday during term time – and yet so many children are off the radar permanently.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-47112319

[cassa333]

TBH I thought you had to register home schooled children anyway!!!

[dannyk13]

Registration is a good idea.

[MallyJ]

To home school your child you used to have to declare it/ register that fact because inspectors used to visit the homes regularly to check that the children were actually being taught/learning. When did this stop happening? I have never heard it had.

[murraymints]

needs control of sorts...

[dannyk13]

//At present, there is no mandatory registration system for families choosing to educate their children at home, although some local authorities run voluntary schemes.//

[pixie374]

It does seem to be one extreme or the other... go to school and they nanny everything... or you are left completely to it. A bit of compromise in both would be good. Registration would make sense.

[spathiphyllum]

"maladjusted to the 'real world' often not being able to take criticism or mix well with their peers"

I find this is because they are raised and taught in the family, the don't interact whit hundreds of different unique children day to day to get a grasp of different character or social interactions. I find being around many alike yourself can help you understand and learn about yourself.

[spathiphyllum]

and when i say like yourself, i mean children your own age, in the year and time you're living in

[Cloverjo]

My friend home-schools her child. She is a trained teacher with degrees coming out of her ears. From what I can see on her FB page her son meets many children from all sorts of cultures and has had experiences that other kids don't get.
I don't know if they on any register or if they should be. If the inspector came round to their house to check up on what the boy is learning they'd probably be out in the woods or at a museum or speaking Japanese or Arabic to fellow home-schoolers.

[spathiphyllum]

That's it though Clover, not every home teacher is a certified teacher, and not all home teacher have degrees. Home teaching can be good to get away from school issues, but if you as a home teaching parent have issues, then you'll simply be passing those on

This is why home schooled kids should be registered and checked.

[woofgang]

maybe if schools were less nanny'd and monitored, people would feel less need to homeschool?

[spathiphyllum]

safeguarding is important though. So it always will be, as childre, are in fact nannied. We live in a nannied state it's a fact

[Prudie]

I'm stunned they aren't already, I had no idea. With no control we have no idea whether these children are being kept at home as skivvies and learning sweet nothing.

[pixie374]

I didn't mean safeguarding spath, I meant everything from checking through lunchboxes, to weighing them, to bribing them to walk to school, etc.

[Cloverjo]

My friend's son is not speaking Japanese and Arabian with Octavia and Tobias, but with Fatima and Naoko. And they are his real friends, and my friend is my friend. Not 'friend.'

[grumpy01]

I appreciate that Home schooling is,in some circumstances,unavoidable in other circumstances it is.It surely isn't right that a school head can take a subjective view to exclude children simply because they cannot be bothered to find a solution and their problem is not properly diagnosed but if a child has been diagnosed with autism or whatever this brings money into the school and thus they bend over backwards to keep this child in school in spite of their behaviour.

[Old_Geezer]

Difficult to understand why this isn't so anyway, if that's true. Are the authorities deliberately trying to avoid responsibility for ensuring child welfare ?