… we think this is what they were given:
CHILDREN, SCHOOLS
AND FAMILIES BILL
CLAUSE 26 AND SCHEDULE 1: HOME
EDUCATION
POLICY
STATEMENT
Regulations and Statutory Guidance
Schedule 1 to the Children,
Schools and Families Bill provides regulation making powers relating
to the registration and monitoring of home education, including the
appeals mechanism. New sections 19A to 19H set out these powers
which cover:
Section 19A maintenance by
local authority of home education register;
Section 19B manner in which
application is to be made and entry of a childs details on the
register;
Section 19C supplementary
provisions relating to an application including information to be
included in the application; statement about the prospective
education; provision for an undertaking to be provided by a parent;
and the entry by the local authority of the childs details on the
register including steps to be taken by a local authority; power for
local authority to provide for a period within which a repeat
application may not be made; and what details should be entered on
the register;
Section 19D registration
period – no regulation making power;
Section 19E monitoring the
provision of home education – no regulation making power;
Section 19F revocation of
registration including steps to be taken by an authority in relation
to revocation or proposed revocation, what should and should not be
taken into account;
Section 19G appeals against
refusal to register or revocation;
Section 19H supply of
information to a local education authority in England exercising its
home education functions.
Section 19I provides a power to
make statutory guidance in relation to the registration and
monitoring arrangements.
What follows is a policy
statement which draws out our initial proposals for regulations and
guidance once the Bill becomes law. It is intended to support debate
and consultation as the Bill passes through the Parliamentary
process. Any regulations and guidance will be subject to full public
consultation.
General
Current Position
Local authorities are currently
not under a duty to monitor home education on a regular basis but
they are under a duty under section 436A EA 1996 to have
arrangements in place to identify children not receiving a suitable
education. Subsection (b) of section 436A makes clear that this
provision does not relate to home educated children that are
receiving suitable education. However, in order for a local
authority to establish whether the education is suitable, the duty
supposes some kind of investigation by a local authority. Arguably
it imposes an obligation to act. Currently this can only be done
with the co-operation of those home educating parents that the local
authority know about. Our proposals for registration and monitoring
will ensure that all home educated children are known to their local
authority and none are missing out on their education.
If it appears to a local
education authority that a child of compulsory school age in their
area is not receiving suitable education either by regular
attendance at school or otherwise then that authority is under a
duty under section 437 of the Education Act 1996 to take steps under
the school attendance order framework. The school attendance order
framework is about ensuring that all children receive a suitable
education whether by regular attendance at school or otherwise.
It is for local authorities to determine in this context what is
suitable education where a child is being home educated. In
practice, the current lack of effective monitoring arrangements
means that local authorities have had difficulty in carrying out
their responsibilities where these involve a home educated child
where parents have been unwilling to cooperate with monitoring
requests. Our proposals will help overcome those obstacles and
assist local authorities in focusing their efforts on children who
are missing education as opposed to wasting time and public money
pursuing home educators who are providing an adequate standard of
education but who are unwilling to provide reliable evidence to
their local authorities.
A New Approach
Home education is a
well-established and important part of our education system.
England is and will remain under our proposals one of the most
liberal countries in the developed world for parents who choose to
home educate. Our reforms will have minimal impact on home educators
who are doing a good job – unlike many other countries, parents will
be able to follow the wide range of different educational
philosophies they currently adhere to, including autonomous
learning. Home educated children will not have to follow the
National Curriculum, take SATs tests or other public examinations.
They will not have to observe school hours, days or holidays.
For most home educators who
already work harmoniously with their local authorities, the
provisions in the Bill will bring little change on the ground.
However, when combined with our wider proposals, home educators will
have much better access to support if their children have special
needs, or want to attend college, or take public examinations. There
will also be funding to help local authorities provide support to
home educators such as access to school libraries, music lessons,
after school clubs and sports facilities.
For the arrangements to be
successful there needs to be co-operation between home educators and
local authorities. They must recognise and respect each others
responsibilities. Local authorities must respect the right of
parents to decide the educational approach of their child, and the
current Bill reinforces the well established principle that parents
are responsible for the education of their children, not the state.
Home educating parents and their children should respect local
authorities duty to ensure that every child in their area is
being educated and assist them in discharging this duty in a way
that is cost effective for the taxpayer. As well as monitoring, our
proposals envisage local authorities adopting a more supportive role
to home educators in their area and home educators becoming more
involved in shaping their local authoritys policies and practices
that relate to home education.
Guidance will recognise that
home educators and their children are a diverse group who are home
educating for many different reasons. Many will be home educating
because their child has not had a positive experience of school;
others will have a philosophical preference for an educational
approach which is very different from that offered in school. The
local authority should approach monitoring from the perspective of
collaboration and support, and make every effort to make
arrangements for monitoring which are tailored to fit family
routines.
For these reasons local
authorities need to approach registration and monitoring with the
widest possible perspective on what constitutes a suitable and
efficient education recognising that home educated children do
not have to follow a prescribed curriculum, take tests or
examinations, follow school hours or use any particular resources.
There must be a focus on whether the home educated child is learning
and making progress appropriate to their individual needs and
aptitudes. Monitoring must also be carried out in a supportive way,
with the LA listening to the family, and doing everything possible
to respond to the reasonable requests of home educating families for
support, bearing in mind the cost and efficiency of delivery.
Local authorities should
establish mechanisms for engaging with representatives from all
parts of the home educating community in establishing arrangements
for monitoring. We would expect the home educating community to be
involved with commissioning monitoring arrangements, support
services and in providing training to local authority officials
carrying out monitoring.
The regulations and guidance on
registration and monitoring arrangements will recognise that the
interests of the child are of paramount importance. The focus of
the arrangements in the Bill is on the education of the child.
Where in the course of monitoring safeguarding concerns come to
light these will be addressed through existing child protection
legislation which is entirely separate from the educational
arrangements set out in the current Bill. The following statement
outlines our proposals in more detail for the regulations and
guidance.
THE
REGISTRATION SCHEME
The Register: Content and
Application Process
Section 19A requires a
local authority to keep a register of home educated children.
Subsections (2) and (3) enable regulations to be made about the way
in which local authorities will maintain and amend the register.
We envisage that regulations
relating to the maintenance of the register will cover matters such
as the local authoritys duty to keep the register up to date,
making it clear that local authorities can keep the register in any
format that is effective eg paper or electronic. The regulations
will clarify that the register will not be publicly available and
that access to the register must be restricted to people who need to
inspect the register in order to gain information about a home
educated child for the purposes of carrying out other functions of
the local authority (for example in relation to children missing
education or safeguarding) or else the monitoring or support of home
education.
We envisage that regulations
covering maintenance and amendment of the register will require
local authorities to accept information from parents in a manner
that is least burdensome, for example in writing, by electronic
means or by a telephone call. They should also make provisions for
allowing local authorities to make changes to the register where
information other than from the parent suggests that the register
needs amending when the family moves house, for example without
notifying the local authority. These provisions will ensure that
where details are incorrect owing to an oversight by the parents,
amendments to the register can be made by the local authority rather
than the local authority having to consider revocation under 19F (1)
(b) and a fresh application to register.
Sections 19B and 19C
provide that regulations will cover the manner in which the
application will be made, what needs to be included in an
application and the entry of a childs details onto the register.
Manner in which the
application will be made: Local authorities will decide how they
want to populate and maintain the register, for example on line, in
writing or in person; at the local authoritys offices, at a
school or at a library or other public building. Guidance will say
that in doing so they should take into account the views of home
educators locally about how the process might work and operate on
the principle that registration should be convenient for home
educators. It would be best practice to agree arrangements through
the consultative forum that Graham Badmans report on home
education suggested each authority should create.
What is to be included in
an application : Regulations will provide that applications for
a childs details to go on the home education register should
include the childs name, address and date of birth; gender;
race; religion; special educational needs including whether or not
the child is statemented; whether the child has any disability; the
names and addresses of those with parental responsibility; other
addresses the child has lived at over the past 5 years if of
compulsory school age; contact telephone number(s) and email
address; place of education, or where most education is carried out
if different from the residential address; name of person providing
the education if not the parents; details of any previous refusal of
or revocation of a registration to home educate and details about
the reasons for refusal and the local authority in whose area this
refusal or revocation took place; details of any school attendance
order served; name of any school that the child has been withdrawn
from prior to being home educated. Parents may refuse to supply
information such as race, religion and special educational needs but
must supply the other information specified. An application should
be made within 20 days of the start of home education although there
will be transitional provisions covering those parents who are
already home educating who we propose should be given 3 months to
come forward for registration once the relevant provisions in the
Bill are commenced.
Applications will also have to
include a statement giving information about the childs
prospective education. Regulations supported by guidance will set
out what should be included in this statement and the form it should
take and more information on this document is provided at para 29
below. We envisage that it should be provided in written or
electronic form as best suits the parents. Regulations will also
provide for flexibility around the provision of this statement, so
that if a parent is unable to provide the statement with the initial
application information (because for example they need more time or
support from the local authority to prepare it) regulations will
specify that a parent may give an undertaking to provide the
statement within a period determined by or in accordance with
regulations which we envisage should not be more than three months
after the date of application. Information such as names,
addresses, contact details, previous history of home education
registration and the statement of prospective education (or an
undertaking to provide one) will be core information and if it is
not provided the application will not be in the prescribed
manner and the local authority will be unable to register that
child. Guidance will make it clear that local authorities should
work cooperatively with parents and should assist them in
registering through ensuring that administrative errors in
applications (eg dates that are inconsistent) are investigated and
rectified promptly and in a manner that is not onerous to
applicants.
Local authorities will be able
to specify a period, prescribed by or determined in accordance with
regulations, within which an application to enter on their home
education register the details of a child whose previous application
has been refused or revoked, may not be made unless the authority is
satisfied that there has been a change of circumstances that
justifies an application being made within that period. We envisage
that the local authority will have discretion to determine a period
on a case by case basis not exceeding one year, within which no
repeat application may be made. The period specified by the local
authority should reflect the authoritys assessment of how long it
will take for circumstances to change such that parents might
reasonably expect that a renewed application would stand a
reasonable chance of success.
The regulations will also
specify the information to be held on the register which is likely
to include the childs name, address and date of birth; names and
addresses of those with parental responsibility; other addresses the
child has lived at over the past 5 years if of compulsory school
age; contact telephone number(s) and email address; place of
education, or where most education is carried out if different from
the residential address; any previous refusal of or revocation of a
registration to home educate and details about the reasons for
refusal and the local authority in whose area this refusal or
revocation took place; name of person providing the education if not
the parents; gender; race; religion; special educational needs
including whether or not the child is statemented; and any
disability.
Information of a statistical
nature such as gender, race, religion or special education needs
will not be a requirement for registration although applicants will
be encouraged to provide it in order that local authorities can
provide appropriate training for staff, ensure that appropriate
staff are selected to conduct monitoring, and in order to inform
national policy
Where a family has more than
one child that is being home educated, a separate application will
be needed in respect of each child although local authorities should
identify ways to simplify the registration process for families with
several children, particularly where the details supplied in respect
of each child are similar.
Registration of a child:
Once an application has been made in the prescribed format the child
must be registered unless one of the specific grounds for refusing
the application set out under 19B is satisfied. There is therefore a
presumption of registration unless one of the specified grounds is
satisfied. The grounds are (broadly), previous refusal or
revocation of a home education application; inaccurate or inadequate
information; and welfare issues.
The local authority will have a
discretion to register (or refuse to register) where a previous
application has been rejected, registration has previously been
revoked, or a school attendance order has been served and is still
in force. Regulations may make provision about matters that are or
are not to be taken into account by an authority in making any
decision not to register and what steps should be taken by a local
authority in the process of making its decision. In relation to a
decision to refuse to register on these grounds the regulations will
make it clear that the grounds for refusal or revocation must be
substantial to protect parents from arbitrary decisions or those
with a purely administrative basis. In respect of the local
authority discretion to refuse registration where registration has
been previously refused or revoked we envisage that each case must
be considered on its own merits. The sorts of factors which might
affect this are where there have previously been educational or
welfare concerns but circumstances have now changed.
The local authority also has a
discretion to register (or refuse to register) if it considers that
material information provided by the parents is inaccurate or that
material information relating to the application has not been
disclosed. Regulations will provide that the authority should
consider whether to contact other local authorities, childrens
services colleagues and/or schools if they think it is likely
that they will have information that has a bearing on the
application to home educate. Regulations will also specify that
local authorities will not be required to accept another authoritys
decision to refuse or revoke registration but can take it into
account when receiving applications from home educators moving into
their area. There are provisions in the legislation which will
allow local authorities to share information amongst themselves
relevant to home education registration decisions to ensure that
families moving from place to place can register as quickly and
efficiently as possible (19 H).
Section 19B requires LAs to
refuse registration where they consider that home education would be
harmful to the childs welfare. Regulations and guidance will set
out the sorts of circumstances in which this will or will not be
appropriate and what steps local authorities will have to take in
reaching any decision on a childs welfare. The sorts of
circumstances where we envisage that local authorities may have to
consider carefully whether in their view home education may be
harmful to the child are, for example, where a child has a child
protection plan which specifies that the child must attend school,
or where the local authority considers that the child is a child in
need (s17 Children Act) because they are suffering or likely to
suffer significant harm. This may include cases where there is a
history of domestic violence, serious neglect, domestic chaos
related to mental illness or addition, or other forms of child
abuse. Local authorities may also decide that children who are the
subject of a s47 Children Act enquiry may not be registered because
of the circumstances that triggered the enquiry. We expect these
cases to be very few in number with local authorities considering
each case on its merits [and without making any general rule about
particular types of case]. Parents refused registration will be
informed of the grounds for this decision and will have the right to
appeal against the decision to an independent panel.
Regulations will require local
authorities to acknowledge applications for registration and to make
a decision on registration within a reasonable period, possibly 20
working days. Local authorities may not make any charge for
registration or monitoring.
Statement of Educational Provision
Guidance will make it clear
that the education statement should not be a significant burden on
parents and it will not require detailed curriculum or teaching
plans. In the current guidelines to local authorities on home
education we advise them that they may reasonably expect the
provision of home education to include the following
characteristics: consistent involvement of parents or other
significant carers
; recognition of the childs needs, attitudes
and aspirations; opportunities for the child to be stimulated by
their learning experiences; access to resources/materials…
These guidelines are well regarded by home educators and we would
expect an education plan to contain these sorts of characteristics.
Regulations will set out the
information needed in the statement and the form it should take. We
envisage that the statement will contain three types of information.
First, it must set out the educational needs of the child, and
contain any relevant background information which affects the way
education is structured and delivered. This may include information
about special educational needs, any particular aptitudes the child
has, such as sporting or musical ability, the childs wishes
(particularly for older children who may be preparing for
employment), any issues affecting wellbeing, such as bullying, and
refer to prior attainment at school or otherwise, and any assessment
of potential if available.
The second type of information
will be the educational philosophy or approach to be adopted. This
might cover the degree of formality of education, any specific
curricula that will be followed, or qualifications pursued.
The third piece of information
will be outline plans for the forthcoming year. We recognise this
will be particularly difficult for new home educators who might like
to submit provisional plans and update them at a later stage once
they have explored the best approach that suits the family. For
some families these plans will be well structured but for others
adopting an autonomous approach they may be able to do no more than
set out the range of opportunities that are available to their
children, although depending on our review of suitability
there may be broad parameters such as those set out by the recent
Select Committee report – numeracy, literacy and breadth (see
section on monitoring below).
We do not expect families to
submit detailed curricula, nor to make detailed commitments in their
plans. We anticipate that all plans will be open to change as new
opportunities present themselves, and children develop new interests
so we would expect local authorities to consider the plans flexibly
in monitoring, recognising that home educators will want to fine
tune provision to the opportunities available in their locality and
the changing needs of their children.
We envisage plans should cover
around 2 sides of typewritten A4 paper as a very rough guide to the
extent of detail that should be provided.
Where local authorities have
committed to provide support, we would expect this to be detailed in
the education plan and for the quality and extent of that support to
be part of the monitoring discussion at the end of the year
Section 19D provides
that the registration period is annual beginning with the date on
which the application for entry of the childs details on the
register is received by the local authority. There are no
regulation making powers in this section. Guidance will make it
clear that local authorities should make every effort to make it
straightforward for parents to reregister if home education is
continuing once the annual period of registration is close to an
end. Parents should not be expected to submit a full reapplication
if home education is continuing and most details are unchanged. The
guidance will recommend that local authorities explore whether
reregistration can be effected alongside monitoring if that accords
with the wishes of the parents, as for many families that may be the
simplest course of action. If this is not feasible, we would expect
local authorities to contact home educating families 3-4 weeks
before registration expires to confirm whether or not registration
is to continue, and whether any details have changed. In particular
local authorities should work with parents to see whether the
existing education statement can be notated with minimal effort on
the part of parents, and local authorities should explore whether
this could be incorporated into the monitoring visit if that is the
easiest approach for parents.
Section 19F sets out the
specific circumstances in which registration can be revoked.
Subsections (5) and (6) enable regulations to make provision about
steps to be taken by a local authority in connection with revocation
or proposed revocation and to make provision about matters that
should or should not be taken into account in determining whether
any of the revocation conditions are met or whether to revoke. Our
main concern here is through the regulations to make sure that local
authorities do not make arbitrary decisions, act reasonably and do
not revoke registration if, for example, a parent makes a small
administrative mistake, or if there is a misunderstanding about
practical arrangements for monitoring.
We envisage that the
regulations covering revocation will include the steps that local
authorities must take when they are considering revoking
registration, for example communicating by letter and telephone with
parents at the last known address and giving parents a reasonable
length of time to respond (possibly 2-3 weeks for example). Local
authorities will need to bear in mind the arrangements of families
who are mobile and make appropriate arrangements for these families
so that they can maintain contact if the family is likely to return
to the area in order to avoid repeated revocations and
reregistrations. Guidance will make it clear that local authorities
should at the point of registration ascertain whether any particular
communication difficulties are likely to arise and how these might
be overcome in order to accommodate families without a settled
lifestyle, or who may spend extended periods at an address other
than that at which they are registered. Parents will also have the
right to appeal against a local authoritys decision to revoke
registration.
39. We would expect the local authority
to make comprehensive enquiries before revoking registration and to
give home educating parents ample time to make representations if
they believe the grounds for revocation are unreasonable. They
should in particular take advice from appropriate experts before
concluding education is unsuitable if it is conducted in accordance
with a specific philosophy, from those with relevant SEN if that is a
factor in any decision and with social services before revoking
registration on welfare grounds. The local authority should also
consider whether providing support would assist in the particular
circumstances.
Monitoring
40. Section 19E sets out the
monitoring arrangements. It does not contain any regulation making
powers but statutory guidance under section 19I will be issued.
The local authority should make every effort to accommodate parents
in carrying out monitoring. The section requires local authorities
to make arrangements with a view to ascertaining so far as
reasonably practicable :
whether education is suitable
whether education accords with
their application for registration;
what the childs wishes and
feelings about the education are;
whether it is harmful for the
welfare of the child to continue with home education.
41. Suitability is at the heart of
what the local authority has to consider in determining whether home
education is appropriate. An efficient and suitable
education is not defined in the Education Act 1996. In Harrison
and Harrison v Stevenson (1982) the Court of Appeal defined
education as the development of mental powers and character and
the acquisition of knowledge through the imparting of skills and
learning by systematic instruction and systematic as
something that achieves that which it sets out to achieve. The
judgement then made the further stipulation that efficient education
must be such as to prepare the children for life in modern
civilised society and enable them to achieve their full potential.42. Efficient has been
broadly described slightly later in case law (Mr Justice Woolf in
the case of R v Secretary of State for Education and Science, ex
parte Talmud Torah Machzikei 1985) as an education that
achieves that which it sets out to achieve, and a suitable
education is one that primarily equips a child for life within
the community of which he is a member, rather than the way of life
in the country as a whole, as long as it does not foreclose the
childs options in later years to adopt some other form of life if
he wishes to do so.
43. In his report to the Secretary
of State following his review of home education, Graham Badman
argues that it would be wrong to seek to legislate in pursuit of an
all embracing definition of suitable. However, he goes on to
say that such is the demand and complexity of 21st
Century society and employment that further thought should be given
to what constitutes an appropriate curriculum within the broad
context of home education. Such a curriculum must be sufficiently
broad and balanced and relevant to enable young people to make
suitable choices about their life and likely future employment.
44. In their report of their
inquiry into Graham Badmans review the Children, Schools and
Families Select Committee also reflect on the issue of suitability.
They are concerned that any monitoring of home education provision
should not undermine the flexibility and freedom currently enjoyed
by home educating families in relation to their childs learning
and development. On autonomous education they recognised that, when
overseen by a parent who is committed to his or her childs
education, this approach might work well for a child. However, they
also recognise the difficult balance between protecting autonomous
education and ensuring that all children have the prospect of
gaining basic literacy and numeracy skills and of gaining an
awareness of the full range of fields of knowledge open to them.
45. The Committee took the view
that without such skills and awareness a child could not hope to
thrive, let alone achieve his or her full potential and access a
choice of careers. They formed the view that that there should be a
more precise definition of what constitutes suitable education
and that it must enable local authority officers to tackle
situations where the child has no prospect of gaining basic literacy
and numeracy skills efficiently or where there is no breadth to
their education. It must, then, encompass a positive expectation in
relation to, at least, the acquisition of basic skills and
reasonable breadth.46. Our existing guidelines make it
clear that a suitable, full time, efficient education cannot be
determined by the same methods that apply in schools. Children
normally attend school for between 22 and 25 hours a week for 38
weeks of the year, but this measurement of contact time is not
relevant to home education where there can be almost continuous
one-to-one contact and education may take place outside normal
school hours.
47. The guidelines go on to state
that the type of educational activity undertaken can be varied and
flexible. Home educating parents are not required to:
teach the National Curriculum
provide a broad and balanced
education
have a timetable
have premises equipped to any
particular standard
set hours during which education
will take place
have any specific qualifications
make detailed plans in advance
observe school hours, days or
terms
give formal lessons
mark work done by their child
formally assess progress or set
development objectives
reproduce school type peer group
socialisation
match school-based, age-specific
standards.
48. We will soon commission work to
establish whether the current interpretation of suitability
needs to be updated to provide a definition that takes account of
developments in education policy and practice over the years. We
intend to commission work to examine whether we can develop a set of
principles describing good quality learning in home education,
possibly along the lines of those set out in the Independent Schools
Regulations, although less detailed and prescriptive.
49. From those principles would
flow guidance on factors that local authorities would need to take
into account in monitoring home education in different circumstances
for example where children have special educational needs, where
they have been bullied or suffered from school phobia, of where they
are following an approach such as Montessori/Steiner/autonom
ous. In
this way we would set out the considerations that would apply either
to individual children, or to the way education is carried out.50. The new guidance will include
descriptions of what this means based on the review of suitable and
efficient education that we are undertaking (para 62). The guidance
will make it clear parents are not required to have any
qualifications to teach their children and they are not required to
teach a specific curriculum. Parents will also not be required to
set tests or put their children forward for examinations. The
guidance will give additional information for those parents who wish
to access existing curricula or programmes of study and
examinations.51. Guidance will emphasis that, so
far as is practicable, monitoring will be carried out informally,
with parents and children describing the education that has taken
place during the year, their plans for the following year, and
discussing with the local authority any support they would like to
receive in the short or medium term. Parents and local authorities
should agree at the point of registration the extent to which
monitoring will be carried out more formally through written
reports, provision of work samples etc, or informally through
discussion with the parent and the child. We would expect local
authorities to be flexible in accommodating the wishes of parents
and children which may change over time, particularly when parents
start home educating after withdrawing their children from school.
Assessing the Education of the Child
52. The role of the local authority
in monitoring is primarily to assess whether the child is receiving
a suitable education. Where the child is receiving a suitable
education, the local authority should monitor on a light touch
basis. Where the child is not receiving a suitable education the
local authority will need to consider whether further support will
enable the parents to provide a suitable home education. The
regulations will set out what the local authority can or cannot take
into account when making that decision and guidance will make it
clear that in exercising these powers local authorities aim
should be to help the parents to continue to home educate if that is
what they want. The educational interests and welfare of the child
must be paramount in local authorities decision making.53. The guidance will emphasis that
any local authority officer engaged in the monitoring of home
education must be appropriately trained so that they understand the
diversity of approaches that are taken by home educators and are
able to make a professional judgement about the education being
provided. They will also be appropriately trained in family
engagement techniques including speaking to child and ascertaining
the wishes and feelings of the children. Local authorities may wish
to commission support from the private and voluntary sector in
monitoring home education where children have specific needs, or
where parents are adopting philosophies where the private/voluntary
sector has particular expertise.
Seeing the Child
54. For the vast majority of
families an informal meeting with the parents and the child once a
year to discuss the progress the child has made and any additional
support that might be needed is all that will be required. The
statutory guidance will make it clear that the focus of the meeting
will be on support and encouragement.55. Section 19E(4) includes
a separate power for local authorities to see the child alone
without the parent present. This means that local authorities may
ask to see the child on their own, but the child and/or the parents
can refuse to agree to such a meeting. In most cases there will be
no need to see the child alone and in some cases it will not be
appropriate for example children with particular types of
special educational needs, and young children who may not be
accustomed to speaking to people they rarely meet. The local
authority should consider whether it is most appropriate for two
people to be present when the child is seen alone, and there may be
cases where it might be appropriate to have another adult present
that the child knows and trusts, if the interview is being conducted
without the parents present.
56. The guidance will set out the
sorts of circumstances where this power may be exercised. We
envisage this would be where there is no evidence that the child has
received the education described by the parents, little or no
evidence that the education meets the needs of the child, or where
there are doubts that the child is resident at the registration
address and where these matters can only be resolved by talking
to the child without their parents present. These circumstances will
be rare, but it is important that the power is available when all
other efforts to establish whether education is suitable have
failed.57. The Bill allows parents to
refuse to allow the child to be seen on their own and for the child
to refuse. Refusal to co-operate with a request is one of the
grounds on which a local authority can revoke registration but only
if refusal means that the authority has not had an adequate
opportunity to ascertain the matters referred to in 19E (1). Refusal
to comply will not automatically result in the revocation of
registration if information can be obtained from other sources. The
regulations and guidance will set out the things that local
authorities can and cannot take into account when exercising their
discretion to revoke on the grounds of non co-operation with a
request to meet the child. In the case of revocation on these
grounds, this will include ensuring that they have genuine concerns
or doubts which cannot reasonably be resolved by other means, such
as reports from other home educators or others who have seen the
child, or other agencies that may have involvement with the child.
Local authorities will have to show that proper consideration has
been given to the circumstances of the family including the age,
maturity and special needs of the child.
58. The place that a childs
learning is conducted is an important factor in a childs
education and the Bill places local authorities under a duty to make
arrangements to visit the place where education mainly takes place.
In most cases a meeting in the home should be more convenient for
the family and more comfortable for the child who will be in
familiar surroundings and it will enable the local authority to gain
assurance that the environment is conducive to education. The Bill
requires local authorities to give 2 weeks notice of any proposed
meeting and our guidance will ask local authorities to be flexible
in making arrangements that suit the circumstances of parents.59. In most instances the home will
be the place where education takes place, but this is not always the
case the child may be educated in a part time establishment of
some sort and in that case it would make sense for the meeting to
take place there60. Meeting the family to discuss
progress is a key part in satisfying the local authority that the
child is receiving a suitable education, and will also enable the
family and local authority to discuss any additional support that
might be helpful. Where a family refuses to co-operate with a
reasonable request to meet with the local authority, the local
authority can consider whether this so inhibits their ability to
determine those factors that the local authority are required to
ascertain for the purposes of monitoring a childs home education
under 19E (1). This could be taken into account in considering
revocation under 19F (1) (e).
Wishes and Feelings of the Child
61. Section 19E (1)(c)
requires the local authority, so far as reasonably practicable, to
ensure that through their monitoring of the home education being
provided, the local authority takes into account the wishes and the
feelings of the child. The guidance will set out what local
authorities should factor in here but clearly such guidance cannot
be exhaustive. Local authority officers will need to be properly
trained. A child saying that they do not want to be home educated
would not of itself be sufficient reason to revoke registration and
the age and maturity of the child would need to be taken into
account. If this happened, the local authority would want to discuss
with the parents how the family might better meet the wishes of the
child. If there were other concerns about the education provided not
being suitable then the wishes and feelings of the child would be a
consideration in deciding whether revocation was appropriate, again
bearing in mind the age and maturity of the child.
Review of Suitable and Efficient
Education
62. Parents are already required to
ensure that the education they provide for their child at home is
suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, and any special
educational needs they may have.
63. The Bill does not change that
but in the Governments response to Badman Report we have said
that we will review the definition of what constitutes a suitable
and efficient education in the light of recent developments
such as the Rose Review, the Every Child Matters outcomes and the
current arrangements for assessing and delivering the curriculum
throughout the statutory school years. In commissioning the review
we will give home educators an assurance that they will not be
required to follow the National Curriculum, or the Early Years
Foundation Stage, nor for their children to take any statutory tests
or national qualifications. We already accommodate a wide range of
educational approaches and philosophies in independent schools,
which respond to the wishes of parents, and we anticipate that we
will see even greater variation in the approaches taken by home
educators.64. The review will build on
existing case law which refers to preparing children for life
primarily within their own community, while not preventing them
pursuing a different form of life if that is what they choose as
adults. This means that home educated children and their families
continue to have a wide discretion to determine the education of
their child. The review will be conducted in the context of
examining how local authorities can determine that home educators
are receiving a suitable education bearing in mind the diversity of
approaches that they take. It will involve a wide spectrum of people
reflecting the diversity of home educators so as to take account of
the full range of approaches to learning at home. It will also be
particularly important that those with expertise in the education of
children with special educational needs are involved.
65. Guidance made under section 19I
will set out any revised interpretation on the issue of suitability
of education following on from the review.
Appeals
66. Section 19G gives
parents the right to appeal against a decision by a local authority
to refuse or revoke registration. Regulations will determine the
powers of the appeal panel. Subsections (1) and (2) provide
regulation making powers. The framework for the appeal will be set
out in regulations and accompanied by guidance to ensure that
appeals are informal and impartial along similar lines to school
admission appeal panels. The panel will be independent from the
authority and will comprise three people, all of whom have been
trained in appeal arrangements. Panels should include at least one
person who has a professional educational background, at least one
person who has experience of home educating and a lay member. Local
authorities will be responsible for establishing the panel and for
providing administrative support.
67. The panel will consider written
and oral evidence provided by the parents and the LA and will be
able to seek clarification and information. The child will also be
asked to give their views. The powers of the panel will be set out
in regulation. It will be completely independent from the original
decision maker; it will be able to reconsider the facts and merits
in every case; it will be able to establish facts by reference to
written and/or oral evidence form all relevant persons. The panel
will be able to decide that a decision to revoke or refuse
registration should be upheld or not upheld. We envisage that a
panel may also be able to, for example, recommend registration but
attach conditions such as the provision by a home educating
parent of an address or the arrangement of a meeting between the
parent and child and the local authority. Where the decision of
the local authority is not upheld, the LA must enter or reinstate
the childs name on the register for the remainder of the
registration period. Where the decision is upheld the parents
cannot continue to home educate their child or reapply for
registration for the period specified by the local authority in
accordance with the regulations concerning repeat applications. The
appeal panel regulations will set out the timescale within which an
appeal should be heard and set out the administrative process for
lodging an appeal.
68. We anticipate that local
authorities exercising good practice will want to have a review
process in place which parents can use initially before having to
appeal and we will set out this expectation in guidance. Parents
will also have the right to seek judicial review of any panel
decision and, if they considered that there was maladministration,
could complain to the local government ombudsman.
Supply of Information
69. Section 19H enables regulations
to be made requiring local authorities, maintained schools and the
proprietors of independent schools to supply a local education
authority exercising its home education functions with information.
It is intended that this will provide for the situation where a
local authority receives an application from the parent of a child
who has previously been registered elsewhere or who has been
withdrawn from school to home educate. The information requested
will include any reason for refusing or revoking registration;
whether there is a school attendance order in place relating to the
child; information about the current educational attainment of the
child; and any particular needs he or she might have that should be
taken into account as parents and the local authority make plans for
supporting home education.
