Huge rise in home education in Lancashire

Lancashire Telegraph, Sunday 13th July 2008

THERE has been a “huge” increase in the number of parents shunning Lancashire’s schools and educating their children at home.

New figures reveal the number of youngsters on the county’s home education register has more than doubled since 2000 — with bullying increasingly cited as the reason.

And hundreds more children may not be on the council’s radar — bosses admit the register, which contains 467 names, might not be “a full and accurate picture” because it only includes children who had previously enrolled with a school.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: “It is a phenomenal increase, and it’s incredibly worrying.

“I had someone in my surgery only yesterday who had taken their daughter out of school simply because of bullying.

“This is an issue that the county council desperately needs to look at as a matter of urgency.

"There should be a full inquiry, and we need to know what these people’s worries are.”

A report to County Hall’s scrutiny committee for children and young people says the increase is “an increasing strain on limited resources”.

It says there has been a “substantial increase” in pupils concerned about bullying, and in the number who refuse to go to school.

The largest group on the register is made up of children from traveller families.

In East Lancashire there were 169 children on the home education register in Spring 2008, compared to 84 in 2000.

Of these, 16 cited bullying as the reason, and 44 had refused to go to school.

Other children were kept at home on religious or medical grounds, or because they had been excluded.

The increase in Lancashire follows a national trend, the report said.

By law, parents can educate their children “at school or otherwise”.

The council has no legal obligation to monitor the quality of home education, but has to intervene if it fears the teaching provided is not up to scratch.

This presents “complex difficulties” for the council, the report says, which is made more complicated because home-educated youngsters do not have to follow the National Curriculum.

Most families receive one visit per year from council officers.

The Citizen, Thursday 8th January 2009

AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after the number of Lancashire children being taught at home doubled.

According to the figures, around 467 children in the county receive home schooling, which represents 0.3 per cent of the total 165,000 school population.

Now county council watchdogs are investigating why more parents are taking the step after the number doubled in the last eight years.

Councillors want to check the county council is doing everything it can to ensure children receive a good education and are being properly looked after.

County Coun Stephen Large, chair of the overview and scrutiny task group on Elective Home Education, said: "In line with the national picture the number has more than doubled in the last eight years.

"We have a responsibility not only to ensure these children receive a suitable education but that their emotional and social needs are being met."

Parents teaching their children at home do not have to follow the national curriculum.

They receive visits from specialist teachers employed by the county council to monitor their progress and, where necessary, offer advice on improving the education or exploring opportunities to enrol the child in school.

The task group will look into a number of of issues, including the pressure on resources to visit the rising number of children schooled at home, as well as the need to support parents at the same time as ensuring all children receive a good education. One of the group's main concerns is that no law guarantees teachers access to a child being taught at home to check on their welfare, or even gives them right of access to the family home.

County Coun Large added: "While some parents feel their children will receive a better education at home, others choose to take their children out of school for medical reasons or because the child refuses to attend.

"Now county council watchdogs are investigating why more parents are taking the step after the number doubled in the last eight years"

Umm, hang on a minute doesn't this sound like they are meant to be asking WHY more parents are deciding that school is not good enough, NOT planning ways to harass those parents?

Now it's made its way onto the BBC local news. You can watch a video clip online

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7825330.stm