Comment: elective home education

Gail Tolley, Chair of the ADCS Educational Achievement Policy Committee, said:

“Education is a fundamental right for every child. We recognise that parents have the right to educate their children at home. Where they do, we want it to be a positive experience which equips children with the skills to realise their ambitions and we want to work with parents to achieve this.

“Our survey estimates that approximately 80,000 children were being home educated at some point during the 2018/19 academic year – this is only the children that we know of. Without a duty on parents to notify their local authority as well as powers to see both the child and their learning environment we have no way of knowing that they are receiving a suitable education, they are safe and their social and developmental needs are being met.

“We urge the government to respond to the ‘children not in school’ consultation as quickly as possible to deliver the legislative changes that children both need and deserve. The sooner we get a response the sooner new arrangements can be put in place but it’s absolutely crucial that any new duty to support parents who choose to educate their child at home is fully funded as a new burden.”

ENDS

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