Let our children be heard..somewhere to say what we want

From the Children's Commissioner's new website:

"The Children’s Commissioner for England , Sir Al Aynsley-Green, has launched a new interactive website to gather the views and opinions of children and young people. The views posted on the new site will shape the priorities for 11 MILLION, and help the organisation to influence government decisions about children and young people’s lives. "

Ahed Wiki

Local authority responses to the home education guidelines consultation can be found HERE

keep checking back as more are coming in....

childrens databases part 3

childrens databases part 2

Childrens databases part 1

Unschooling Voices # 12

New Home Education Guidelines Published

These are the new guidelines to the local authorities in England on elective home education..published today.

You can find them HERE

Parts most significant to us AEUK'ers are probably the following:

Reasons for elective home education
1.4 Parents may choose home education for a variety of reasons. The local authority’s primary
interest should lie in the suitability of parents’ education provision and not their reason
for doing so. The following reasons for home educating are common, but by no means
exhaustive:
�� distance or access to a local school
�� religious or cultural beliefs
�� philosophical or ideological views
�� dissatisfaction with the system
�� bullying
�� as a short term intervention for a particular reason
�� a child’s unwillingness or inability to go to school
�� special educational needs
�� parents’ desire for a closer relationship with their children.

Local authorities’ responsibilities
2.5 The DCSF recommends that each local authority provides written information about
elective home education that is clear, accurate and sets out the legal position, roles and
responsibilities of both the local authority and parents. This information should be made
available on local authority websites and in local community languages and alternative
formats on request. Local authorities should recognise that there are many approaches to
educational provision, not just a “school at home” model. What is suitable for one child may
not be for another, but all children should be involved in a learning process.

3.4 Local authorities should acknowledge that learning takes place in a wide variety of
environments and not only in the home....

3.13 Parents are required to provide an efficient, full-time education suitable to the age, ability
and aptitude of the child. There is currently no legal definition of “full-time”. 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 elective home education where there
is often almost continuous one-to-one contact and education may take place outside normal
“school hours”. The type of educational activity 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

3.14 It is important to recognise that there are many, equally valid, approaches to educational
provision. Local authorities should, therefore, consider a wide range of information from
home educating parents, in a range of formats. The information may be in the form of
specific examples of learning e.g. pictures/paintings/models, diaries of educational activity,
projects, assessments, samples of work, books, educational visits etc

.