Consulation re: draft CME guidance (deadline Feb 15)

The new draft can be seen HERE The consultation response form can be found HERE To be EMAILED HERE Below is a response from myself (Raquel).

In my opinion education should not be compulsory. Most people want their children to do well and the state shoud trust that people are innocent rather than guilty by default. Just as famlies are trusted to feed their children and attend to their health, so they should be trusted to see that their children receive an education.Education, as with health  and nutrition should be the sole duty of the parents unless it appears that something is seriously amiss. Only then should further inquiries be made. (This does not mean issuing a SAO off the bat).  The whole of section 436a has caused untold amounts of stress for home educating families and has wasted countless amounts of taxpayers money. This new guidance, through its ambiguity and by failing to mention the 2007 EHEGLA will probably continue this trend. There is an obsession with this archaic education system. It would be so much more enlightening (and austere) if the state concentrated on putting the money spent here in to more inspirational ways for young people to access education so as to nurture innovation. We are in the 21st century and children are still truanting, because they find school stifling and uninspiring as well as a place where they do not feel safe.  The whole premise that just because they are in school, that they are receiving a suitable education shows just how flawed s.436 is.How about scrapping s.436a completely? Because in reality, it serves no true purpose other than to walk all over the rightful duty of law abiding citizens and ignores completely the travesty that many young people who are in schools are not receiving an education anywhere near that which is suitable to their age, ability, aptitudes and any special needs they may have. It also does not consider their voice when they say that the education that they receive in school is not the type they need or require.Let us stop seeking to criminalise just about everyone because they wish to be left alone and trusted to do the right thing.

Gill Kilner has also put her response online at Sometimes Its Peaceful