Hard cases make bad laws. There can be no harder case than that of Sara Sharif, whose torture and eventual murder by her father and stepmother moved the presiding judge to tears – and horrified us all. But this tragedy should not launch a witch hunt. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, fast-tracked by the Department for Education and unveiled on Tuesday, risks turning all home-schooling parents into suspects and their children into victims.
Home schooling should be seen as part of the education ecosystem
Home schooling is a symptom of schools failing families. That failure can be administrative, such as a dearth of school places in your local area; or more fundamental – such as the inability of your SEND child’s schools to meet their needs. To call all home schooling an example of parent power misses the point: in too many cases, this is parent despair.
That despair is growing: 153,300 children were home-schooled at some point during the last academic year, in comparison to 126,100 the year before.
Home schooling parents are lonely parents. I know this first-hand, as in 2009 I was forced to home-school our 6 year old daughter Izzy. It took only three months before we found a place at a local state primary, but those three months gave me an insight into the lack of support families receive when they take their child out of the formal school system.
The local education authority never called us to check our progress, nor did they offer, or point us to, resources (free or otherwise). Yet I felt that my temporary role was absolutely crucial – not only for the child I was raising but for the wider community in which she would be active.
What drove me to home-school seems inconsequential when compared with the heart-breaking reasons some parents feel they must pull their child from school. Fragile mental health has become so prevalent that 500 children a day are referred to mental health services for anxiety. Tragically, depending on their postcode, some will wait as long as two years before they receive the attention they need.
This risks the wellbeing of vulnerable children, for whom, especially after successive lockdowns, the classroom can be hell. Talking to family liaison officers on the Isle of Sheppey recently, I heard of visits to homes where a child had been persistently absent from school. Weary, sometimes tearful, parents would let them in and point to a closed door. Hours would then be spent coaxing the child out of their bedroom, using different inducements – they could wear their superman costume, they would receive a new pencil, they could bring Teddy along…
When this is a one-off, it is bearable. But as an everyday occurrence, it affects family routine and the atmosphere at home. Little in our present education system caters for these children, driving desperate parents to do the best they can (sometimes by sacrificing their jobs) to educate them on their own.
Home schooling should be seen as part of the education ecosystem, just as online education has become an option. Supporting home-schooled children would rely on better communication between local authorities and parents, with a light touch connection rather than intrusive monitoring. It might mean schools offering their premises after hours or allowing parents and their home-schooled children to attend special assemblies or accompany field trips. In this way, parents won’t feel like they are pariahs and their children won’t feel completely cut off from their peers.
Introducing a register for any child who, having come to the attention of social services, is then withdrawn from school, makes sense. But the heavy hand of the law risks squashing any legitimate alternative to formal schooling. That’s not good for the most vulnerable children – or their despairing parents.
Comments