As parents we know the quality of schools across the UK varies but those who home school and want to access official support face the same inequality. A report by the Commons Select Committee, released just before Christmas, into the assistance for those who homeschooled showed there was considerable variation in the support available to parents and students.
Many of the students we tutor are home schooled and we offer subject specific tutoring to parents and their children when they feel they need that extra level of knowledge. We often find that when students hit secondary school that the depth of subject knowledge needed is beyond some parents and that’s where we can step in. But what we hear from parents is the same thing that parents stated in the report – that when they needed to access wider systems, such as when it came to their children sitting exams, the process was often difficult.
One parent reported they had to drive their child 200 miles to sit a GCSE exam. It is estimated there are between 20,000 and 80,000 home educated children in the UK and for each child to get the education they are entitled to they need regular and ongoing support both from their parents or educators in the home and from the systems around them. One of the main issues seems to be that the people supporting those who home schooled are often based in local authority or council teams that deal with welfare and attendance problems – therefore putting home schooling into a ‘problem’ category when it isn’t. Let’s hope the committee report is the start of changes and a more positive view of home schooling.
If you’d like to know more about home schooling and private tuition support contact 121 Home Tutors. We cover Manchester and Cheshire.
Tags: home ed, home education, home schooled, home schooling, homeschooled