I've put my draft consultation response up as a web page here.
Obviously it's still a work in progress, but the consultation on changing the law on home education in Wales does close in less than a month
wales.gov.uk/consultations/education/registeringandmonitoring/?lang=en&status=open
edyourself.org/articles/webversiondraftconsultationwales.php
Extracts here
Question 1: Home Education Register: Do you agree that a register should be kept and that it should be a requirement to register if a parent elects to home educate?
Disagree. I categorically disagree with the suggestion that parents should have to apply to the local council for permission to home educate their children. The Government has not put forward evidence to justify such a disproportionate intrusion into family life.
A framework already exists which sets out best practice for local authorities in their dealings with home educating families, namely the Government Home Education Guidelines published in 2006.
I have carried out a preliminary survey of local authorities' practice with regard to the current Guidelines by obtaining answers to a dozen questions based on recommendations from the current Guidelines.
The responses from local authorities together with examples of current paperwork may be found here edyourself.org/articles/FOIwales2012.php
I have included all the responses in a short pdf here edyourself.org/walesfois.pdf
For an overview and comparison of different authorities, I have set out the responses in the form of a spreadsheet here edyourself.org/walesfoioctober2012.xls
Question 2: Failure to register: Do you agree that if a parent fails to register or provides inadequate or false information then the child being home educated should be required to attend school?
I categorically disagree with the proposal that parents must obtain a licence from the local authority before being allowed to home educate their own children. The suggestion that children should be required to attend school if ? in the opinion of the authority ? the parent provides "inadequate information" is setting up the family to fail and gives limitless discretionary powers to the local council whose decisions will inevitably be subject to legal challenge.
Moreover, the Government is currently indicating that there is to be a revised definition of "suitable education" which would bring a completely new set of requirements and obligations for home educating families. It is not difficult to envisage a situation where additional burdens keep being added and where parents can be deemed to have failed in their duty to provide all the required information.
Thirdly, in a separate but related area, the Government is undertaking a massive overhaul of the special educational needs system, which will have an unquantified impact on home educating families. Where a child is categorised as having ?Additional Needs? the proposed new system would require Individual Development Plans to be reviewed every 6 months by a multi-agency team.
It must be acknowledged that there are many reasons for children to reject school and that this option should not be automatically pathologised. In some cases home education may begin as a rejection of school or as a response to intractable problems with the school, but we have seen many cases where home education then becomes a positive choice for families.
Question 3: Working together: Do you agree that home educating parents should engage with their local authority to enable them to assess the suitability of their home education provision?
Disagree.
The Plain English version of this question asks whether "parents should work with their local authority to make sure home education is meeting their child's needs" This particular question caused a great deal of confusion when it was shared at a home education workshop in Wales.
The Plain English version seems to lay emphasis on co-operative joint working, with the possible implication that the authority might have a contribution to make, whereas the standard version makes it clear that the authority's role is to "assess" the provision.
There is a further difficulty with the concept of "suitability" since the Government has also announced plans to redefine what is meant by ?suitable education? for home educated children.
Registration could be revoked if the family does not "engage" (or "co-operate with reasonable requests to monitor") but by the same token, any engagement could supply the authority with evidence to refuse registration.
In short, home educators are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
Question 4: First meeting: Do you agree that the initial meeting between the local authority and the home educating parent should take place in the main location where the education is being provided?
Disagree
It should not be compulsory for a family to meet with the authority simply because the family has made a decision about the child's education. I disagree with the first premise of the question, namely that parents should have to apply to the local council for permission to home educate their children.
Therefore to an extent, any debate over where such a meeting would take place is a secondary issue.
However, in using the circuitous phrase "the main location where the education is being provided", the consultation is not being conducted in an open and transparent way since it ducks the issue of whether the family is required to grant the council access to the family home as a precondition for being allowed to home educate.
The Plain English version of the consultation (which the Government specifically states is for children) refers to "the place where the child is being home educated". The person responsible for translating the question into Plain English certainly seems to have understood "the home educated child's main location of education" as meaning the home.
We are told that registration could be revoked if the family does not "engage" or "co-operate with reasonable requests to monitor", from which it follows that a family would be severely disadvantaged if the parent objected to what a third party might define as "reasonable", irrespective of whether access to the home is specifically granted by legislation or not.
Question 5: Annual review ? place of meeting: How often should the annual monitoring meetings with both the home educator and the home educated child take place at the main location of education?
There should not be an "annual monitoring meeting". Any meetings between the authority and the family should not be compulsory.
Firstly, the question presupposes that there has to be a meeting between the authority and the family every year as the family seeks the council's permission to home educate. I disagree with the proposal that parents should have to apply to the local council for permission to home educate their children.
Secondly, the question skirts the issue of whether the family is to be required to grant the council full access to the home as a precondition for being allowed to home educate. The Plain English version of the consultation (which the Government specifically states is for children) refers to ?the place where the child is being home educated? where the person responsible for translating the question into Plain English certainly seems to have understood ?the home educated child's main location of education? as meaning the home.
Question 6: Refusing registration: Do you agree that registration should be denied or revoked in the limited set of circumstances set out in the consultation document?
wales.gov.uk/docs/dcells/consultation/120902registeringmonitoringen.pdf
From the consultation document page 6:
"The LA would only be able to refuse a new application or revoke an existing registration in a very limited set of circumstances:
if the parent fails to satisfy the LA that they are fulfilling their duty under section 7 of the Education Act 1996
if the LA becomes aware of new or existing welfare or safeguarding issues that affect the suitability and effectiveness of the education provided
if the parent fails to cooperate with monitoring and/or reasonable requests to monitor"
I disagree with the proposal that parents should have to apply to the local council for permission to home educate their children. There is no need for additional powers with regard to education, welfare or child safety, since existing powers and duties are sufficient.
The relevant extracts from the Government Home Education Guidelines can be found here:
1.5 [quoted]
3.10 [quoted]
4.10 [quoted]
6.1 [quoted]
6.2 [quoted]
Question 7: Notice of registration: Do you agree the amount of time taken between receipt of application to register and notification of registration outcome should be no more than 12 weeks?
I completely disagree with the proposal that families should have to stop home educating until they have obtained permission from the council. Almost a thousand children in Wales are already recorded as being home educated; there would be overwhelming objections to these children having their lives significantly disrupted by being sent to school while the council works its way through all the home education applications.
For children who are currently on a school roll, it is equally unacceptable that they should have to remain at school until the council has finished its deliberations. This puts the family between a rock and a hard place if the child rejects school, since the Government is proposing to pathologise "school refusal" and "school phobia", whereby the family would be required to attend multi-agency panels twice a year and the child's home education would have to be approved as suitable by "a qualified and appropriate expert in the relevant field."
Please share freely anywhere you think it may be useful particularly on the Welsh lists and on Facebook since I am not a member of either, thanks.