"We have serious concerns about how LEAs might interpret
and act on a mandatory duty to identify children whose educational
status is unknown.
In the UK parents have the responsibility to ensure that their
children receive efficient full-time education. Successive Education
Acts have made it clear that this is the parents' responsibility
and that it can be fulfilled either by sending children to school
or otherwise. Home educators therefore have the freedom to educate
their children at home in any way they choose providing that it
is suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of their children,
and to any special educational needs those children might have.
Parents are not required to register with an LEA, nor to provide
information about their educational provision simply because they
are home educating.
If it becomes mandatory for LEAs to identify children missing
from education then LEAs will have a duty to investigate children
whose educational status is unknown. This will result in effective
registration of all home educators, and removes the current freedom
of parents to educate their children "otherwise" without
interference from the state.
We regard the removal of freedoms from citizens by government
to be a serious matter which should not be embarked on without
good cause. If the freedom to educate children without state interference
is to be eroded because of concerns about child welfare we believe
that safeguards must be included in statute to protect the privacy
of home educating families, and to prevent discrimination against
parents who choose to educate their children at home. Therefore
we suggest that any future guidance or statute obliging LEAs or
any other agencies to identify children missing from education
should also instruct these agencies to take no further action
if the parents of a child who they believed might be missing from
education indicate that the child is being educated at home.
Furthermore it is essential that all documentation issued in
connection with the identification of children missing from education
should explicitly state that home education is legal and is not
a cause for concern or suspicion. It must be made clear to any
professionals who have contact with children that children being
educated at home are not missing from education and that there
is no need to report these children as children missing from education.
Any officials involved in gathering and processing data for the
identification of children missing from education must be made
aware that home education is equal in statute to school education
and must not be treated differently in the identification process."
