Flexi-Schooling

The first two sections of this paper have been adapted from 'Flexi-schooling: Education for Tomorrow, Starting Yesterday', available from Educational Heretics Press (see information section), with kind permission from the author, Professor Roland Meighan who is a long-standing member of Education Otherwise and a researcher and writer about diverse educational provision.

From Home Education to Flexi-schooling

“Many who have had experience of home-based education are well pleased with their decision and see it as the best educational option available. Nevertheless, most can imagine a better option still - that of a part-time arrangement with a local school. What they are looking for is a kind of shared responsibility, an educational contract and partnership.

It is not the case that families undertaking home-based education are particularly anti-school. Some families opt into the system again at various stages. There are all sorts of patterns - families who have educated their children at home until they reach the age of eleven and then opted into the secondary school, and other families who have done exactly the reverse. Some families actually have one child in school and one out of school. The one out may be planning to go back sometime in the future, whilst the one in can be considering the possibility of a phase of home-based education being built into their future plans.

The Local Education Authorities have been known to say, “Why can’t you make up your mind? Are you in favour of schools or aren’t you?” The families say, “We are not against school or for school. We are in favour of education and if education for this child is best done at home for now, then that is where we do it. If for this child it is best done at school for now, then that is where we do it. We are perfectly consistent. We are for what works best for this learner at this time.” The families demonstrate a capacity for flexibility which contrasts with the rigidity of schooling as currently practised. They are already pointing the way to the notion of ‘flexi-schooling’.

What is Flexi-schooling?

“Flexi-schooling is the word used to describe this notion of a part-time arrangement whereby school and family share responsibility in an agreed contract and partnership. This apparently simple notion quickly began to develop a number of layers of meaning. Flexi-schooling, even in its first formulations, could be seen to be based on rather different assumptions from those of schooling in Britain in the 1970s:

There does not have to be a single location for education. There can be several, including schools, homes, workplaces, museums and libraries.

Parents are not defined as part of the problems of education but as part of the solutions for they are seen as having an active educational role in co-operation and partnership with schools.

Children can learn without a teacher being present. This comes as no surprise to Correspondence Colleges or the World-Wide Education Service with over a hundred years of experience in helping expatriate families educate their children in foreign countries.

Teaching is not synonymous with instructing. Other activities, either initiated by others for learners, such as organising a simulation, or in response to the initiatives of learners, such as helping them locate resources to further their own research, are types of teaching. Thus, facilitating learning is a teaching act as well as ‘full frontal’ instruction. If this were not so the Open University tutors who write course units for students they may never meet are receiving their salaries under false pretences.

Resources available at home can be utilised in educational programmes. These include the ubiquitous TV and radio, as well as cassette recorders, video recorders, and home computers where they are available.

In general, flexi-schooling offers the prospect of diversifying from the present base of educational practices, without jettisoning the more positive features.”

Legal Aspects of Flexi-schooling

In practice, flexi-schooling as far as it goes at the moment can be more appropriately termed flexi-time schooling, a part-time arrangement to be negotiated between an individual family and an individual school. In Home Education and the Law (1991, page 8) David Deutsch and Kolya Wolf explain that:

“Any school, maintained or independent, may accommodate flexi-schooling if it wishes to, but no school is under any obligation to do so. Thus one might say that whereas full-time home education is an absolute right (in the sense that any parent who can provide proper education at home must be allowed to do so), and full-time school education is an absolute right (in the sense that the LEA must find a place for any school-age child whose parent wants him to go to school, nor can an LEA refuse such a child admission to a particular school where there is a vacancy), flexi-schooling is not an absolute right, because the school is entitled to refuse on arbitrary grounds.”

A family wishing to practise flexi-time schooling, therefore, needs to open negotiations with a school. The child will be registered as a full-time pupil of the school. Any time during school hours that the child spends being educated out of school must be recorded as ‘absence with leave’ - with this authorised absence the child is considered as being ‘educated off-site’ and therefore attracts full funding - ‘per capita allowance’ - for the school and is covered for insurance. ‘Absence with leave’ can be granted by any person authorised to do so by the governing body or school head. In practice, therefore, a class teacher may have the authority to grant ‘absence with leave’, although if a systematic arrangement for part-time attendance is being negotiated, a class teacher may prefer to have the head teacher’s approval.

In England and Wales the relevant law is section 444 of the Education Act 1996, which stipulates that in proceedings for irregular attendance, “the child shall not be taken to have failed to attend regularly at the school by reason of his absence from the school with leave . . .” (section 444(3), in part), and goes on to define “leave” as “leave granted by any person authorised to do so by the governing body or proprietor of the school” (section 444(9)). (In Scotland, flexi-schooling could probably take place on the same basis, but the situation is slightly less clear as “absence with leave” is not explicitly mentioned in Scottish law as an excuse for irregular attendance.)

The LEAs do not themselves need to give permission or approve the arrangements for flexi-time schooling. If the situation comes to their notice they may wish to satisfy themselves that the arrangements are adequate – that is, flexi-time schooling must have the net effect of providing a proper education for the child. Where a child is registered at a school, the LEA has the right to visit and assess the education provision at home. (For further information about LEA assessments and legal terms, see “Legal Aspects of Home Education” and “Taking a Child Out of School & LEA Contact” in the EO Information Leaflet Series).

If any part of a child’s flexi-time schooling takes place at a state or maintained school, the school has a duty to deliver the National Curriculum to all registered pupils. The family may therefore need to discuss with the school the implications of this, such as what aspects of the National Curriculum will be covered during the child’s time at school, and what will be missed, and perhaps negotiate what it may be beneficial to continue at home.

In practice, few schools or LEAs may be aware of the legal or practical aspects of flexi-time schooling, so it is helpful for families to be well informed before approaching them. It may be useful to refer to the relevant legal provision (section 444 of the 1996 Education Act as detailed above, also section 7 which deals with the parent’s duty to secure education for a child of compulsory school age, and section 9 stating that pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents). Precedents show that flexi-time schooling has worked well in different forms in various parts of the country.

Before initiating negotiations with the school, it is also helpful to consider the implications of flexi-time schooling for all parties concerned, and to think about any appropriate practical arrangements that would be necessary. Be prepared to promote the various advantages and consider and avoid the various disadvantages there may be, for the child, the family and the school.

The following information regarding the practical arrangements is provided by Kate Oliver whose children practised flexi-time schooling. These ideas are based on their experience of flexi-time schooling, and are particularly suitable for a formal agreement between the school and family, but may not be necessary with a more informal arrangement.

Practical arrangements

Once the principle of flexi-time schooling has been agreed with the school, a statement of intent can be negotiated. This can formalise aspects such as:

• details of expected school attendance;
• participation in special school events outside the agreed flexi-time school hours;
• the same access for flexi-time parents to school records, reports, teachers, etc. and the same statutory rights as for full-time parents;
• access to LEA reports on the home element of the deal for both parents and the school;
• conditions for termination of the agreement by either side.

Support for children who would prefer flexi-time schooling is now forthcoming from some LEA inclusion officers, and the DfES Elective Home Education Unit is producing guidelines which mention flexi-time schooling as a legal option provided that the head teacher at the school concerned agrees to the arrangement. Head teachers in schools in many LEAs across England have agreed to flexi-time schooling arrangements for individual children.

One group of home educators have negotiated an arrangement with a local secondary school, where the head teacher is sympathetic to the needs of home educated children, to enable a group of young people to register at the school for tutor support but to use distance learning materials to study at home. The funding the school receives for the registered pupils has been used to buy NEC course materials and also to pay for regular tutorials, marking of assignments, marking of mocks, exam fees, etc.

Another example is of a home educated 15 year old with no ‘formal’ study experience who wanted to study for a First Diploma in Horse Care, a post-16 Access course equivalent to the 4 GCSEs required to enrol on a National Diploma in Horse Management. The local Agricultural College accepted her onto the course but then found out that there was a problem accessing the funding. The College suggested that the parents approach the local secondary school that she would attend, if she was not home educated, ask for her to be registered as a pupil there but for her funding to be diverted to the Agricultural College to fund the course there. The school’s head teacher is sympathetic and supportive of the plan, and the family, school and college are working together to organise this.

Parents of another child in Year 11 who found school unbearable arranged with the head for the child to remain registered at school but to begin a self directed programme of study at home. The school paid for him to attend adult education evening classes for GCSE Maths, English, Biology and Science, and provided extra tutor support in the form of one-to-one tutorials with staff after school whenever he felt he needed it. He also studied for Art and IT GCSEs by working at home and seeing a tutor after school for extra support and to work on exam coursework. He gained 6 GCSEs and went on to College. He still found the structured learning programme difficult to conform to and left. He has now joined an adult course to train as an outdoor education instructor. He feels that his experience of self directed flexi-schooling enabled him to regain his self confidence to take an alternative path through further education.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Flexi-time schooling can provide a good combination of the individual and the group, of democracy and authoritarianism, of parental independence and co-operation with the school. The advantages for children and parents include:

• children can benefit from mixed-age learning;
• parents can retain responsibility for their children’s education and remain as educators of their children beyond the age of five, both in the home and participating in the school;
• parents can continue to learn with their children to a greater degree;
• parents can work in co-operation with the school;
• parents can undertake flexible working themselves (e.g. job-share).

The advantages for the LEA and teachers include:

• the accompanying change in ethos is beneficial: for example partnership between parents and teachers;
• children are more highly motivated while at school for shorter hours;
• properly managed, the resource savings of fewer pupils and the greater resources per pupil in school at any one time could be far-reaching.

It may help to be aware of the arguments against flexi-time schooling that you may have to counter, although full awareness of these means any problems can largely be overcome with close co-ordination between parents and school. Possible disadvantages to the children may include:

• being seen as eccentric;
• loosening friendship ties within school;
• unfinished project work;
• missing out on the explanation of new concepts.

Possible difficulties for parents may be:

• maintaining close communication with the teacher(s);
• being aware of the standards required at school.

Finally, the difficulties for the LEA and teachers might include:

• disrupted project work;
• individual attention needed if crucial explanations are missed;
• recording work achieved other than at school may require extra input;
• communicating with parents.

All of these difficulties can be avoided with close communication and understanding between the parents and the school. Further details on the above aspects of flexi-time schooling may be viewed at www.flexitimeschooling.info or in Flexi-time Schooling by Kate Oliver (see information section below).

The Future of Flexi-schooling?

Taking flexi-schooling in its wider sense a step further, John Adcock in 'Teaching Tomorrow', published by Educational Heretics Press, suggests that we begin replacing traditional schools with a family-centred, tutor-guided and multi-media supported approach . . . wholly capable of providing a tailor-made and absorbing programme of learning for each individual child from birth onwards. The book proposes a new order where new tutor-teachers, in a proper professional role, serve the learning requirements of families.

In Vancouver, Canada, flexi-time schooling (known as individual study programmes) is common. In Britain many families are already practising a viable alternative with home-based education, including flexi-time schooling, with great success – alongside the flexibility offered in colleges and community colleges. Since the legal situation in Britain allows for such educational flexibility, parents can choose to take advantage of this.

‘Flexi-time Schooling’ is certainly a good starting-place, laying the foundation for a ‘flexi-schooling’ system and perhaps eventually an even broader picture of ‘flexi-education’ for all the community throughout their lives. It is reassuring for the future that these home-educating and flexi-time schooling families, some schools and colleges and various educationalists are already piloting what might take the place of our current school system, and provide evidence of significantly more flexible systems, able to meet the individual needs of each unique family and child.

Further Information

Centre for Personalised Education and Educational Heretics Press: 113 Arundel Drive, Bramcote, Nottingham, NG9 3FQ. Tel/fax: 0115 925 7261

Anatomy of Choice, Meighan, R. and Toogood, P, Educational Heretics Press
Flexi-schooling, Meighan, R., Educational Heretics Press
Flexi-time Schooling, Oliver, K., Human Scale Education, 2000
Free Range Education, Dowty, T. (ed), Hawthorn Press, 2000 (available from EO web site)
Elective Home Education Unit, DfES, Guidance forthcoming with a paragraph on flexi-time schooling.
www.arch-ed.org
www.edheretics.gn.apc.org
www.education-otherwise.org
www.free-range-education.org.uk
www.flexitimeschooling.info
www.hse.org.uk

This leaflet is from the Education Otherwise Information Leaflet Series.
This series is only a guide, not an authoritative statement of law or procedures (Oct 2005)
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