Lola is off to Blackpool with school this morning. The end (of the school year) is Nigh and the weather is still awful for July - cold, wet & grey. "Budgeting issues" mean my plans for the children are mostly Walking to places and possibly Having a picnic. But for these we need a little respite from the wintry weather!
The world of Home Education....is unbelievably political! You would not imagine the things I have been learning - ins & outs of local authority law, people's rights etc.
My 2 years as a registered child minder, almost-completed NVQ level 3 in childcare, years of experience as a mum of "many", sunday school teacher, dinner lady, classroom volunteer, avid reader of books about communicating with children, aspergers, etc, etc mean I am quite confident that I am delivering a reasonable education and I would actually be quite happy if the Local Authority's paid teacher came and observed me educating the kiddies. And they would like to do this.
However I mustn't let this happen for various reasons.
There are a multitude of EHE (Elective Home Education) parents & children, all are different & all have different reasons for EHE. Take a very shy, not-the-most-academic mum who has elected to home ed as a last resort after months or years of bullying, who is working very hard to educate their child. The trauma of getting "inspected" would be awful. Also many EHE children have aspergers, to those who need a strict routine, having a stranger in their home can set off a meltdown.
If I let the LA in, I am hindering the rights of these people.
And! Navigating these issues in the facebook group & yahoo groups has been a minefield !
At the moment it seems there will be a meeting between EHE parents of Liverpool and the head of Pupil Attendance Welfare (or similar phrase) in September & I am very keen to go, and see the fuss for myself!
I'll be interested to see how you get on with this! I naively think that there is no reason why the authorities should not keep an eye on what is being done, really to safeguard the children. We all know abuses can happen. I suppose it would depend just how intrusive such an inspection was, what their true motives were etc. My feeling is that we should work WITH the authorities, and to be transparent as we have nothing to hide; sometimes paranoia (or seeming paranoia) can be counterproductive. I feel the same way about parents who are suspicious of the Health Visitors who come by, whereas I have always found them to be an extremely helpful resource.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as with in other fields, an inspection will not stop those who are bent on badness, and will not stop some children (whether in mainstream education or otherwise) being abused. Just as stringent revalidation processes in medicine will not stop another Harold Shipman, but rather have the potential to increase workload and stress for all the 'innocent' and hard working individuals out there.
I think with your attitude, and your previous experience in many aspects relating to childcare, you are an ideal person to actively participate in such debate, and I pray that you can do so with gentleness, but also great wisdom and clarity. I am new to this whole 'game' and will be following your posts!
Love Kondwani