Home education

The legal responsibility for a child’s education rests with his/her parents. Parents can meet this responsibility in a variety of ways: sending them to state school, sending them to private school, or home educating their children are the three most common ways. We aim to work in partnership with home educating parents and this booklet is designed to offer information to any parent considering home education.

The decision to educate your child at home is an important one. You will have the freedom to offer activities and styles of learning that are specific to your child, you will not be constrained by terms or hours of schooling but you will also be responsible for ensuring that your child receives a suitable education. Home education can potentially take up a great deal of parents’ time, energy and money, so you are advised to think very carefully before you make any decision and to talk to other home educating parents.

You may wish to consider the following:

• Your child’s interests and personality – some children will need lots of interaction with other people, others will prefer more time alone; some will learn best by initiating all their own learning, others will thrive on the interactions with a tutor, peer or parent
• The likely costs involved – books, equipment, exam fees, tutors, loss of parental income
• How to provide the social interaction that your child may need, such as meeting and mixing with new friends, specialists in a particular field of interest and interesting people who can expand their horizons
• How to provide activities such as group work, access to special facilities and equipment e.g. for science or sport, trips and visits

Many parents choose to home educate for positive educational and/or lifestyle reasons. If you are considering opting for home education as a result of a disagreement with the school which your child attends, it would be advisable for you to try and resolve the problem with the school before deciding on home education.

Choosing to educate your child at home is not a once and for all decision, and neither is sending your child to school. You can always change your mind. The important thing is to think carefully before making any decision and be aware of the impact on your lifestyle including your employment, entitlement to welfare payments and other family needs.

The contact details for some of the national and local organisations that support home educators can be found at the bottom of this page.

Staffordshire County Council offers a range of support to home educating families, see section 7 for more details.

Elective Home Education (EHE) is the term used by the Department for Education to describe parents’ decisions to provide education for their children at home instead of sending them to school. This is totally different to home tuition a term used to describe the situation when the Local Authority (LA) provides a teacher to educate a child in their home. Home Tuition is only used in exceptional circumstances, and the child would remain a student of the school they normally would attend.

Home education is an option that any family may consider for their children. The reasons for deciding on this approach are many, as are the styles of education undertaken. The following list is by no means exhaustive but does contain examples of some of the common reasons for home educating:

• a lifestyle choice
• religious or cultural beliefs
• philosophical or ideological views
• distance or access to a local school
• dissatisfaction with the current education system
• bullying
• a child’s unwillingness or inability to go to school due to anxiety or mental health issues
• as a short term solution for a particular concern
• special educational needs
• parents’ desire for a closer relationship with their children

Home education comes in many different formats and can look different in every family.

There is no 'right' or 'wrong' approach when it comes to home education, there is however a broad spectrum of methods and philosophies. Some parents choose to recreate school at home whilst others act as partners to their children, supporting and facilitating the child's learning as led and chosen by the child. Some philosophies apply only to education, others relate to all aspects of life. Many families move around the spectrum throughout their home education journey, even having one method for a particular area/subject and a different method for others. The methods/philosophies on the right side of the diagram above tend to be the hardest to understand and assess, and often look very different to school/school at home (see Appendix 3 for further information).

Contact us

Email:  electivehomeeducation@staffordshire.gov.uk

If you are choosing to electively home educate please see our guidance notes for parents.

If you have any other enquiries about education, please call: 0300 111 8000

Admissions

If you feel that your child’s current school isn’t the right place for them, you may want to consider applying for a place at another school. The School Admissions team can support with this.

Email: admissions@staffordshire.gov.uk

Careers and Participation

Staffordshire County Council's Careers and Participation team are a support service for young people in Staffordshire. They offer careers interviews and guidance across a range of subjects, such as education and training options, future careers and job searching.

They work with young people aged 14-19 and up to 25 years of age if they have an education health and care plan.

Email: careersparticipation@staffordshire.gov.uk

Useful links

• Department for Education - All you need to know about home schooling and elective home education.
• BBC news article - 38% rise in parents home educating.
• Ofqual - GOV.UK - Access this website for information and updates regarding exams and qualifications. There is an option to subscribe to email updates.