Home Educated pupils to get more support

[Kathryn]

These proposals look promising:

 

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0180

 

K x

[Karen A]

They do appear to be generally positive as far as I can see.Karen.

[Canopus]

There are several catches to it in practice. I will expose a few of them by clarifying what the key features of the new support package really mean.

 

More flexible access to public examinations and exam centres for home educated children, so their parents no longer have to rely on ad hoc arrangements with schools or colleges that can be a long way from home

 

Only the subjects and exams normally available to students who attend school full time will be available for HE children. Most GCSEs have a considerable coursework content which means that it is highly likely that HE children enrolled to take GCSEs at state schools will have to attend full time in Y11 in order to complete their coursework. Will schools allow HE children below Y11 to take GCSE exams or will that be unfair on those who attend full time?

 

It is highly unlikely that state schools will offer all examination IGCSEs to HE children unless they also offer them to students who attend full time. The main reason for this, apart from NC coursework requirements, is the extra admin duties and hassle involved with offering two types of exams.

 

More tailored support for home educated children with special educational needs

 

Exactly what support will be available for which types of SEN? Have any HE parents of children with SEN and the children themselves been asked by the LA what support and services they need AFTER embarking on HE? Are existing SEN support groups and sources of information outside of the school system and LA control insufficient in any way?

 

Better support for home educated young people who want to go to college

 

That will be useful in theory but it remains to be seen how it will pan out in practice? Concerns have circulated in the HE community that colleges might tighten admissions criteria for HE children - such as having to have 5 GCSEs if the facilities to take them at state schools becomes widespread, even if HE children effectively have to attend full time during Y11 to do the coursewok.

 

Improved access to music lessons, school libraries, work experience, sports and other specialist facilities in schools and colleges

 

Sounds very nice but what it really means are HE children attending the same lessons with students who attend school full time. See the flexi-schooling comment for more information. Another question is whether HE children will be allowed to participate in lessons for year groups above or below them that reflect their abilities, or will they only be allowed to participate in lessons for their year group? A more sensible move would be to allow HE children to access certain school facilities during evenings and weekends but this raises the issue of staff having to be employed (on overtime pay?) during these periods to offer services.

 

A commitment from the Government to look at arrangements for flexi-schooling, so that home educated children can have the option to attend school on a part-time basis.

 

The difficulties of imposing flexi-schooling are those associated with timetabling more than anything else. Flexi-schooled children who only attend lessons for a few subjects often have to go to school almost every day of the week even if it is just for an hour or so due to 'fragmented' timetables where the lessons they wish to attend are spread throughout the week rather than concentrated in a day. If a school has around 100 flexi-schooled children in different year groups who require lessons in different subjects then creating a timetable with a low degree of 'fragmentation' is next to impossible.

[Kathryn]

There are a lot of questions to be answered and details to be worked out. But anything has to be an improvement on the current situation, where pupils are either completely in or completely out of the education system, and LA's wash their hands of pupils whose parents opt to home educate. (there was another thread discussing this a while ago).

 

No doubt there will be problems when it comes to the practicalities but if it is recognised that home edded pupils have the right to access other educational facilities, it's a big step in the right direction, surely?

 

If you're interested in this issue, see also IPSEA's detailed submission to the DCSF consultation on this. It focuses on the issues which affect HE'd children with SEN in particular. Interesting reading.

 

http://www.ipsea.org.uk/PDFs/IPSEA%20Respo...20Education.pdf

 

K x

[Canopus]

No doubt there will be problems when it comes to the practicalities but if it is recognised that home edded pupils have the right to access other educational facilities, it's a big step in the right direction, surely?

 

It will require a massive overhaul of the state school system if flexi-schooling and the opening up of resources to the HE community is to be provided on a large scale nationally. The state school system was designed from the outset for students who attended full time rather than picked services they wanted, in the same way that my car was designed to be driven on the road rather than underwater like a submarine. Two changes that will benefit the HE community will be replacing coursework based GCSEs with all examination IGCSEs, and abolishing the year group system. Will the government have the courage to carry out these two moves, let alone implement more radical ideas? There is also resistance from staff and teaching unions towards radical changes to the state school system that have to be taken into account.

 

Investing in an ice bucket rather than a corkscrew is probably a realistic move.

 

If you're interested in this issue, see also IPSEA's detailed submission to the DCSF consultation on this. It focuses on the issues which affect HE'd children with SEN in particular. Interesting reading.

 

http://www.ipsea.org.uk/PDFs/IPSEA%20Respo...20Education.pdf

 

Thanks for this.