Professional Knowledge and Practice in Health, Welfare and Educational Agencies in England in Relation to Children being Educated at Home: An Exploratory Review

Abstract

Discourses of child development hold that the experience a child gains from being at school is crucial to the child's development and well-being. The option of home education challenges such discourse. There is little practice-related literature specific to home-educated children. This article first describes a context and then reviews aspects of practice by professionals in health, welfare and educational agencies in relation to home education. Within the constituent parts of the United Kingdom there are variations in the legal context, and this article concentrates on the position in England. The nature and extent of home education are described and the significance of home education interest groups is acknowledged. There follows a review of the implications for home education of recent developments in childcare policy. The law relating to home education remains much as it was in the nineteenth century, but in the face of divided political opinion recent proposals to change the law have not been enacted. English local education authorities (LEAs) have expressed concern about their limited powers and duties under the current law. Evidence is presented that practitioners in health and welfare services may nevertheless hold exaggerated, falsely reassuring beliefs about the extent of LEA powers and knowledge relating to home-educated children. Debate about child protection in the context of home education has tended to be distorted by perspectives from entrenched positions. The article identifies some specific potentially harmful patterns of parental behaviour that may be particularly relevant in the context of home education. A debate is indicated about whether the risks inherent in the exemption of some children from the surveillance of universal health and educational services is an acceptable or even unavoidable price to be paid for maintaining parents’ rights of choice in relation to their child's education.

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article made by the anonymous reviewers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roger Jennens

Roger Jennens was, until his recent retirement, a social worker in children's social care