Every Child Matters

Education and Skills written question – answered at on 27 November 2006.

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Photo of David Jones David Jones Shadow Minister (Wales)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what provisions are being made in the Every Child Matters initiative for families who opt for education at home.

Photo of Jim Knight Jim Knight Minister of State (Schools and 14-19 Learners), Department for Education and Skills, Minister of State (Education and Skills) (Schools and 14-19 Learners)

The Government recognise the right of parents to choose to educate their children at home. The Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme is aimed at ensuring, through effective multi-agency working, that all children and parents have the support they need and this applies equally to children being educated at home.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes4 people think so

No173 people think not

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Annotations

Fiona Mann
Posted on 28 Nov 2006 4:46 pm (Report this annotation)

Parents who educate their children privately, via home tutoring, private schools, or autonomous learning choose not to have what their children learn dicated by our government. An effective way of suporting these parents would be to refund taxes paid towards the state education system as they do not wish to participate in it.

Elaine Greenwood-Hyde
Posted on 28 Nov 2006 6:43 pm (Report this annotation)

Home educating families are quite capable of asking for support if they should need it. We do not take kindly to having 'support' (for support see interference) forced upon us by the state.

The state should only ever be a parent of last resort.

One only has to look at the results of the state as parent of 'looked after' children to know that the state is not an example of good parenting.

Techla Wood
Posted on 28 Nov 2006 7:23 pm (Report this annotation)

If every child really did matter, the government and local authorities would work harder to work within the already perfectly adequate laws that exist. Instead they frequently try to bully and abuse Home Educating families, who are already perfectly aware that every child matters, and who are acting on that principle every day, by the very fact of their educational choices for their children.

This government has made promises to the Home Educating community that it hasn't kept, which has resulted in unnecessary suffering for many children. How can we possibly believe that *every child matters* to this government when they consistently show otherwise by their actions? Is it any wonder that Home Educators are deeply suspicious of government *support*? We are capable of asking for any support we need if and when the need arises. We resent the idea of having *support* thrust upon us by those who really ought to get their own ships in order before presuming to know what is best for our children.

Glynis May
Posted on 28 Nov 2006 7:26 pm (Report this annotation)

I agree with Fiona Mann, above, that parents who educate their children privately, via home tutoring or autonomus learning choose not to have their children's education dictated by Government. However, I think Government could support these parents by devising a voluntary scheme to enable parents to claim funding towards all types of learning and teaching resources.

Cat Elder
Posted on 28 Nov 2006 8:07 pm (Report this annotation)

I home educate because my children do matter very much to me and because the state was failing to provide them with an education which was meeting their complex needs. If the state were unable to meet their needs and in fact their mental health suffered as a result of a state education, I don't think that the state has much to offer in the way of advising me or supporting me on how to get it right. Maybe home educators have something to offer the state?

Cynthia Needham
Posted on 28 Nov 2006 8:37 pm (Report this annotation)

If this government truly believes that Every Child Matters, they will realise that there is no need or point in forcing all children to follow a strict educational routine. Institutionalised teaching is fairly recent in our country's very long history. One need not look too far back to find men and women of outstanding talents: doctors, scientists, engineers and, dare I say it, even politicians, who did not receieve their education by the diktat of the State. And yet, great things were achieved. Perhaps it is time for this government to recognise that education can exist without the strictures of their National Curriculum, SATs, GSCEs, A Levels and whatnot.

Children should be free to pursue their education free from the confines of a school building, which does not always provide the clean and safe environment this government advocates. Furthermore, education should not necessarily mean learning to deal with bullies, sexual harassment and violence from primary school upwards, as is too often the case.

Home education is a valuable and viable alternative for many children and should be recognised as such by our ministers. If this government really wants to support home education, then perhaps they might consider a standardised approach for LAs/LEAs when dealing with those of us who choose this option. What we would like is support not interference, assistance not intimidation.

Su Matthan
Posted on 28 Nov 2006 10:23 pm (Report this annotation)

If this government did recognise the right of parents to choose .... and to offer them 'support', they would make it clear that any home educated young person who would like to go to college at age 14+ was welcome to do so! Most of them will have saved the Treasury thousands of pounds. But no, LAs and Colleges have a pact, and the parents of these young people have to foot the bill. School children with behavioural issues, however, are welcome to go to college, and the LA pays up! Support, indeed! Every Child Matters (unless you are home educated).

paula wroath
Posted on 28 Nov 2006 11:18 pm (Report this annotation)

Has the question actually been answered? What support does he think home educated children and their families actually want or need? Has he asked them? Most would ask just to be left alone to get on with the job!

If the Government was serious about support, it would take practical measures, for example, make sure exams were as easy and cheap for home edding families as they are for children who attend school. If every child matters, why are they incarcerated in unsafe and unpleasant places for their formative years? It amazes me that any child actually survives this sentence!

annette taberner
Posted on 29 Nov 2006 12:36 am (Report this annotation)

The ignorance of local authorities, police etc and their mis-interpretation of legislation make it harder for home educated children to achieve the 5 aims set out in the every child matters framework.

Worse still families are harassed and intimidated as the result of the misapplication of legislation eg truancy watch, which was not designed to invlove them at all.

These abuses will be compounded as the new framework and database on all children is put in place.

The experts on home education are families who are home educating. Terrific sacrifices are made to give children the education best suited to them.

As the state system crumbles and becomes less relevant to the society our children are growing up in much could be learnt by others from the home ed community. However, too many people have a vested interest in propping up the present system for this to be acknowledged.

There is no such thing as a free lunch and our childrens rights to grow and develop free from constant testing and the confides of the national curriculum are not negotiable. Their freedom cannot be bought.

Politicians are largely ignorant of home education. Perhaps they should make an effort to "educate" themselves by making links with this community.

Ann C S Kay
Posted on 29 Nov 2006 3:00 pm (Report this annotation)

The states insistence that parents are unable or unsuitable to bring up their children how they feel best is what ‘Every child matters’ is about, it isn’t about protecting children. It’s about totalitarianism and state control where the government and its officers try to control every aspect of our lives. Putting children on to state Data Bases isn’t anything to do with caring for children it is solely about control. To punish families who do not comply with the ‘system’ smacks of Stalinist ideals. Maybe the government should get its own house in order and make sure that their offices actually know the correct law and full understand what it means before they start inflicting their ideals upon law abiding Home educators like me.


The biggest problem I have found with being a Home Educator is the inability of the LA's to understand that we are not 'hurting or refusing' our children a 'rounded' education. Because we educated differently we are often treated like criminals who need to be checked up on and bullied.
The LA's continually mis-interpret the 1996 Education act section 7 and re-write it to their own ideals which actually conflicts with the law, as is the case with my LA who is still quoting the 1944 Education act. The LA’s insist that they have the right to home visits, the intrusion into our lives, the questioning and so on, even when there is nothing written in law. They then threaten that if we don’t comply we will be taken to court, our children forced back into school even when it has been proved they are fairing far better out of the system.

The use of Lord Laming’s report into the Victoria Climbie incident where he suggests that ‘Children outside of State Education’ should be encouraged to return to the fold so to speak just goes to show how ignorant even members of the Lords are into Home education ethos. Why do our children have to curtail to a system where all children are destined to attain an education which is designed as a ‘One Size Fits All’ system where bright children are left bored and uninterested, children with special needs are left in limbo if their problem doesn’t tick all the criteria boxes. This country is turning out Educational DRONES who are told how to think, and what to do where individualism is seen as dangerous.

If the government is so concerned then I suggest they actually get into proper discussion with the Home Education Community rather than leaving the reports to people who are ignorant of the fact, do not care about our philosophies and are so narrow minded that they are unable to think outside the box and realise that we like being individuals.

Clare Murton
Posted on 29 Nov 2006 11:44 pm (Report this annotation)

Two things worry me about Mr Knights reply.

One is that he says that through multi agency working home educators will have the support they need yet despite having an ear to the ground I have not heard anyone in government asking home educators what it is that they need. One can only assume that home educators are going to be told what they need and that a multitude of agencies are going to make sure they get it.

This leads to my second concern; when home educators did tell Mr Knight and his colleagues in DfES earlier this year exactly what they needed with regard to the Education(Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006, he ignored them, dismissed their concerns and requests and the department went ahead to publish a guidance document that has failed to prevent several local authorities and schools from interpreting their registration duties to include what amounts to an ultra vires home education approval system.

They Work For Who??
Every Who Matters?

Roxane Featherstone
Posted on 30 Nov 2006 7:38 am (Report this annotation)

Further to Clare's comment, I would like to add that even in the situation where the views of Home Educators are indeed actually sought, (usually via a consultation process), those views, though heard, are to all intents and purposes, lost forever.

By way of an example, I went recently to a local consultation process on the subject of the implemetation of the "Every Child Matters" initiative. Our views were noted by a person very much at second remove from any policy making position. The Home Educators at the meeting almost universally agreed that we do not want the ECM "support" thrust upon us. We want to be able to ask for help when we need it and to be otherwise left alone as much as is humanely possible.

It was therefore with some sadness and anger, though little surprise, that we read the subsequent report which made absolutely no mention of these views, being almost entirely a description of the grateful public reception of the ECM agenda.

It was, frankly, a travesty of democracy.

RACHEL LEWIS
Posted on 30 Nov 2006 1:17 pm (Report this annotation)

I feel this goverment should be grateful and thankful to Home Educators as we are saving the goverment money by choosing to educate our children at home.

All Home Educators want is support from the goverment and support i mean to be grateful to us and not bully us.

I think the goverment should not "fix somthing that is not broken".This goverment should stick to the laws already in place.

Home Educators need to be consulted and asked what they need not told what they need we know our own brains we know what is best for our children.
Our children are not the property of the state and as parents we feel home education is best for our children.

Who has the right to say it is a right way or wrong way and home educators are not anti school we just know our children.
We are tax payers and voters this seems to be a point that is forgotten we are the voters and we need to be heard.

I don't want my child to be a robot i want my child to be an indivdual a free thinker.
I think the goverment should put more money into the already struggling education system they should focus on more teachers more schools and focus less on a group of people who are supplying a good well rounded education to future generations of voters.
When childen are home educated they don't have to deal with bullying, sexual harrasement, violence or drugs.
The parents can educate their children on these matters without these matters being enforced on the children by the experience of going to a school and being subjected to the above matters.
The report has made no mention to the views of home educators what a travesty of our democratic system.
As i said before we also vote just leave home educators alone to get on with a very important job..
Educating young minds!.

Everyone matters?
so therefor every vote matters!

Mark Bestford
Posted on 30 Nov 2006 2:18 pm (Report this annotation)

I wish I was in a position to have my children educated at home. Quite simply I do not feel that the state education system where I live is capable of meeting their very disparate needs. My eldest is dyslexic and has been allowed to effectively drop out of schooling by her school. She's now 10 and can read and write only because of the help she has had from a tutor who teaches her at home for 1 hour each week. The school wasted 4 years before finally getting her statemented. We were constantly told her problem was simply her lack of ability and that she was not dyslexic, something we have only just finally proven to be wrong. Her extra home education is something that we will be continuing even when she goes to secondary school as it's something that we have seen work, dyslexic children need teaching by teachers that understand dyslexia, not by teachers who haven't got a clue what dyslexia is and how it affects a child's education.

Our youngest child is as different as can be, being extremely intelligent and able to score highly on adult IQ tests at the age of 8. She finds the work she gets from school too easy and I feel that she should be able to do work of a higher standard. She herself thinks she should be in the year above as she has an academic age at least 2 years ahead of the rest of her class. It is not myself that wants to push her to do work ahead of her means, it is my daughter who expresses the wish to do work that can genuinely challenge her and that is something she will not receive within the state education system.

Lisa Farmer
Posted on 7 Jan 2007 8:54 pm (Report this annotation)

If every child matters then why when my child has a statement of special educational needs which is supposed to be maintained, do we lose everything contained in the document including financial support just because she is now home educated. When she attended school she was bullied for almost 3 years and the school's response was to get over it. She fell further behind with numeracy and literacy and we were told there was no-one trained to provide additional support. Her mental health suffered and the strain on the family was unbearable. Schools and LA's have absolutely no training particularly in Autistic Spectrum Disorders nor the appropriate resources to provide a full-time efficient education. The children that Mr knight should be concerned about are the ones like my cousin's daughter. Her mum is a drug addict and couldn't care less whether she goes to school. She is due to take her GCSE's and hasn't been to school since the summer. She has just turned 16 and declared herself homeless and nobody in Children' Services thinks that this is a problem. (Every child matters) I think not!

Mark Bestford
Posted on 8 Jan 2007 12:20 am (Report this annotation)

Lisa, I couldn't agree more. This government's attitude to schooling children with SEN is an absolute disgrace. One of the few things our school did that really helped my daughter has now been discontinued, as the teacher doing it cannot afford to continue with no funding. This was a program aimed at raising reading standards, yet the government just seems tohave no idea. They introduced a program as a pilot, then after a single year cut all funding for the program, insisting that the school should fund it themselves.

Shohna Lodge
Posted on 6 Mar 2007 1:39 pm (Report this annotation)

My eldest son did not receive any of the support his statement called for. In fact the school denied even receiving it - a lie as I had personally printed copies to both the class teacher, head and the LEA after moving into that catchment area, given to all by hand.
He did not receive an education, let alone one suitable to his needs and abilities! I found out his class teacher repeatedly sent him out every day because she couldn't bear his fidgeting and tapping (a particular tic of his at the time). This resulted in him not being supervised or educated and his wandering the school grounds, which I found out about after his telling me about his conversing with a stranger at the school gate!
In our experience what the education system delivers? - No support. No education. No supervision. No safety!
And I know we are not a one off case!
It's no wonder parents who learn about Home Ed decide to opt for it, regardless the sacrifices to be made.
If LEA's and the Govt truly believe Jim Knights comment he and they should be ensuring children and parents have open access to all educational avenues and supports, regardless of the environment a child is learning in.
How can the Govt or LEA's claim to recognise and respect parental decisions when so many in the Home Ed community are at the receiving end of bullying tactics simply because they are determined to respect what their child/ren need, deserve and want?
Schooling is a system. Children are not, should not be, made to fit into a system. Learning at home allows for a child to learn naturally, in their own way, at their own pace, to suit their own needs and abilities.
Btw my eldest son (after years of learning at home) can now (amongst other things) ride a horse, knows how to care properly for horses and pasture management, has worked part time in a garden nursery, is writing a novel, is learning about computer aided design, can handle his own finances (actually he has a larger savings account than I do!), knows how to use a washing machine etc and clean a house (and does!), is learning about nature conservation, is developing the the skills of compromise and deal making, has friends in the age range of 8 to 66, plans to learn mechanics and/or electrics, and feels sorry for every child who has to attend school!
If you could see my smile you'd know how proud I am of him :-)
Send my children to school? Believe we Home Ed families are not being targeted? Not flipping likely!

janet schwartz
Posted on 16 Mar 2007 3:52 pm (Report this annotation)

I join the long list of people who opted to home ed because of the appauling way in which my daughter was being treated in school
My daughters teacher informed me at a parents evening whilst in junior school that she didnt have the time for her as she had 30 other children in the class!!!
This was said to me again recently by a secondry school teacher .For finacial reasons I wasnt able to cope and made enquiries about placing her back in this particular secondary school. My daughter is very intelligent so I do not undertand why teachers have failed to teach her .
My Mp has just sent me a letter fobbing off my concerns about various issues to do with Home educating
Im in receipt of benefits so Im being pressurised by different departments that cant seem to get their heads around how to handle my situation as they dont know how to treat people on an individual basis.!!

Christine Lowe
Posted on 7 Oct 2008 4:20 pm (Report this annotation)

I have two children that are being home educated.

The school system was totally unsuitable for them, firstly my eldest went all the way through school having to endure bullying from children and from teachers who throughout his school days would constantly tell him to 'pull his socks up' 'work faster etc' he was a nervous wreck, the school stated that he had no problems therefore we had to pay for private assessments to be carried out; at the age of 10 years, we are now finding out that he has definite health issues along with being diagnosed as being on the Autistic Spectrum in many areas! - this answered a lot of questions that we had over the last 7 years!

Schools along with the medical teams have let him down badly - the same situation applies to my youngest son, when I asked to see what work he had completed over a period of 2 years, I was upset to find out that he only ever did 20 sheets of A4 paper in that time scale - Disgusted was not the word for how we felt. In just 8 weeks of being home educated he has actually completed 2 lever arch files of work - that does not include photographic evidence of activities etc that he does inside and outside of our home! May I add this work was carried out at his own request, we did not have to bribe him, push him, he was happy at home and it was his choice totally! Happy Children learn!

It was obvious that the school just let my youngest play with toys each day as long as he was not interupting the rest of the class by collapsing into unconscious episodes, he was left to his own devises...I sent him to school thinking he would be educated like his peers, how wrong was I ?

Again, after paying privately for health issues, he has now been diagnosed as being on the Autistic Spectrum and also they have queried if a mis-diagnosis of his epilepsy has taken place - What I am trying to say is if the government believe that our children will do much better if they went to school and multiple agencies look after our childrens needs, then why did this happen to both of our children when they attended mainstream school over the last 7 years?

Surely if every child does indeed matter to the government then they should ensure that mistakes that have happened to our children do not happen with other children.

How many children go through the state system and are overlooked like our children have been?

My children were lucky; as parents we would not believe the teachers that there was nothing wrong with our children, we were fortunate enough to have the resources to pay to obtain the answers but what about families that are not in that position?.....

How many children will the government let suffer because of the lack of support networks within todays shool system?

Our family save the government a lot of money by us home educating our children, no resources were put into place within the school setting for them and may I point out nothing was ever offered either!

I am happy to say that the two boys are now much more happy since leaving school, they are contented and actually enjoy the education that they both receive at home. We are known to the LEA by the way and have never had any recommendations made with regards to the childrens education.

We have worked voluntarily with the LEA, but the way it is going, we may have to decide to make a stand and refuse any further meetings taking place.

Home education is not an easy option for parents, and a lot of sacrifices have to be made to ensure our children receive the educational resources they need within home education.

The school system did not meet the needs of our children, did not cater for their ages/abilities or any special needs that they both have. Therefore they were let down.

Mr. Knight when you make statements and write up policies please take into consideration that schools do not in practice carry out specific strategies that the government thinks it has in place, in our experience it is has been quite the reverse.

Home education in our home allows each child to have an education that is suitable to their ages, ability and is worked around the special needs of each child, school could not provide this help, so why are you determined to interfere in our lives and make our lives a constant worry when we have enough to contend with.

We are doing a fantastic job with our children like all of the other home educating families that I know.

Let us work with our children, as parents we know what is best for them as we live with them, know their likes and dislikes, what makes them tick etc, these children are ours, not the governments!

we as parents know the benefits of home education, perhaps you need to speak to us and get to know home educators properly, you may find that you will be shocked by the outcome!