Home Education On The Rise

The number of children being home schooled in the United Kingdom has increased by 65%.

16:29 22 December 2015

More and more parents are now opting to homeschool their children. Their reasons include lifestyle, special needs, dissatisfaction or disagreements with local schools, religion, and bullying.

 

There are now 36,609 home educated children, a number that represents a 65per cent increase over the past six years. However, the number would be an underestimate. Children who were withdrawn from school are recorded as being home educated but children who never start school may not be reflected in the statistics.

 

Currently, parents are not required by law to send their children to school but they are obligated to provide a “suitable education” at home.

 

Dr Helen Lees, of Newman University Birmingham, has written extensively about alternative education. She believes that some parents do not like the structured assessment and testing in schools.

 

She says parents find online accounts of the success of home education and are saying: "If they can do it why can't we do it. They're hearing from groups on Facebook or Yahoo that it's working well, the children are happy."