Training for home educators

4th May 2007, 1:00am

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Training for home educators

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/training-home-educators
We are sometimes told that some local authority elective home education advisors believe that there are grounds for concern for some home educated children, as reported in The TES recently.

This is presented as a fact but I believe it needs to be challenged because it is a matter of hearsay and anecdotal evidence.

Since individual cases may not be cited because of issues of confidentiality, we remain none the wiser about the evidence base for these allegations. There is no funding for elective home education (EHE) at local authority level and no training for EHE advisors nor any funding for educational resources which the advisor might recommend or which the home educating family might request.

While in many cases the advisors might be well-informed and open-minded and supportive of elective home education, sadly it remains a postcode lottery as to whether or not this is the case because, regrettably, there are no national standards for EHE advisors.

We are recommending that local authority personnel who come into contact with home educated children and young people should undergo regular professional training on elective home education.

Fiona Nicholson

chair, Education Otherwise, Government Policy Group

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