Parents fury at plan for lessons in home

Dec 15 2009 by Liz Walker, The Journal

PARENTS who educate their children at home have signed a petition against "degrading" Government plans that they say would treat them like criminals.

If proposals in the Badman Report to reform the home-education rules are given the go-ahead, parents would have to apply to their local authority annually for permission to tutor their children at home.

They would also have to submit detailed plans for their teaching which would need to be approved by their council, while local authority officers would have the right to interview children in their home without their parents present.

MPs across the country have handed in petitions calling for a review of the report’s findings before legislation is passed.

Around 350 children are registered as home-educated in the North East.

In Northumberland, where around 150 families home-educate, Berwick MP Sir Alan Beith handed in a petition of 42 signatures last week.

Mother Jo Coulter, who educates her nine-year-old daughter Stella at home, said: “I am absolutely horrified at the thought that in the name of child protection, thousands of children would be subjected to this degree of exposure to strangers within their own homes.

“We are automatically being treated as if we have done something wrong.

“It is deeply offensive that families like mine should be subjected to this degrading treatment.

“Why stop at home-educating families? Why not extend these measures throughout the land to cover all homes?

“After all, schoolchildren only spend around seven hours a day in school.

“Why are they spending all this money to police home education? There are already systems in place through social services to protect vulnerable children. They are knocking on the wrong door.”

Jo and husband Jan Deckers, a former secondary school teacher who is now a lecturer in medical ethics at Newcastle University, believe home schooling is the best option for their daughter, after they became disillusioned with the state system.

Jo said: “We work very closely with an adviser at the local education authority and he is very happy with the education we provide for Stella.

“She is an academically able and well-adjusted child and takes part in sports, art and drama clubs.

“School is not necessarily the best place for every child.”

Sir Alan has previously backed a House of Commons motion criticising the report.

He said: “The Badman Report proposals look like an over-bureaucratic approach when proper use of existing powers by local authorities may be all that is needed. It is important to safeguard the rights of parents to home-educate their children.”