House of Commons Home Education Enquiry Response

CViE submission to the House of Commons Education Committee inquiry regarding Home Education.

In September 2020, the House Of Commons Education Committee (that is responsible for scrutinising the work of the Department for Education and its arms-length bodies e.g. Ofsted) launched an inquiry into Home Education.

The inquiry covers three broad areas:

• The first area is on the role of local authorities – this related to safeguarding and assuring the quality of home education, the possible need for a statutory register of home-educated children and the role that inspection should play in future regulation of home education.
• The second area was around the benefits children gain from home education, and the potential disadvantages they may face. Linked to this was the quality and accessibility of support available to home-educators.
• The third area was around the impact that COVID-19 has had on home-educated children.

Concern was expressed from various quarters over the inquiry regarding the necessity for a register of home-educators and the need for a home-education Inspectorate particularly as this may be used by government to impose ideologies contrary to the beliefs of home-educating parents.

As a consequence, CViE made a submission to the Home Education inquiry drawing on the experience of CViE supporters who had current and previous experience of home-education. We are very grateful for their help and do pray that the Lord might watch over those Christian parents who have felt led to home-educate their children.

A copy of the submission made by CViE can be found by clicking here.

The Education Committee identified that “Children can be educated at home for a variety of reasons. Figures from March 2019 suggested that more than 60,000 children were being home educated in England, with the number increasing in recent years. It is likely that the number is underreported as parents are not required to register their home-educated children with the local authority”. 

There is also anecdotal evidence that the lockdown has caused parents to think about whether home education is an option for them. Christian parents that we have spoken to mention how the children seem to thrive more at home and also expressed concern over materials that are used in school. The BBC recently broadcast a programme in its “Bringing up Children” series that focused on home education and can be found by clicking here.

CViE believes firmly that parents are responsible for the education of their children and are accountable for the educational choices made. The Bible is clear that children should brought up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” and that the education of children is not a responsibility that parents can abdicate.

We hope the submission made to the House of Commons Committee will be of interest and use to our supporters.