Education Committee 2012

In December 2012 the Education Committee chaired by Graham Stuart published its report on Support for Home Education which can be found here
Recommendations from the Education Committee

1. We urge all local authorities to undertake a swift review of their own material, and to ensure that their policies reflect the guidance available.
2. We recommend that the Department for Education undertake a review of the guidance concerning home education, working with local authorities and home educators to iron out any tensions.
3. We encourage more local authorities, especially smaller ones, to develop shared services, and to join existing networks of home education officers.
4. The development of a more formalised professional association of, and/or annual conference for, home education officers, driven by those in the profession themselves, could be a welcome step in terms of sharing best practice nationally.
5. We recommend that the Department for Education carry out an audit of local authorities’ performance regarding home education, and the information they make available on their websites and elsewhere, and publish the results
6. Local authority officers dealing with home education ought to be situated within a dedicated team, or sit within a neutral location such as learning or library services.
7. Where funding is available, central Government needs to explain better how this can be obtained and utilised.
8. We recommend that the Government place a duty on every local authority to ensure access to local centres for home-educated young people to sit accredited public examinations.
9. We recommend that the costs of sitting public examinations be met by the State.
10. We recommend that the Government monitor, as part of the audit previously recommended, local authorities’ current provision of advice regarding transitions to further education for home-educated young people.
11. We congratulate the Government on giving further education colleges the power to admit 14 to 15-year-olds directly.
12. Local authorities should be expected to produce a ‘local offer of support’ for home educators, stating what services are available, how these differ from those for parents of schooled children, and enabling home educators to compare with practice elsewhere. Critically, local offers must be developed in consultation with home educators and their families. We recommend that the Department for Education support pilots for such a scheme, and play a role in monitoring the quality of local offers and the adherence applied to them by local authorities.
13. We urge local authorities to comply with statutory guidance and ensure that home-educated young people with SEN or medical conditions are not being discriminated against

For more information on the 2020-21 Education Committee Enquiry, please click here