British Government declares war on Home Educators, page 1
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Topic started on 29-1-2009 @ 02:40 AM by neformore
The coming war against Home Educators

I know there has been a lot of stuff going on in the states regarding the legalities of Home Education, but here in the UK the British Government has take what I can only describe as being an extraordinary step, by using one of societies ultimate taboo's in a piece of propaganda worthy of Goebbels.

Launching an "inquiry" into Home Education provisions, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families had this to say...


'Parents are able, quite rightly, to choose whether they want to educate children at home, and a very small number do. I’m sure the vast majority do a good job. However, there are concerns that some children are not receiving the education they need.
And in some extreme cases, home education could be used as a cover for abuse. We cannot allow this to happen and are committed to doing all we can to help ensure children are safe, wherever they are educated.


(emphasis mine)

As is pointed out in the Mail on Sunday article I linked above, this is an extraordinary step, and a massive attempt at smearing people.

No national inquries are launched into the school system when there have been proven cases of teachers have sexual relations with children in their care. No national inquiries are launched when, from time to time, evidence arises that members of the clergy have abused kids.

Heres the kicker. The people undertaking the "inquiry" (The government and the NSPCC) have no evidence whatsoever of any abuse carried out by Home Educators, and an NSPCC spokesperon recently admitted such on a BBC Radio 2 interview regarding the matter as can be heard here BBC iplayer - Jeremy Vine Show (you'd need to jump to an hour and five mins in) - when asked about the evidence to back up the basis for the review, the answer was this (transcribed from the show)


VIJAY PATEL: We.. the inf.. We don’t have the evidence there statistically, no.


And in a week where this;

Ofsted Intervenes at New Acadamy

Shows that the state school system is in some considerable disarray, which is providing the very reason why home education is increasing in the UK, the move smacks as being very deliberate and very very cynical.

In the UK, the law states that it is the parents, not the governments, responsibility to ensure that their child recieves a proper education.

The Education Act says this;


The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable—
(a)
to his age, ability and aptitude, and
(b)
to any special educational needs he may have,
either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.


If you apply that law as it stands, those parents who sent their children to school at the state owned and run Academy mentioned in the BBC article above have actually failed to that, and you only have to look at the quotes from the article to see that's the case

"The children are being taught in temporary classrooms with no heating and no toilets.


Outside the academy earlier on Wednesday, 11-year-old Nicole was dropped off by her mother, but seemed in no hurry to get to lessons. She told us there was "not much learning going on". "It's difficult to get much work done when there's supply", she said. "People just mess around."


Indeed, if you research the story of the Academy, the intervention was bought about after a 14 year old kid decided his future was important, and set up a Bebo group to make a stand against the conditions at the school. His actions were - allegedly - greeted with being locked in a classroom and threatened with expulsion from the school (I have no link to prove this, but the local community is apparently abuzz with it)

Most parents in the UK home educate because the system is failing their kids. The state run schools run to a national curriculum designed to produce results so that the schools can score points and rank themselves on Ofsted league tables to retain their "status".

The system is exam and result orientated, leaving very little room for individuality. Emphasis is on qualifications only, not personal development, in classrooms of 30 kids or more per teacher. In essence its battery schooling.

That - apparently - to the UK government is acceptable. No cause for concern. Kids in overcrowded classes, in falling down schools with anarchistic teaching and control methods is acceptable.

No national enquiry into potential abuse there.

And yet a parent who decides that their child is an individual, and that their needs are important, or a parent of a special needs child who believes that the school system can't cater for their child, or the parent of a child who has been bullied to the point of severe depression and can't face school at all..... well.....they get labelled as potential abusers with no evidence to support the claim.

Theres a lot of talk on ATS about governmental supression of ideas and freedoms, and to be frank some of that talk is misguided, but this is a direct and open attempt at smear and suppression by a government obsessed with control over parental issues in a nanny state desgined to churn out "success" and conformity at any cost.

Its just plain wrong.


reply posted on 29-1-2009 @ 03:20 AM by BAZ752
Very interesting thread indeed. Thanks for the link to the article.

I always been a strong advocate that modern-secondary schooling (purely as an example here) is almost entirely a flawed system. That is, however, not to suggest that the children with higher apptitudes find ways - themselves to diversify their learning ability, but in general the ''system'' that is the National Curriculum is vastly criticised, often by PTA's, for it's INability to cater for essential tools children need to prepare them for a working environment.

I personally cannot agree or disgree on that issue as I'm not a parent. I do have two friends (wives of friends) who teach at both infant/primary and secondary level - both of which find it astonishing how the government sets targets and results, not just by examination results, but also key-stage level monitoring. Anyway, it's a field I do not know enough about to comment more in that department.

Back to topic....(sorry). Home education, in my opinion, COULD have the potential to be exceptionally rewarding, particularly in those families where the childs education is one of a number of priorities, among social skills, sporting and other activities. If you have a moderatly educated parent for example or can afford to finance the private tutoring then there are always benefits, I see little wrong in it. Although, of course there are the more obvious issues such as the social implications but one must question the very ettiquette of schooling at ALL ages these days only to realise that it's far from encourgaing.


reply posted on 29-1-2009 @ 07:45 AM by BAZ752
reply to post by 44soulslayer


It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. However, I don't think certain figures of the government themselves having schooled their children predominantly through the 'private' system would endorse any such motion.

Money talks and I think private education forms a solid base for certain social circles (in my experience) so if there's guaranteed funding from parenting, above and beyond what is deemed adequate, then there's every liklihood those select few individuals have far better opportunities but that's another issue altogether.

I just think systematically, it's another way of crushing non-comformist 'liberal' idealism of education. I'm neither for or against (slightly on the fence you might say), but either way the current education system is flawed.


reply posted on 30-1-2009 @ 05:25 AM by NuclearPaul
And in some extreme cases, home education could be used as a cover for abuse.


And in some extreme cases, schools could be used as a cover for abuse. They don't tell you that, do they?

Former head of the FBI Los Angeles Ted Gunderson explains this in detail.
Maybe the organised pedophilia industry doesn't want their access to children taken away?

I think that excuse to try to control home schooling is sick, given who some of these people are. We should declare war on them instead.
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