About Home Education
Elective Home Education (EHE) is the term used when parents choose to provide education for their children at home instead of sending them to school full-time. This is different from education provided by a local authority (LA) other than at a school – for example, hospital and home tuition for children who are too ill to attend school.
A variety of people from all walks of life choose home education for their children. Home educators and their children are a very diverse group. The practice of most home educating families tends to fall somewhere between being quite structured and formal, perhaps almost creating a sense of school-at-home, and being very informal, learning as opportunities arise and a young person’s interests change (often known as child-led learning). A more formal approach may be chosen if a young person is quite likely to return to school in the foreseeable future, for example to take exams. This can give a family a useful sense of stability and structure, allowing them to build their confidence and know where they are going. Other families take advantage of the flexibility that home education allows.
Young people can continue right through their school age years being home educated, often taking the same kind of exams as their peers in schools. Some continue to home educate up to age 18 but many go on into higher education, and some spend periods in different forms of education. Some young people don’t take any exams but may move straight into work or training. There are just as many possible outcomes for home educated young people as for those in schools.
Principles
Cumberland Council respects the right of parents to educate their children at home. When parents choose to home educate, Cumberland Council considers it desirable for parents and the local authority to work together to establish and maintain a positive dialogue in the interests of the child to ensure a high quality education is received and children are safeguarded.
Parents are responsible for ensuring that their child receives an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. Local authorities have the same safeguarding responsibilities for children educated at home as for children educated in school.
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to clarify for schools, parents, carers, guardians and related agencies, the framework by which the local authority carries out its statutory responsibilities, and to encourage good practice, by setting out the legislative position and the roles and responsibilities of the local authority and parents. Cumberland Council recognises and accepts that home education approaches can be varied and flexible, and that there is no one approach to educating a child from home.
This policy sets out the way in which Cumberland Council carries out its duties under the Education Act 1996 with regard to elective home education.