The Lead Untangles: The rise of homeschooling
Lauren Crosby Medlicott delves into the rise of homeschooling, unpacking the causes and what the impacts may be.
At a glance facts
Local authorities estimate that 153,300 children were in elective home education [ECE] at any point during the 2023/24 academic school year, up from 126,100 in 2022-23 academic year, and up from 116,000 in the 2021-22 academic year.
A June 2024 investigation found the number of children moving to home education in the UK is at its highest level since the pandemic, with councils receiving nearly 50,000 notifications in the 2022-23 academic year from families wanting to take their kids out of school, and more than 66,000 notifications in the 2023-24 academic year.
23 per cent of families have said their reasons for home educating are a result of lifestyle, philosophical, or preferential choices, such as religious or cultural beliefs, or a rejection of exam-based education.
13 per cent of families say they have made their decisions to teach their children at home due to school dissatisfaction, including lack of special educational needs and disabilities [SEND] and school bullying support.
14 per cent cite their child’s mental health as their reason for homeschooling.
Recent reports show that pupils are most likely to withdraw from school for elective home-education in years 10 and 11.
Many parents feel they aren’t choosing home education, but that they have been left with no other option. Being left with no choice except to pull their children out of school, parents often haven’t been able to prepare for what’s next – left with no information or support during crucial years of children’s education.
A group of academics studying a cohort of children who have left school and are being home-educated say their risk of becoming “not in education, employment and training” [NEET] is increasing because there is little or no support for families who are home-educating.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill could bring big changes for home educators.
Context
During Covid, many families in the UK were introduced to home education for the first time, giving them a glimpse into the world of elective home education.
When schools reopened, attendance in state-funded schools dropped. On 20 January 2022, attendance in schools was at 87.4 per cent. Pre-pandemic, in 2018-21, the overall absence rate was only 4.7 per cent.
Children found the transition back into school difficult, leading to an increase in persistently absent children – double the levels seen before the pandemic.
The most common reason for higher-than-normal absence had been Covid, but pupil’s anxiety and a shift in attitudes to school also factored in.
Two years later, in 2024, children continued to be persistently absent from school – with one in 50 missing at least half their lessons in the 2022-23 school year. Fines and punishments for families result from a child’s absence.
As a ‘solution’, an increasing number of families are choosing to home educate.
A 2024 government census found that while the biggest known reason for moving to home education was philosophical beliefs, mental health was the biggest factor in the recent rise. The number of families choosing home education because of it rose by 64 per cent, from around 7,281 in 2022, to 11,960 in 2023.
Children with SEND are being taken out of school in favour of home education, with families saying their children aren’t being supported in schools. The National Audit Office warned that the SEND system is broken and “in urgent need of reform”, which begins to explain in part why so many families of SEND children are turning to homeschooling.
Many parents have also cited bullying concerns and poor behaviour of other students as reasons why they pulled their child out of school. Others said they no longer felt the national curriculum prepared their children for the modern world and workplace.
And one report by The Difference, a children’s charity, it was identified that a rising number of children left mainstream school due to a breakdown in relations between families and schools.
When families in the UK feel they are ‘forced’ to homeschool, some say there isn’t clarity around the law and what is required, leading to worry about the quality and suitability of home education, and safeguarding concerns.
The death of 10-year old Sara Sharif, who was removed from school to be home educated even after teachers raised concerns with social services, added to the heat of the debate about home education in the UK.
On the same day Sharif’s father and stepmother were sentenced for her murder, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson put forward the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which among other things, proposes that families will have to acquire local council’s permission to homeschool. A register which identifies children in England who are not currently attending school will form part of the bill.
Home education proponents say that home education should not be conflated with safeguarding risk – that home educated children are no more likely than other children to be at risk – and that registers are not necessary or beneficial. Education Otherwise, a prominent homeschool support charity, is deeply concerned the bill will damage relationships between local authorities and home education families and undermine the parent’s primacy in children’s education and the right and duties of parents to decide their child’s best interests.
What home education does
Under the Education Act 1996, children in England have the legal right to be educated at home.
If a family wants to pull their child out of mainstream school, they must inform the school, who must accept as long as the child plans to be taken out of school entirely. Schools let local authorities know when a child has been deleted from their school roll. Schools can refuse if the family only asks for the child to be sent to school part-time.
Home educators do not have to follow the national curriculum, but councils can make an ‘informal enquiry’ to check a child is getting suitable education at home, however local authorities do not have any statutory duties to routinely monitor the quality of home education.
Suitable education must be full-time, efficient, and suitable, though it is fairly unclear exactly how these terms are defined.
In 2021, the Education Committee called on the government to commission research on the life chances and social outcomes of home-educated children, but four years later, research is still limited.
Because there is no obligation in the UK for home-educated children to follow the national curriculum or sit exams – only to be getting a ‘suitable’ education – it’s hard to measure success. So while many home educators may be providing excellent quality education, there is no way of verifying the standard of education for all children in home education. Without the data, it’s near impossible to make a fair assessment of the overall quality of home education.
The Department of Education’s guidance acknowledges that ‘there is considerable evidence that many of these home educated children are not receiving a suitable education.’
Councils can serve a school attendance order if they think your child needs to be taught at school.
Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan attending a special school have to get permission from local authorities to remove a child from the school roll. The local authority is under obligation to arrange that education for that child.
Part time college spaces are often offered for young people aged 14-16, but at the discretion of the college.
What the left is saying
"I respect the rights of parents to seek to home-educate their children. My concern is that some parents are choosing to opt out of the system because they feel their children's needs are not being met. We face some really big and stark attendance challenges." Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson
“Parents will no longer have the automatic right to home educate their children. We want to know where children are. We want to know they’re receiving a good level of education. Parents who do that have absolutely nothing to be concerned about.” Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson
What the right is saying
“I did not get home-schooled, and I do not always think that it is the best option, but for many it is the choice that they have made for their children. But it feels like this Bill a hammer to crack a nut. I fully appreciate that there is a risk of children going missing from education, and that home-schooling can be used for inappropriate reasons, but many parents, including many constituents who have written to me, have opted to home-educate and are doing an excellent job and are deeply concerned about the proposed over-regulation that they face in the Bill.” Rebecca Smith, Conservative MP for South West Devon
“I too had a number of representations from constituents who were concerned about the purpose behind these changes. What additional information do they elicit to the local authority when a proper education is being received? Does my hon. Friend agree that some clarity is required there, otherwise it just seems an unnecessary and intrusive intervention? Sometimes, those constituents asked questions about what the intent is behind the intervention of local authorities.” John Glen, Conservative MP for Salisbury
“At a recent meeting, constituents shared their worries about excessive home-schooling rules and more bureaucracy – changes that would make life harder for families, especially those with children who have special educational needs. While everyone supports good safeguarding, it must be evidence-based and proportionate. When I raised these concerns with the Education Secretary, she failed to address them and refused to engage with those affected. Families deserve better." Gregory Stafford, Conservative MP for Farnham and Bordon.
What happens next
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is currently at the report stage in the House of Commons, with a third reading to go before heading to the House of Lords. The outcome will determine what is next for home education in the UK.
Meanwhile, the Department for Education said it knows “far too many children with SEND aren't having their needs met”, are promising an overhaul of the funding system for SEND children, and have announced £740m of funding to increase the number of places for pupils within mainstream schools.
About The Lead Untangles: In an era where misinformation is actively and deliberately used by elected politicians and where advocates and opposers of beliefs state their point of view as fact, sometimes the most useful tool reporters have is to help readers make sense of the world.
The Lead Untangles is delivered each Friday by The Lead and focuses on a different complex, divisive issue with each edition.
About the author: Lauren Crosby Medlicott is a freelance journalist who focuses on features about social justice and human rights.
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