Listen to the home educators

Carrie Adamson on how policy and guidance on home schooling for those parents in isolation with their children could benefit from listening to the experiences of those who already do it

School is out, and in these uncertain times, nobody can be sure for how long.  Before our children’s time is filled activities that replicate (to varying degrees) the classroom experience, perhaps we should briefly pause and question the purpose of any intervention.

Researchers normally study the impact of school absence on attainment in the context of regular truanting, which is likely to have underlying causes such as family issues, bullying, mental health or other illnesses.  Government data suggests that delaying entry to reception year until compulsory school age has no negative effect with the deferred summer-born children actually scoring slightly higher on phonics tests than their counterparts (although the difference was not statistically significant).  However, early analysis suggests that these children are more likely to come from white families with a higher than average income with almost half earning over £50,000 (Gov.uk, 2018).  My research suggests that those who choose to flexi school or temporarily home educate until the child is a certain age will almost all be providing a stimulating learning environment during their time out of school.

In the current scenario, all children are now out of school.  Of concern is that whilst at home, some will undoubtedly receive much more parental attention than others, and not everybody has access to a periodic table jigsaw, bulging bookshelves and craft materials.  The ability of some parents to provide an inspirational education for their children is well-documented in literature on home education (see Kraftl, 2013, Kunzman, 2009). However, this can be variable and the oft criticised 2009 ‘Badman Review’ claimed that good outcomes were down to the influence of well-educated parents.  We cannot deny that some parents are simply able to facilitate their children’s learning more proficiently.  Katz et al (2011) conducted research on parental attitudes to their children’s homework and established that if parents found helping their children to be enjoyable and valuable there was less likely to be negative emotion associated with it.  This enabled them to be “more able to be empathetic to their child and behave in ways that support the child’s needs for relatedness, competence and autonomy” (2011:382).

The effect of poverty on educational outcomes is also well documented but unfortunately there is no room for a discussion on it here (see Jensen, 2009 for advice on how to mitigate children’s adverse home environments in the classroom).  We must bear in mind that many families are already suffering due to job losses despite this being only the beginning of the pandemic.  In addition to having fewer resources, extreme parental stress caused by poverty may lead to an unstable environment in which to carry out school work, and even children being left alone or with siblings as childcare providers and schools close their doors.  Parents who do not have the skills to support their children may feel helpless and parents who are worrying about sick friends and relatives should not be expected to take on this responsibility.

So what can we do to ensure this unprecedented situation does not exacerbate the achievement gap caused by those with resources having even more of an advantage than usual?  Much can be learned from the home education communities.  Due to the increase in popularity of home education both in the UK and internationally, there already exists a network of parents who know how best to manage.  Disseminating information and ensuring that hard to reach families are targeted is essential.  The first port of call for many parents with questions about home education is the charity Education Otherwise who provide links to other sites as well as advice and forums. Scaling up or establishing a similar national service would help establish a curated repository of valuable resources that all families could draw on.  Similarly, the integration of TV programmes via CBeebies and CBBC is of course achievable.  These already have an educational element and could be modified to contain more science, history and geography for example in a fun and interesting format e.g. as with the award winning Horrible Histories.  Exercise, mindfulness and nature programmes would be easy to incorporate amongst the more academic ones.  In the evenings, these channels could provide information for parents regarding their own wellbeing and practical ideas.  Public service broadcasting should be used to raise awareness for parents whose children would not normally access these channels.

For those struggling to know where to start, a helpline staffed by teachers and mentors who can offer support with a focus on parental well-being must be put in place and parents should be made aware of this service.  The home education community should be encouraged to be involved in facilitating in any way possible e.g. by sharing video ideas for activities.  Funding should be made available for packs of basic resources like paints, paper, pencils and glue that will be necessary for some families and of course, to facilitate access to a computer and the internet.  In the short-term, schools may have materials they can send to those without.  To avoid these children becoming isolated from friends, schools should be encouraged to establish video chats for small group discussions and sharing of drawings or activities and a scheme of linking local parents could be established.

In short, connectedness is going to be very important during these lockdown periods, and especially so for those who lack basic connections.

Carrie Adamson is a final year part-time PhD student and graduate teaching assistant at Manchester Metropolitan University.  Her  doctoral thesis is entitled ‘Stepping out of the System? A grounded theory on the process of becoming a home or alternative educator’.   She has assisted on projects involving technology, mathematics and science education having previously worked as a biology teacher in schools and sixth form colleges.  

Department for Education (2018) Delayed school admissions for summer born pupils Research report May 2018.

Jensen, E., 2009. Teaching with poverty in mind: What being poor does to kids’ brains and what schools can do about it. AScD.

Katz, I., Kaplan, A. & Buzukashvily, T. 2011, “The role of parents’ motivation in students’ autonomous motivation for doing homework”, Learning and Individual Differences, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 376-386.

Kraftl, P. 2013, “Towards geographies of ‘alternative’ education: a case study of UK home schooling families: Towards geographies of ‘alternative’ education”, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 436-450.

Morton, R. 2011. Balancing Pleasure and Pain: the role of motherhood in home-education. PhD Thesis, University of Warwick.