Why Is The Home Education Guidance So Long?

There are two versions of government guidance on home education currently in force, one for local authorities and the other aimed at parents. These were published in 2019 and come to 69 pages (45 + 24) In October 2023 the government felt it was time to revise these documents and published revised draft versions which are even longer – 77 pages in total. For reference, the initial Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities (a single document) released in 2007 was 20 pages. The new guidance is not ready to be used. It is still at the draft stage. The current guidance can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/elective-home-education

Obviously producing two separate versions for different audiences will add to the total page count but this doesn’t sufficiently explain the difference between 20 pages and 77 pages.

My theory is that the purpose of the guidance changed in 2019. Instead of advising on education law plus the application of general safeguarding duties in relation to home educated children as in 2007, by 2018-19 for various reasons the guidance on home education needed to showcase all the safeguarding powers LAs had at their disposal, as well as providing an expanded range of things the LA might want to consider in terms of suitable education.

Meanwhile in order to balance this, the 2019 guidance now had to include a range of assurances and reminders and qualifications: that the most extreme safeguarding powers would only be a last resort; that suitable education in law still meant suitable to age ability aptitude and special needs; that parents did not have to “prove” that their education was suitable; and that the LA’s oversight of home educating families should remain proportionate “and not made more onerous than is required by the parents’ own needs”

In practical terms, the guidance is clearly far too long already. But on another level there is a battle currently being waged via the consultation process not to lose a single word of the assurances outlined above because the scale already appears to be tipping towards routine monitoring and inspection and if these caveats are allowed to disappear then the balance is fundamentally skewed.

Will Parents Have To Prove Suitable Education?

A Third Document

In addition to – or perhaps as a result of – the 77 pages above, the Department for Education wonders whether we might also like “an additional short (one- or two-sided) document for parents summarising the key points for parents to be aware of should they wish to home educate? “ [Consultation question 9]

For my part, I absolutely do not want the government to go away and decide what the “key points” are and for this hitherto unseen new document to become the convenient reference that everyone starts using.

2023 Consultation Revised EHE Guidance