The Department for Education (DfE) proposal would require local authorities to keep the register and would place a duty on parents to inform the local authority if their child is not attending a state-funded or independent school.
The plans would also place a duty on schools to cooperate with local authority enquiries about whether specific children attend.
And local authorities themselves will have a duty to provide support to home-educating families if it is requested.
There is increased scrutiny of this issue after figures revealed that the number of children thought to be home-educated has doubled since 2013/14.
In February, a report from the children’s commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, found a huge increase in the number of children “disappearing from schools” to be educated at home. In 2018, it estimates that almost 60,000 children in England were being home-schooled at any one time – a 27 per cent rise on 2017. For 2018, the total figure of home-educated children could be as high as 80,000, the report suggests.
Ms Longfield’s investigation also revealed strong evidence of off-rolling practices and pressure on parents to home-educate. Ofsted has also previously raised concerns about off-rolling practices (SecEd, January 2019).
The consultation comes after the DfE published its response to a call for evidence it made last year about home education. Among the evidence it received, the DfE says that local authorities have “set out their fears about children who are not being well-served by home education”.
In its response, the DfE said: “The government does not believe that the significant increase in children deemed to be educated at home which has taken place in recent years – some local authorities have reported a doubling of numbers – has arisen from any significant growth in those who believe in the virtues of home education for its own sake.
“Rather, it believes that the factors leading to a significant proportion of the children now receiving education at home are more negative. They include difficulty in obtaining within the school system what parents see as adequate provision (especially for children with special needs); disagreement with schools about academic or behavioural issues; and a perceived lack of suitable alternative provision for those children who would benefit from it.”
The DfE has also published revised guidance for local authorities and schools to help “local authorities use their existing powers in the most effective way” to ensure home-educated children are receiving suitable education.
Commenting on the plans, Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “A register that identifies how children are being educated and under what circumstances could help ensure the safety of children and young people and prevent pupils dropping through the system through illegal off-rolling from school registers. The most effective way for any register to work for the most vulnerable pupils would be for local authorities to manage and lead on the list but only if they are properly funded and resourced to do so.”
- Open consultation: Children not in school, DfE, April 2019 (closes June 24): http://bit.ly/2Ib2ycx
- Elective home education: Guidance for local authorities and schools about children educated at home, DfE, April 2019: http://bit.ly/2U8KDdz
- Huge rise in home education sparks ‘off-rolling’ accusations, SecEd, February 2019: http://bit.ly/2U1cqf0
- Skipping school: Invisible children, Children’s Commissioner, February 2019:http://bit.ly/2DhqXZV
- Ofsted ‘calls time’ on teaching to the test and off-rolling pupils, SecEd, January 2019: http://bit.ly/2I7Ek2B