The Scottish Government

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Section 4 - Developing Relationships

4.1 The central aim of this document is to assist education authorities and home educators to build effective relationships that function to safeguard the educational interests of children and young people; relationships that are grounded in mutual understanding, trust and respect. This guidance outlines a number of recommendations that are geared towards the promotion of such relationships. There is no legal obligation on education authorities or home educators to develop such relationships but doing so will provide parents with access to any support that is available and allow authorities to understand the parents' educational provision. A positive relationship will also provide a sound basis if the authority is required to investigate assertions from any source that an efficient education is not being provided. This is true whether or not parents are required to seek consent to home educate.

Acknowledging diversity

4.2 Parents' educational provision will reflect a diversity of approaches and interests. Some parents may wish to provide education in a formal and structured manner, following a traditional curriculum and using a fixed timetable that keeps to school hours and terms. Other parents may decide to make more informal provisions that are responsive to the developing interests of their child. One approach is not necessarily any more efficient than another. Although some parents may welcome general advice and suggestions about resources, methods and materials, education authorities should not specify a curriculum which parents must follow.

4.3 Children learn in different ways and at different times and speeds. It should be appreciated that parents and their children might require a period of adjustment before finding their preferred mode of learning. Parents are not required to have any qualifications or training to provide their children with an appropriate education. Their commitment to providing an efficient education that is suitable for their child may be demonstrated by them providing some indication of their objectives and resources.

Clear information

4.4 The provision of clear information has an important role to play in the promotion of positive relationships. Education authorities should provide written information and website information for parents on home education that is clear and accurate and which sets out the legal position. Contact details for home education support organisations should also be provided. These details are included in Appendix 2. All written information should be made available to parents in community languages and alternative formats on request.

Examples:
One education authority entered into general dialogue with one of the home education organisations with the purpose of improving relationships and increasing understanding of both parties' views. What followed was an exchange of correspondence about the pro forma letters used by the authority. The result was that after feedback from the home educators, the local authority redrafted their letter, making for a better start to relationships with home educators. Another education authority consulted with home education organisations before revising procedures for dealing with home educators and consulted further on the draft.

Practical support and resources

4.5 Although authorities are not usually legally obliged to provide any resources for home educated children, they may choose to do so and authorities should adopt a reasonable and flexible approach in this respect, particularly where there are minimal resource implications.

[Please note:-Once Education Maintenance Allowances ( EMAs) are introduced home educated children may be eligible. They will be available to all students who meet the criteria for EMAs, and are undertaking learning with a learning centre recognised and approved by the local authority (which may include home education). Guidance on EMAs is due to be issued by the Scottish Executive in Spring 2004 and will be available atwww.emascotland.com. EMAs will be rolled out across Scotland from August 2004.]

4.6 Some of the ways in which authorities might support home educating families include:

• providing general advice;
• allowing access to learning centre resources;
• allowing access to school resources where feasible;
• facilitating access to any discounted rates for educational materials;
• providing access to local authority owned community and sports facilities on the same basis as for school children.

4.7 Authorities should also inform home educating families of any projects or programmes, such as Out of School Hours Learning ( OSHL) or Study Support, whether provided by schools or other organisations, as they may be able to provide support and a range of activities for children being educated outwith school.

Example:
Some education authorities give home educating families access to their teachers' resource centres. Families report that they find this useful and that it makes the relationship with the authority feel more supportive.

Recognised qualifications

4.8 There is no legal requirement for children to take a particular set of qualifications. The internal assessment component of many qualifications such as Standard Grades, National Qualifications, and GCSEs can restrict the certification of external candidates. This is usually because written performance alone is insufficient to assess students' attainments. These are not, however, the only qualifications which external candidates can take, and authorities should offer parents and their children information about alternative qualifications and the arrangements that they would need to make for the children to take them. Some of the options available are set out in Appendix 1.

4.9 Authorities are not required to meet any costs associated with external candidates taking examinations or other qualifications. Authorities are, however, expected to take a reasonable approach and make available any resources or support that they can offer.

Named contact

4.10 Education authorities should provide parents who are, or who are considering, home educating with a named contact within the authority who is familiar with home education policy and practice and has an understanding of a range of educational philosophies. The authority may invite the parents to meet with a named education authority officer to discuss their proposals or provision. Any such meeting should take place at a mutually acceptable location. The child should be given the opportunity to attend that meeting, or otherwise to express his or her views. Either during such a meeting, or otherwise, the parents and the authority should consider and agree what future contact there will be between them.

Example:
A number of education officers have attended talks or conferences on home education or spoken to one of the home education organisations. This has increased the officers' understanding of home education.

Written communication

4.11 Following any meeting with parents, a report should be prepared by the authority, setting out any recommendations that have been discussed and made, with the reasons for them. The report should be copied to the parents, and where appropriate, the child. In exceptional cases, where there is a reasonable concern that a passage in the report might cause serious harm to the physical or mental health or condition of the applicants or a named third party, consideration should be given to withholding that part of it. The authority will be aware of the need to comply with the data protection principles.

Frequency

4.12 The frequency with which an authority will contact parents to discuss their ongoing home education provision will vary depending on the individual circumstances of each family.

4.13 It is recommended that the authority should ordinarily make contact on an annual basis. Contact could be made by telephone or by writing to the family to seek a meeting or requesting an updated report. A report should be made after such contact and copied to the family stating whether the education authority has any concerns about the education provision. Where there are concerns about the efficiency or suitability of the education being provided for the child, more frequent contact may be required. Where concerns merit frequent contact the authority should discuss these concerns with the child's parents, with a view to helping them improve their provision in the best interests of the child.

Example:
Parents say that they prefer any contact from the education authority to be in writing in the first instance. Phone calls without warning are experienced as intrusive.

Access to the child and home

4.14 Authorities should acknowledge that learning takes place in a wide variety of environments and not simply in the home. Where the education is taking place in the home, it may be thought desirable for an education authority to have the opportunity to see the child in that learning environment, to enable them to see the provision at first hand. Seeing the child responding to the educational provision of the parents may provide a strong indication that efficient education is being provided. The authority does not have any right to do so however. Some parents may not feel comfortable in allowing an education officer access to their child or family home. Trusting relationships may need time to develop before a parent is happy to invite an authority officer to visit. It is only the context of a supportive and trusting partnership that will provide the opportunity to meet the child and visit the home. However, where a parent elects not to allow access to their home or their child, this does not of itself constitute a ground for concern about the education provision.

4.15 Although it is recognised that the learning environment can have a bearing on the effectiveness of learning, education authorities should, in the vast majority of cases, be able to discuss and evaluate the parents' educational provision by alternative means. Parents might prefer, for example, to write a report, provide samples of work, have their educational provision endorsed by a third party or provide evidence in some other appropriate form.

Example:
Authorities have accepted written information about educational provision in cases where the parent did not wish to meet with the authority. The information supplied differed in different cases, but was sufficient to assure the authority that an efficient education was being provided. Another example of evidence by alternative means is submission of a video made by and of the children.

Review

4.16 Authorities should review all of their procedures and practices in relation to home education on a regular basis to see if improvements can be made to further develop relationships and meet the needs of children and parents. Home education organisations and home educating parents should be involved in this process of review. Effective reviews, together with the sensitive handling of any complaints, will help to secure effective partnership.

Appeals

4.17 Although there is no statutory right to appeal against an authority's decision to withhold consent to withdraw a child from school, all decisions should be reviewed internally on request. Education authorities should provide parents with details about their complaints procedure and how to apply for a review of a decision about their proposed or ongoing home education provision. Decisions made by authorities are also subject to external review by the Courts through the judicial review process. Some local authorities have mediation services and the existence of these should be made known to home educating families.

Example:
A breakdown of communication between a family and an education officer led to a difficult situation. The situation was resolved by a senior education officer who was impartial in the case and experienced in home education, reviewing the case, visiting the family and looking at the educational provision. The officer was perceived by the family as an independent reviewer.

Child Protection

4.18 Parents may choose to employ other people to educate their child, though they themselves will continue to be responsible for the education provided. They will also be responsible for ensuring that those they engage are suitable persons to have access to children. They will therefore wish to satisfy themselves by taking up appropriate references. Relevant information may also be found by requesting the potential tutor to provide a Basic Disclosure check. Basic checks reveal any unspent criminal convictions. Further information about Disclosure checks is available from Disclosure Scotland.

Contact:

Tel: 0870 609 6006
Fax: 0870 609 6996
Website: http://www.disclosurescotland.co.uk
Email on info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

4.19 The welfare and protection of all children, both those who attend school and those who are educated by other means, is a paramount concern and is the responsibility of the whole community. As with school educated children, child protection issues may arise in relation to home educated children. If any child protection concerns come to light in the course of engagement with children and families, these concerns should immediately be referred to the appropriate authorities using established protocols.

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