Nineteen years ago this new year, the then Scottish Executive tried to crush home educators in Scotland with draconian guidance designed to trash our freedom in education.
However, we galvanised political support, we marched up the Mound with our children (twice!), we dissented, we just said no! And we won.
We may need to do the same again this coming year as, despite winning multiple battles, the war on families will never really be over and the statutory guidance we fought for is/was always just a sop to be ignored when inconvenient (like all these anti-bullying policies stuffed at the back of the school filing cabinet).
We are still an unpopular minority, whose many positive achievements and ‘outcomes’ are more likely to be ignored or erased than celebrated. We will, however, build on our many successes and take strength from each other and those who have gone before.
Happy New Year to you all, and thank you for creating and being part of such a supportive, diverse community. We will remain ‘difficult and dangerous prey’ and we are very much looking forward to publishing our latest research along with news of some exciting initiatives early in 2020.
Hang in there, home edders, it’s going to be a good year!
