Recommended Reading

Books

Some of our most recommended reading on home education and autonomous education appears in our post Deschooling Society 2020. 

Articles, Blogs & Broadcasts

Searching our blog Articles category will pull up a good selection, and there is a wealth of material on the Best of the Blogs link on the UK Home Ed Forums. For a chronology of GIRFEC (and equivalent ECM) outcomes-based (ergo rights-inimical) policy, our GIRFEC Files document the main events on the ‘road to hellbeing’.

For truly inspirational thinking on education, the late Sir Ken Robinson is hard to beat, especially his RSA Animate Changing Education Paradigms. Other ‘must-watches’ are Reimagine Learning that Can Change the World and Do Schools Kill Creativity? 

We have also listed the following pieces, in reverse chronological order, which document and comment on many of the issues facing home educators and may also be useful for reference:

2021  2020  2019  2018  2017  2016  2015 

2021

I was a Child Liberationist (Lorna Finlayson, London Review of Books, 18 February 2021)

I didn’t know the name for it then, but I was a child liberationist. I objected to the notion of compulsory schooling, and to society’s treatment of children more generally – the consensus that children’s lives are not their own but must be closely regulated by adults. Adults decided where we went and what we did, what we wore and how we spoke, when we slept and when we woke up. What parents didn’t determine, schools and teachers did. I believed that many of these diktats were not in our interests but counter to them. I also believed that the traditional distinction between children and adults was radically overdrawn or miscast, and that what children were like now wasn’t a good indicator of what they might be, and might be capable of, under different conditions.

2020

Why the barriers to home education are troubling (TES Scotland, 9 December 2020)

Covid should not be used by councils as an excuse to delay or refuse the right to home education, says Alison Preuss

Evolving Capacity: Exploring the Best Interest of the Child Standard (GHEX Virtual Summit session, 12 November 2020)

At what point is it appropriate for the government to intervene in a family’s decision to home educate? What does the UNCRC say, if anything, about home education? Is there a conflict between parental rights and the best interest of the child? A session with Michael Farris, Justice Paul R. Jeffrey ABQB, Elyssa Koren, Tom Parker, Michael P. Donnelly and Alison Preuss

The reality of home-schooling <sic> (Business Live, 25 June 2020)

South African article exploring Covid-enforced schooling at home vs. elective home education: “What they try to do is duplicate school at home. But that is often going to cause problems. School education and home education are totally different forms of education. If you try to simulate a school at home, it’s often very difficult and can be a negative experience. If you approach and explore the different methodologies, you can pick what will work for you.”

Government accused of ‘sneaking out’ ASN review (TES Scotland, 22 June 2020)

The Scottish government has been accused of having “snuck out” a review that reveals the “rarely discussed scandal of the poor state of additional support needs (ASN) education in Scotland”.

Additional support ‘not visible or equally valued’ (TES Scotland, 21 June 2020)

The report on additional support for learning (ASL) by Angela Morgan, former chief executive of youth charity Includem, says that legislation designed to protect and improve the educational experience of ASN youngsters is not consistently implemented across the country.

The End Of Education? (David Bouchier, WHSU Radio, 8 June 2020)

“What we need right now is not home schooling but home education. Education was happening at home long before schools were invented, and its purpose was to bring children up with some appreciation of what we might call Civilization 101 – old- fashioned qualities like morality, curiosity, self-control, and emotional literacy. Education is about growing up and becoming a decent human being. No large buildings or yellow buses are necessary. This is what parents have always done.” 

Harvard Law Professor’s Attack on Homeschooling Is a Flawed Failure. And Terribly Timed, Too (Patrick J. Wolf, Matthew H. Lee and Angela R. Watson, Education Next, 5 May 2020)

The article prompted a tsunami of critical responses, in Education Next (see “Harvard Professor’s ‘Absurd’ Claim that Homeschooling is Child Abuse”) as well as here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. We seek here to move the discussion beyond the 1,000-word Harvard Magazine article that sparked such opprobrium by carefully considering Bartholet’s 80-page Arizona Law Review article that inspired the story. We expected it to be rigorous and fact-based but were sadly disappointed.

“Home Schooling is Dangerous!” (The HE Byte, 30 April 2020)

“Home schooling” proving popular with higher than expected number of parents, but vociferous ideologues are still out there.

Harvard’s homeschooling dystopia denies reality (Razi Lane, Washington Examiner, 26 April 2020)

This presumption has been marketed as a response to Bartholet’s three primary criticisms of K-12 home education: child abuse, education inadequacy, and poor socialization. While readers unfamiliar with homeschooling may naturally infer these concerns, Bartholet’s solution to them would deploy the equivalent of a nuclear weapon in a theater better suited for tactical strategy. And, as with the deployment of a nuclear weapon, the collateral consequences would be serious.

Harvard Law School Calls for Ban on Homeschooling; Homeschooled Harvard Graduate On Why This is Wrong (Medium,19 April 2020)

I graduated from Harvard with honors. In fact, Harvard was the very first school I ever set foot in. The first 12 years of my education, I was homeschooled, from kindergarten to 12th grade. I was proud of my school, until last night, when I read Harvard Magazine’s article on the so-called “risks” of homeschooling. In essence, this article is not an attack on a form of education some might view as lesser quality. In essence, this article is an attack on the fundamental rights and freedoms that make our country (and until recently, institutions such as Harvard) what they are.

Exam Factory Spring? A Lockdown Reflection (Pam Jarvis, 17 April 2020)

I asked Twitter a question about perceived effects of extended time at home upon children. I was taken completely by surprise by huge response generated. Parents overwhelmingly replied that their children were happier at home than at school, and some further commented that they were worried that their children would be reluctant to return.

The UK’s largest online platform for childcare providers, parents, schools and tutors has found that nearly a quarter (23%) of British parents are likely to continue homeschooling <sic> after the coronavirus lockdown ends. “Many assume that all families would be rushing to drop their kids at the school gate once they reopen! Our research certainly indicates that that’s not necessarily going to be the case.”

School’s out… (Naomi Fisher, The Psychologist, March 2020) 

Chartered psychologist Naomi Fisher considers the arguments for self-directed education, which references the ground-breaking research on elective home education by Alan Thomas and Harriet Pattison. Dr Fisher has since produced a follow-up piece School’s really out ... in the light of the unprecedented school closures brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Cllr Pauline O’Reilly shares advice for home-educating your children (RSVP Live, 22 March 2020)

One of the more sensible ‘takes’ on home education for children out on licence from schools, by a councillor from Galway, Ireland.  

State snoopers still being foisted on families despite being ‘axed’ (Mail on Sunday, 9 February 2020) 

John Swinney still flogging the same dead horse. Comment included from the Scottish Home Ed Forum. 

2019

Investigation: Schools heading for pupil data scandal (TES, 20 December 2019) 

“The first thing [schools] must do is understand and have a list of all the personal data they keep and for what purpose, and figure out in advance what the lawful justification for that is, and is it something for which you need consent. Eventually, there will be a scandal, perhaps fairly soon.”

Written Statement: Children Act 2004 Education Database (Wales) Regulations 2020 and the Education (Information about Children in Independent Schools) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (Kirsty Williams, Welsh Education Minister, 11 December 2019) 

The consultation on the draft guidance has clearly demonstrated the heightened sensitivities and emotive nature of any proposals regarding home education.  In particular, matters related to data protection and human rights were prominent amongst responses from home educators.  

Letter to the Scotsman (NO2NP, 8 November 2019)

NO2NP spokesman set the record straight on recent reports suggesting the Named Person scheme would continue.