Having watched this morning's education select committee session there are many things I could write about: the barely concealed dislike of home education; the squirming when asked if there was any evidence that home education is a safeguarding issue; the call for changes to statutory law so that a clear definition of suitable education might make their jobs easier, whilst not wanting any kind of oversight of their own behaviour; the minister saying not once but at least twice that *they* give us our freedom and responsibility...
But it's none of those things that I want to talk about.
I know that Graham Stuart has been a great ally. I know that he has worked hard to try to help and support home educators. I know that his questions to Badman at the select committee in 2009 were rapier sharp. I know all of this and don't get me wrong I, like his countless supporters in home ed land, appreciate all of this.
You know there's a but coming don't you?
But...
I am finding the regular jibes at our expense tiring. It started, from what I can remember, with the hat tip to Monty Python's Life of Bryan.
Oh yes, all very amusing.
Believe it or not I do have a sense of humour, and I do indulge in sarcasm, so I can appreciate these little interjections (to a degree) although I have found them increasingly uncomfortable.
During today's committee hearing there were several little digs, all sent forth with a wry smile and a twinkly eye. This made me feel deeply uncomfortable, particularly when the comments were addressed to the new minister who has home ed in her portfolio. It felt like I was witnessing an old boys network giving the newcomer the lie of the land. That these home educators are a tricksy bunch, bit tiresome, but they are after all an insignificant minority and as such us good old boys (and girls) need to do our bit to at least try to support them (might even get them off our backs for a bit.)
I couldn't pin down exactly why it made me feel so uncomfortable, other than it felt disrespectful to take the micky out of a group of people that you purport to support, but I couldn't get away from the fact that something just felt wrong about it.
Now I appreciate that a lot of people don't have much if any time for the social sciences, much less for their assault on humour which has possibly lead us to the point we are at now where people can be sentenced to prison for expressing unpleasant opinions on social media sites. I appreciate that humour and sarcasm are Great British traits that have often seen us through many a difficult situation. I also strongly defend the right to free speech. You hear that but again right?
I honestly feel that, when members of parliament are supposedly trying to help a minority group (which home educators undoubtedly are) that to use, what I discovered is called disparagement humour, is abusing their position of power, and it does nothing to help the minority in question. I know it's tiresome to make the comparison with race, religion and sex, but let's be honest, if an MP were to make witticisms based on those things they would be hauled over the coals. So why are we not afforded the same respect? And what's more, why do we collude in this debasement by laughing along?
I'm just going to copy across a little paragraph from a paper titled "Consequences of Disparagement Humor:A Prejudiced Norm Theory" by Thomas E. Ford and Mark A. Ferguson of the Department of Sociology Western Michigan University. [The full paper can be read here in a pdf]
"The Prejudiced Norm Theory Taken together, Ford (2000) and Ford et al. (2001) suggested that disparagement humor is likely to increase tolerance of other instances of discrimination against the targeted group, above and beyond its specific content, for people who are relatively high in prejudice toward the disparaged group."
Which would suggest that through his use of denigrating humour about home educators, Graham Stuart, instead of helping the intolerance we have to deal with on a far too regular basis, is actually helping to continue it. Woah, that's a bit of a heavy accusation I hear you cry. Perhaps, but it is something that he needs to think very carefully about, in my opinion, if his intention towards us is as honourable as he would have us believe.
I would also add this as food for thought:
"That sense of superiority or contempt that the abuser feels towards his partner can manifest itself in constant low level sarcasm or mockery masquerading as wittiness. This is one trait that may be used in company since it can be passed off as humour, other people enjoying the joke, little realising that how often the partner has been the butt of the abuser’s mockery. Mockery is just as powerful a put-down as anger – more so in fact." [the whole article can be found here.]
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
EHE Select Committee Session Thoughts
Having been living in a motorhome, with relatively limited internet access for the past six months, I have been a little bit out of the loop with all things political HE wise. Thankfully though I have a network of friends who have been keeping me up to date, so I have been aware of the recent goings on, though haven't had the time, access, or inclination to be honest, to get involved.
This morning I was relying on texts from friends and twitter hashtags to keep me up to date with the goings on at the select committee hearing. This evening the internets (well, the mobile networks but hey) have been kind enough to grant me 3G access and so I have been able to sit and watch for myself, though this was not without its particular "living in a motorhome" difficulties (think noise levels).
These are my initial thoughts about the hearing and the general climate in which it took place.
I have to say that when I was told who would be appearing on the first panel I was frustrated. There were two people who I did not want there representing home educators. Those with an understanding of recent HE history and my own particular point of view on that, will be able to draw their own conclusions as to who those people were!
In all fairness however, I have to say that I did not hear anything said that I could disagree with. It would appear that, on a public level at least, lessons have been learned. I did find it interesting that LAs are not taking up training to the degree that they did a few years ago. Obviously this impacts on the income opportunities for those people who give themselves the title of education/home education consultant. This confirmed for me that my concerns with regard the arrogant way in which certain individuals were attempting to push through new guidelines/guidance, allegedly at the behest of Graham Stuart, were well founded. New guidelines/guidance would require updated training, ergo lots of lovely new business opportunities. (I was pleased to note that there seemed to be a clear consensus that the guidelines we have currently are perfectly adequate and do not need replacing, they just need to be adhered to; an excellent step forward in my opinion!)
I found the way Graham Stuart smoothly slid in bit of promotion for an upcoming flexi schooling conference irritating, and his brief explanation of what flexi schooling is misleading. I was fairly certain that others had already covered the problems which arise when flexi schooling is misrepresented as a form of home education, but at this moment I'm not able to find those blog posts to link to here. If anyone reading has any links, please feel free to drop them in the comments box, or if there aren't any such posts anywhere I will write one myself at some point.
The resounding feeling I got from watching the committee hearing was that, once again, we have a raft of MPs who just don't understand what home education is and how it works. If you follow that through to its conclusion what that actually means is that we have a bunch of MPs sitting on a committee about education who don't understand the education act. That disturbs me.
I think that as a result of this lack of knowledge, what Graham Stuart perhaps hoped would come out of the hearing was derailed to a great extent, and this is again something that disturbs me. Why? Because the task of the committee is to make recommendations to government, and, as far as I am aware (please do tell me if I’m wrong), there has to be a certain degree of consensus in the committee’s report.
The impression I got from watching the hearing was that, once again, HE was being conflated with safeguarding issues for most of the committee members. Graham Stuart has an excellent understanding of why HE shouldn’t be conflated with welfare/safeguarding, and yes, he is the chair of the committee so has much more influence than he had when he sat on the last education select committee, but I think he is facing an uphill struggle to get his committee members to really understand the intricacies of the problems home educators face with local authorities.
Surely those committee members should have had a Home Ed 101 briefing before coming into that hearing? The closing date for submissions to the enquiry was, I believe, July 19th. That’s getting on for two months ago. These people have presumably been reading the submissions and yet they still had to ask the most basic questions? The committee is due to release its report in October, (again, please correct me if I’m wrong, I have been out of the loop as I’ve already said) not long at all to get their collective heads around home education!
Perhaps I’m imbuing our elected members with rather more credit than they deserve when I say that they don’t exist in a vacuum, and will surely know what is currently happening in Wales (Badman II by any other name).
Perhaps I am worrying unnecessarily (I really do hope so) but I am very concerned as to the direction that this latest interest in English home education will take. I have very good reason to be concerned, as do all the home educators who lived through the Badman days. If you have no understanding of the history you might say that that sounds terribly melodramatic; to that I just say I hope you never have to experience what we went through in those 16 months. Only today I was talking to a fellow home educator for whom the mention of Home Education and a Government Committee brought her out in a cold sweat. That’s more than two years after the Badman recommendations wereabandoned in the wash up. That is how frightening a time it was. That is why so many of us are so suspicious of government and local authority interest.
I am a fairly ancient, long in the tooth, battle weary home educator who has lost the limited faith she once had in the process of engaging. I (and others) spent a lot of time over the years working with the local authority in North Yorkshire, which culminated in that authority being presented to Badman as “best practice”. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a hell of a lot better than what we started with, but a change of staff and all of that hard work has gone flying out of the window to be replaced with pretty bloody awful practice. I can’t say I’m sorry that I don’t live in North Yorkshire any more. I offer that as a word of warning to all those who currently have a good working relationship with their local authority. It really can all change overnight.
Overall I thought that the home educators did “us” proud; what the MPs will do with it all remains to be seen. Exam access, across the board adherence to the law and respect instead of suspicion from LAs would be excellent outcomes for this process, but I’m not going to be holding my breath, especially given what is going on across the Welsh border.
Friday, August 17, 2012
How Do You Cover History?
Me and my family have just spent the last 6 months travelling around the country in a motorhome. I can't tell you what an incredible experience this has been for us all. If you have the chance to do it, I would absolutely say go for it. It's probably been the best learning experience we've had in all our years home educating.
The thing that shone through most of all has been history. We've visited all manner of places covering pretty much every time period in this country's history. We've seen so many different ways of telling the stories of this land, from dry information boards to organised reenactments to enthusiastic local history buffs happy to spend an evening sharing their knowledge. Some ways of knowledge sharing have been more easily absorbed and more enjoyable than others, and this leads me to the questions I want to ask of anyone out there that still reads this blog!
What does history mean to you? Is it just an interesting way to pass a rainy afternoon, or does it serve a deeper purpose? How do you bring history into your lives? Do you use textbooks; living memory stories; DVDs, museums [insert any other ways I've momentarily forgotten]? What, if anything, would you like your children to learn from history?
I'm really looking forward to reading what you all have to say, as once we move back into a house we won't have such easy access to the wide variety of experiences we've had recently, so I'm interested to know what you all do and why.
The thing that shone through most of all has been history. We've visited all manner of places covering pretty much every time period in this country's history. We've seen so many different ways of telling the stories of this land, from dry information boards to organised reenactments to enthusiastic local history buffs happy to spend an evening sharing their knowledge. Some ways of knowledge sharing have been more easily absorbed and more enjoyable than others, and this leads me to the questions I want to ask of anyone out there that still reads this blog!
What does history mean to you? Is it just an interesting way to pass a rainy afternoon, or does it serve a deeper purpose? How do you bring history into your lives? Do you use textbooks; living memory stories; DVDs, museums [insert any other ways I've momentarily forgotten]? What, if anything, would you like your children to learn from history?
I'm really looking forward to reading what you all have to say, as once we move back into a house we won't have such easy access to the wide variety of experiences we've had recently, so I'm interested to know what you all do and why.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Urgent Help Needed
A well-known member of the HE community and trusted friend needs our help. The person's family is facing a possible court order and they felt the need to leave the country very quickly in order to protect the children from unfounded interference based on home education as a risk factor.
A court order would prevent this family from being able to openly fight their corner; moving out of the country will give them breathing space and the chance of a fair and open opportunity to respond in safety to the unfounded allegations. Interim financial assistance, though not asked for by the family, would afford them a slight cushion as the initial relocation costs are fairly hefty and unforeseen as events have snowballed very quickly. The family is currently camping on a very limited budget with help from family and friends. They have long term plans.
We are looking to raise funds in the region of £1000. Any donation, no matter how small, is very gratefully received. We will post regular progress updates on the amount raised, but should we exceed our target, with full agreement from donors, we will put any additional funds to one side for ongoing relocation costs. The Paypal collection address is HEfamily@innocent.com and one of the people listed below will transfer all funds to the family's bank account at the end of this appeal.
We would like to point out that relocation is NOT necessarily the best or only option for families in similar circumstances. However in this situation, the multiple factors were such that the family in question strongly felt it to be the best course of action to ensure the children remained safe and protected in a loving environment. Whilst discussions about where and when to go, and how to take a more proactive stance in such situations are extremely important, we would very much appreciate it if they did not hinder this family's progress.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions, we will do our best to answer them without compromising the anonymity of this home educating family. We are most appreciative of the community's support in continuing to protect their identity.
Alison Preuss
Barbara Stark
Elaine Kirk
Gill Kilner
Karen Gallant
Lisa Amphlett
Louisa Herbs
Maire Stafford
Michelle Beeny
Neil Taylor Moore
Raquel Toney
Sheila Struthers
Susanna Matthan
Techla Wood
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Memories of Denise
I've read lots of tributes to Denise over the last few days, maybe the world doesn't really need another one, but as all of the ones I've read have been from people who knew her through the business network that she was such a huge part of - 4N - I thought why not have one celebrating another side of her life. The home ed side.
These are just my memories; I know other people will have many, many more! Do feel free to share them in the comments section if you’d like to :)
I think I've known Denise for about 7 years, she quickly became involved in local HE politics in North Yorkshire after pulling her son out of school. I know that I liked her immediately - didn't everyone?! She was clearly someone who wasn't going to take any crap, but she had this great diplomatic (yet with a subtle hint of sarcasm) quality about her which was a great combination when dealing with the LA.
She was known on the internet as Wobblymoo back then. On yahoo groups email names were often what you remembered about someone, as you would see the email address more often than you saw the person’s actual name. More often than not you would introduce yourself to someone when meeting *in real life* for the first time, by using your email address, so when you are looking for Wobblymoo at a meeting with the LA it’s going to make you grin ;-)
She was, infamously, the first (maybe only) person to get tea and cakes at Betty's Tea Rooms in Harrogate (rather posh and pricey for the non locals) bought for her out of the LA HE budget.
Over the years we ran the local HE yahoo group together, and worked to make N Yorks a better, place for HEers in terms of treatment by the LA. An objective that we thought we'd largely achieved, but which, when we realised we’d been played to a certain extent, saw us both supporting each other and others in erm... non compliance I suppose you’d call it ;-)
Denise was always incredibly helpful and welcoming, and in order to help more new HEers find their way she set up a North Yorks HE website, which even the LA directed people to!
When the Badman report came up, Denise was invited by the LA HE advisor to come and talk to Badman about her experiences of HE, as N Yorks by that point had come to be seen as an example of *best practice* with regard relations with home educators. I know that following on from her discussion with Badman she felt quietly confident of a good outcome. She told me that he had seemed to be quite reasonable, and appeared to understand what she had said to him about how important HE was as an option, and how it was particularly important for those struggling with school to have an alternative. Knowing that Denise was not the kind of person to bullshit, and that she was a good reader of people, I tried very hard to believe that she would be right, inspite of the evidence to the contrary.
I was invited to run a workshop on HE at a conference in Leeds about informal education which took place in May 2009. I asked Denise if she would come along with me, as I was nervous about going alone, and I knew that it would be much more fun with her as my side kick! We got to sit in on some very interesting talks in the morning, but chatting to another delegate at lunch time was a far more interesting affair! To be honest what we heard threw us both a bit, Denise more so I think, given her hope that Badman was a fair and reasonable man, and that these would be qualities that would show through in his report. To cut a long story short, what we heard was the most contentious aspects of the contents of the Badman Report, which wasn’t due out for another few weeks. The delegate in question had been at a conference at which Badman had presented his report - at a time when the HE *community* was still very much hoping to be able to influence the outcome. It was pretty explosive stuff, and the delegate obviously realised that she had let the cat out of the bag (she seemed to have been under the impression that the report had already been released) and very quickly stopped talking to us, leaving Denise and I somewhat shell shocked. We both decided that the best option would be to assume the other delegate had been mistaken, but to check out the conference details when we got back home.
Lunch finished there was time to have a quick look at who was booked into our workshop that afternoon, and we were both a little nervous to see that we had a couple of people from connexions booked in. Cue much chewing of fingernails!
In the run up to the conference we'd chatted about how it should go, but we were both seat of your pants kind of people when it came to this kind of thing, so we winged it, though having said that, we did get hold of a copy of a short film that some HEers had made, which we planned to use as a general introduction before taking questions. We'd arranged to have a projector set up in the room so that we could play the film on the big screen, but this was as far as our organisation for the event had gone.
We made our way up to our room, (we may or may not have become slightly lost, I couldn’t possibly comment! ) and were immediately struck by the lack of a projector. We rummaged around but there definitely wasn’t one, so we panicked slightly before getting the giggles and sitting down to wait for our audience. At some point we realised we were in the wrong room! Cue more giggles, and a mad dash to find the right room before our audience arrived! We found our room, complete with projector. Yay! Except that on this occasion Denise’s geek skills failed. She tried numerous ways to do whatever technical wizardry was required but all to no avail, and the workshop attendees were starting to arrive. We exchanged some panicked looks, but there was nothing left to do but to go with our original winging it plan. Denise was awesome. She charmed everyone and was her usual helpful self, answering questions and cleverly explaining things in a way that enabled people to understand a different point of view. It wasn’t a huge workshop, we weren’t the most popular subject on the list, indeed as I understand it a lot of the delegates didn’t really understand why home educators were even attending, but by the end of our workshop, and by the end of the closing discussion with all the conference attendees, we’d made some great contacts, and had opened some minds.
Back at our respective homes we got to work sleuthing (who knew that she would later become Detective Denise?!) on the internet, and discovered that the delegate who had let the report cat out of the bag was quite high profile in the dark world of the Badman, and so was unlikely to have been mistaken. Emails were written to the government asking for clarification. Eventually the report was released and it was everything we had feared and more. I know I have read people say that one of Denise’s qualities was never having a bad word to say about anyone, but she definitely had some bad words to say about the Badman! I suspect that was because she was a bit cross with herself for having got him wrong, but I think that just shows that she was the kind of person to look for the best in people, whoever they might be.
She was angry, and she posted a comment on the HE Facebook group expressing her fear that if the contents of the report became law, then a child would die, and Badman would have blood on his hands as a result.
Sometime later I had the dubious pleasure of telling Denise that her comment was amongst a small selection of *things on the internet* that the government was using to stop answering home educators freedom of information requests. Utterly ridiculous, but that was the level of stupidity that we were up against with Ed Balls and his cronies at the DCSF.
Denise worked incredibly hard to help defeat the Badman Report, and whilst we didn’t always agree on aspects of how to go about this, she always had my trust. The thing with Denise was that unlike some of the other people who were involved in some of the things many of us didn’t agree with, she had integrity, and that that aspect of her character was questioned by some did hurt her.
At the Informal Education conference we’d attended in May, we’d expressed interest in being involved in the setting up of a federation of informal educators that would include home educators, and some months later were approached to help do just that. It took quite a bit of back and forth and organisation before the first meeting was set up, but we eventually got together up in Darlington with some great people from the world of informal education. We had a riot of a time (of course we were also terribly productive!) and in an email to the lady who took this photo I said “I can’t believe you managed to get a photo of us where we weren’t falling about laughing”. It was very hard to be in a room with Denise and not laugh. (I hope R & M don't object to me putting this photo up)
Sadly Denise later decided that she didn’t have time to dedicate to building the federation, she was instead putting her energy and attention into her new business venture, Detective Denise. Having talked to her about her job I can’t say that I blame her! It sounded like an incredible thing to do for a living, and how cool is it to get paid for donning a wig and getting all Cagney and Lacey?
I had cause to call on Denise’s detective skills when I was trying to track down the estate of an author whose permission I needed for a project I was working on. She was super quick at getting a result, but more than that her integrity shone through as she made sure to look after not only my interests as her client, but also the interests of the other party who she had no monetary involvement with. I know she was very hot on the ethical aspects of her job, and she was, I believe, something of a leader in terms of getting her industry to behave in a decent and law abiding manner.
Back to Home Ed one last time; Denise was a great advocate of autonomous HE, and when her eldest son decided to give school a try she jokingly worried about having to deal with curriculum stuff as she prepared to take him for a look round the school. It gave her a great deal of pleasure a little while after he’d started school and was doing exceptionally well, that the teachers were confounded by how N could excel in science having never had a *structured lesson* in the subject! I also remember the pride with which she told me about some of R’s encounters with so called experts, and she was of course super proud of daughter K too.
On a more personal note talking to Denise over the years helped me through more than one difficult period of my life. When my husband was diagnosed with cancer and we decided not to follow the conventional path to recovery, Denise’s own history with cancer reassured me that we were doing the right thing. I will never forget her telling me that she firmly believed that if she’d done what the doctors told her she’d never have lived as long as she did.
I can’t really describe how Denise did it, she wasn’t obviously supportive (she wasn’t unsupportive, I just can’t quite explain what I mean) she never told you what to do, but she managed to convey what you needed to hear in such a way that it stays with you and sustains you when you need it, where other people’s opinions often don’t.
In the last couple of months when my life was upside down, at a time when she was terribly ill, she just amazed me with her attitude to life. She encouraged me to follow my dreams and, when it all gets a bit much, she is there in my head as a gentle nudge not to be so pathetic and to just get out there and live.
I’m so sad that I didn’t get the opportunity to give her the grand tour of Miranda (our campervan) as I’d promised her I would. I wish I had realised that I didn’t have as much time as I thought I did to do that, but that was Denise for you. She’d outlived her initial prognosis by leaps and bounds and somehow she seemed to me to be invincible (I’d been very worried about her back in Jan/Feb but her attitude made me think I was being ridiculously pessimistic and so I snapped myself out of it and went back to thinking she was invincible). She wasn’t the sort of person to wallow in self pity; always downplaying her troubles and always so much more interested in helping other people; even when she’d had a bad day she’d be looking forward to the good one that was just around the corner. I will never ever not be awe inspired by her courage, her joie de vivre, and I will treasure my memories of her always.
Love you Denise – hope you’ve got a sick bucket handy where ever you are ;-) I promise to smile on Monday xxxx
These are just my memories; I know other people will have many, many more! Do feel free to share them in the comments section if you’d like to :)
I think I've known Denise for about 7 years, she quickly became involved in local HE politics in North Yorkshire after pulling her son out of school. I know that I liked her immediately - didn't everyone?! She was clearly someone who wasn't going to take any crap, but she had this great diplomatic (yet with a subtle hint of sarcasm) quality about her which was a great combination when dealing with the LA.
She was known on the internet as Wobblymoo back then. On yahoo groups email names were often what you remembered about someone, as you would see the email address more often than you saw the person’s actual name. More often than not you would introduce yourself to someone when meeting *in real life* for the first time, by using your email address, so when you are looking for Wobblymoo at a meeting with the LA it’s going to make you grin ;-)
She was, infamously, the first (maybe only) person to get tea and cakes at Betty's Tea Rooms in Harrogate (rather posh and pricey for the non locals) bought for her out of the LA HE budget.
Over the years we ran the local HE yahoo group together, and worked to make N Yorks a better, place for HEers in terms of treatment by the LA. An objective that we thought we'd largely achieved, but which, when we realised we’d been played to a certain extent, saw us both supporting each other and others in erm... non compliance I suppose you’d call it ;-)
Denise was always incredibly helpful and welcoming, and in order to help more new HEers find their way she set up a North Yorks HE website, which even the LA directed people to!
When the Badman report came up, Denise was invited by the LA HE advisor to come and talk to Badman about her experiences of HE, as N Yorks by that point had come to be seen as an example of *best practice* with regard relations with home educators. I know that following on from her discussion with Badman she felt quietly confident of a good outcome. She told me that he had seemed to be quite reasonable, and appeared to understand what she had said to him about how important HE was as an option, and how it was particularly important for those struggling with school to have an alternative. Knowing that Denise was not the kind of person to bullshit, and that she was a good reader of people, I tried very hard to believe that she would be right, inspite of the evidence to the contrary.
I was invited to run a workshop on HE at a conference in Leeds about informal education which took place in May 2009. I asked Denise if she would come along with me, as I was nervous about going alone, and I knew that it would be much more fun with her as my side kick! We got to sit in on some very interesting talks in the morning, but chatting to another delegate at lunch time was a far more interesting affair! To be honest what we heard threw us both a bit, Denise more so I think, given her hope that Badman was a fair and reasonable man, and that these would be qualities that would show through in his report. To cut a long story short, what we heard was the most contentious aspects of the contents of the Badman Report, which wasn’t due out for another few weeks. The delegate in question had been at a conference at which Badman had presented his report - at a time when the HE *community* was still very much hoping to be able to influence the outcome. It was pretty explosive stuff, and the delegate obviously realised that she had let the cat out of the bag (she seemed to have been under the impression that the report had already been released) and very quickly stopped talking to us, leaving Denise and I somewhat shell shocked. We both decided that the best option would be to assume the other delegate had been mistaken, but to check out the conference details when we got back home.
Lunch finished there was time to have a quick look at who was booked into our workshop that afternoon, and we were both a little nervous to see that we had a couple of people from connexions booked in. Cue much chewing of fingernails!
In the run up to the conference we'd chatted about how it should go, but we were both seat of your pants kind of people when it came to this kind of thing, so we winged it, though having said that, we did get hold of a copy of a short film that some HEers had made, which we planned to use as a general introduction before taking questions. We'd arranged to have a projector set up in the room so that we could play the film on the big screen, but this was as far as our organisation for the event had gone.
We made our way up to our room, (we may or may not have become slightly lost, I couldn’t possibly comment! ) and were immediately struck by the lack of a projector. We rummaged around but there definitely wasn’t one, so we panicked slightly before getting the giggles and sitting down to wait for our audience. At some point we realised we were in the wrong room! Cue more giggles, and a mad dash to find the right room before our audience arrived! We found our room, complete with projector. Yay! Except that on this occasion Denise’s geek skills failed. She tried numerous ways to do whatever technical wizardry was required but all to no avail, and the workshop attendees were starting to arrive. We exchanged some panicked looks, but there was nothing left to do but to go with our original winging it plan. Denise was awesome. She charmed everyone and was her usual helpful self, answering questions and cleverly explaining things in a way that enabled people to understand a different point of view. It wasn’t a huge workshop, we weren’t the most popular subject on the list, indeed as I understand it a lot of the delegates didn’t really understand why home educators were even attending, but by the end of our workshop, and by the end of the closing discussion with all the conference attendees, we’d made some great contacts, and had opened some minds.
Back at our respective homes we got to work sleuthing (who knew that she would later become Detective Denise?!) on the internet, and discovered that the delegate who had let the report cat out of the bag was quite high profile in the dark world of the Badman, and so was unlikely to have been mistaken. Emails were written to the government asking for clarification. Eventually the report was released and it was everything we had feared and more. I know I have read people say that one of Denise’s qualities was never having a bad word to say about anyone, but she definitely had some bad words to say about the Badman! I suspect that was because she was a bit cross with herself for having got him wrong, but I think that just shows that she was the kind of person to look for the best in people, whoever they might be.
She was angry, and she posted a comment on the HE Facebook group expressing her fear that if the contents of the report became law, then a child would die, and Badman would have blood on his hands as a result.
Sometime later I had the dubious pleasure of telling Denise that her comment was amongst a small selection of *things on the internet* that the government was using to stop answering home educators freedom of information requests. Utterly ridiculous, but that was the level of stupidity that we were up against with Ed Balls and his cronies at the DCSF.
Denise worked incredibly hard to help defeat the Badman Report, and whilst we didn’t always agree on aspects of how to go about this, she always had my trust. The thing with Denise was that unlike some of the other people who were involved in some of the things many of us didn’t agree with, she had integrity, and that that aspect of her character was questioned by some did hurt her.
At the Informal Education conference we’d attended in May, we’d expressed interest in being involved in the setting up of a federation of informal educators that would include home educators, and some months later were approached to help do just that. It took quite a bit of back and forth and organisation before the first meeting was set up, but we eventually got together up in Darlington with some great people from the world of informal education. We had a riot of a time (of course we were also terribly productive!) and in an email to the lady who took this photo I said “I can’t believe you managed to get a photo of us where we weren’t falling about laughing”. It was very hard to be in a room with Denise and not laugh. (I hope R & M don't object to me putting this photo up)
Sadly Denise later decided that she didn’t have time to dedicate to building the federation, she was instead putting her energy and attention into her new business venture, Detective Denise. Having talked to her about her job I can’t say that I blame her! It sounded like an incredible thing to do for a living, and how cool is it to get paid for donning a wig and getting all Cagney and Lacey?
I had cause to call on Denise’s detective skills when I was trying to track down the estate of an author whose permission I needed for a project I was working on. She was super quick at getting a result, but more than that her integrity shone through as she made sure to look after not only my interests as her client, but also the interests of the other party who she had no monetary involvement with. I know she was very hot on the ethical aspects of her job, and she was, I believe, something of a leader in terms of getting her industry to behave in a decent and law abiding manner.
Back to Home Ed one last time; Denise was a great advocate of autonomous HE, and when her eldest son decided to give school a try she jokingly worried about having to deal with curriculum stuff as she prepared to take him for a look round the school. It gave her a great deal of pleasure a little while after he’d started school and was doing exceptionally well, that the teachers were confounded by how N could excel in science having never had a *structured lesson* in the subject! I also remember the pride with which she told me about some of R’s encounters with so called experts, and she was of course super proud of daughter K too.
On a more personal note talking to Denise over the years helped me through more than one difficult period of my life. When my husband was diagnosed with cancer and we decided not to follow the conventional path to recovery, Denise’s own history with cancer reassured me that we were doing the right thing. I will never forget her telling me that she firmly believed that if she’d done what the doctors told her she’d never have lived as long as she did.
I can’t really describe how Denise did it, she wasn’t obviously supportive (she wasn’t unsupportive, I just can’t quite explain what I mean) she never told you what to do, but she managed to convey what you needed to hear in such a way that it stays with you and sustains you when you need it, where other people’s opinions often don’t.
In the last couple of months when my life was upside down, at a time when she was terribly ill, she just amazed me with her attitude to life. She encouraged me to follow my dreams and, when it all gets a bit much, she is there in my head as a gentle nudge not to be so pathetic and to just get out there and live.
I’m so sad that I didn’t get the opportunity to give her the grand tour of Miranda (our campervan) as I’d promised her I would. I wish I had realised that I didn’t have as much time as I thought I did to do that, but that was Denise for you. She’d outlived her initial prognosis by leaps and bounds and somehow she seemed to me to be invincible (I’d been very worried about her back in Jan/Feb but her attitude made me think I was being ridiculously pessimistic and so I snapped myself out of it and went back to thinking she was invincible). She wasn’t the sort of person to wallow in self pity; always downplaying her troubles and always so much more interested in helping other people; even when she’d had a bad day she’d be looking forward to the good one that was just around the corner. I will never ever not be awe inspired by her courage, her joie de vivre, and I will treasure my memories of her always.
Love you Denise – hope you’ve got a sick bucket handy where ever you are ;-) I promise to smile on Monday xxxx
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Child Tax Credits
I am stealing this post directly from the HE forums. If you or anyone you know have experienced this problem - which is actually very serious - people are being forced into debt and poverty through no fault of their own, but through the HMRC's failings, please do comment on the thread on the forums.
"Has anyone been denied child tax credits for young people 16+ remaining in full time home-based education?
We are hearing some alarming stories of families receiving demands for alleged over payments, despite having clearly indicated their child(ren)'s continuing home educated status on renewal applications.
The eligibility criteria should not exclude home educated children over 16, who are by definition still in full time education, but the child tax credit office is either unable or unwilling to provide a detailed explanation for the exclusion policy they are evidently now implementing to the detriment of home educating families.
If the regulations have been changed to allow such discrimination, HE families are being penalised retrospectively for errors on the part of CTC staff.
Hopefully this is something that Graham Stuart may be able to raise with the Minister as a matter of urgency, but anyone who has been affected by this issue might want to ask their local MP to investigate the matter on their behalf.
Clarity and consistency from public servants should surely not be too much to expect."
"Has anyone been denied child tax credits for young people 16+ remaining in full time home-based education?
We are hearing some alarming stories of families receiving demands for alleged over payments, despite having clearly indicated their child(ren)'s continuing home educated status on renewal applications.
The eligibility criteria should not exclude home educated children over 16, who are by definition still in full time education, but the child tax credit office is either unable or unwilling to provide a detailed explanation for the exclusion policy they are evidently now implementing to the detriment of home educating families.
If the regulations have been changed to allow such discrimination, HE families are being penalised retrospectively for errors on the part of CTC staff.
Hopefully this is something that Graham Stuart may be able to raise with the Minister as a matter of urgency, but anyone who has been affected by this issue might want to ask their local MP to investigate the matter on their behalf.
Clarity and consistency from public servants should surely not be too much to expect."
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Guidelines Shenanigans - Chickens Coming Home to Roost
Finally the *draft guidelines* have been made public. They were *leaked* some time ago, but it seems that this time the *leak* has been more of a mains water burst than a teeny trickle. By accident or design we can only guess.
I've nothing new to say about them, preferring to treat them with the disdain that they and their author deserve, and anyway, Lisa has said all that needs to be said already, IMO.
Good to see that there are people out there who have the measure of those involved, and aren't afraid to (finally) come out and explain how the farcical process worked, to the rest of us.
Few things in life are certain, but you can be pretty damned sure that the truth will always out, and that chickens will eventually come home to roost. About bloody time.
I've nothing new to say about them, preferring to treat them with the disdain that they and their author deserve, and anyway, Lisa has said all that needs to be said already, IMO.
Good to see that there are people out there who have the measure of those involved, and aren't afraid to (finally) come out and explain how the farcical process worked, to the rest of us.
Few things in life are certain, but you can be pretty damned sure that the truth will always out, and that chickens will eventually come home to roost. About bloody time.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Batting From The Other Side
Great to read Graham Stuart's speech in the house of commons earlier today; I was worried that a rush of power to the head had changed Graham Stuart's support and understanding of HE, but credit where credit is due, he listened, took note, researched and admitted he'd got it wrong - a rare thing indeed in a politician.
Very interesting to read the comments of old adversaries such as Barry Sheerman too.
Also good to see Local Authorities illegal interpretation of HE shown up and recorded in Hansard.
Starts at the bottom of column 1216 here
Very interesting to read the comments of old adversaries such as Barry Sheerman too.
Also good to see Local Authorities illegal interpretation of HE shown up and recorded in Hansard.
Starts at the bottom of column 1216 here
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The State We Are In
This blog post says it all, this should not be happening in this country. Please read, and share far and wide. We owe John Hemming, and all those who dare to speak out about this, our support.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
CME Postcard
I decided that it might be useful if there was a simple postcard that people who support the call for changes to CME legislation could send to their MPs etc.
My daughter did the drawings, we know that they are terribly stereotyped, this was done deliberately to make the point very clearly in the easiest way possible. We do not believe that home educated children all sit studiously at desks all day long in the same way that we don't believe all truants are yobbish, chain smoking graffiti artists.
If you want to read more about this issue then please look at the following two links both of which are included on the postcard:
AHEd letter to Michael Gove
Mieke's blog about how CME is changing relations between the LA and HEers in Cumbria.
You might also like to look at these threads on the Home Education Forums which details further examples of CME being directed at Home Educators.
And at Gill's blog detailing why CME needs changing before we have any new guidelines.
If you click on the highlighted named links you will be able to download a copy of the front and back of the postcard to print off on an A6 sized piece of card. There is a lot of info to try to squeeze into a small space, but it does all print out ok - well, it did for me!
If you don't already know who your MP is you can find out who they are and where to write to them here.
CME Postcard Front
Back of CME Post Card (1)
My daughter did the drawings, we know that they are terribly stereotyped, this was done deliberately to make the point very clearly in the easiest way possible. We do not believe that home educated children all sit studiously at desks all day long in the same way that we don't believe all truants are yobbish, chain smoking graffiti artists.
If you want to read more about this issue then please look at the following two links both of which are included on the postcard:
AHEd letter to Michael Gove
Mieke's blog about how CME is changing relations between the LA and HEers in Cumbria.
You might also like to look at these threads on the Home Education Forums which details further examples of CME being directed at Home Educators.
And at Gill's blog detailing why CME needs changing before we have any new guidelines.
If you click on the highlighted named links you will be able to download a copy of the front and back of the postcard to print off on an A6 sized piece of card. There is a lot of info to try to squeeze into a small space, but it does all print out ok - well, it did for me!
If you don't already know who your MP is you can find out who they are and where to write to them here.
CME Postcard Front
Back of CME Post Card (1)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Conspiracy of Silence
It's now been over a month since the HE grapevine first started kicking off about the rumour that new guidelines were being written.
A month of people wondering, questioning, worrying and debating potential issues.
A month in which the known author of the guidelines could have responded to people's questions. A month in which she could have put people's minds at rest. It is surely what any decent person would do?
Instead we have had nothing. Zilch. Nada. Oh we've had the mutterings of a few self appointed fire fighters, who for their part seem only to have fanned the flames and attempted to stifle reasoned debate. From the Queen Bee though, nothing. She is, it would appear, above reproach.
There are people who could shed some light on the goings on, but we seem to be firmly in the midst of a conspiracy of silence. Whilst this may sound dramatic, I think that anyone who has been drawn into this episode would find it hard to disagree that elements of these effects are evident within parts of the HE *Community*.
Those who are directly suffering, or causing others to suffer, perpetuate their cycle of harm and suffering
Those who have suffered have their suffering extended by having their condition ignored or minimized, and are not considered seriously or redressed appropriately
Lessons that might be learned for future are not learned
Apparently the reason no one will speak out is because they are too frightened to *stick their heads above the parapet*. If those involved had the courage of their convictions then they would not seek to hide behind what they must perceive to be the safety of anonymity, they would be willing to defend their actions. That they are not suggests that self interest is at the heart of the whole sorry mess. We can only wonder at the possible motives involved, but top of the list would surely have to be financial gain. Maybe not immediately, that would be too obvious, but perhaps there is a longer term game plan afoot here?
Words like slander, libel and defamation are flying around the ether; friendships are being torn apart; suspicion is rife. Ed Balls's government couldn't have done a better job of creating such a rift. Meanwhile, silence.
Words couldn't express it better than this photo:
A month of people wondering, questioning, worrying and debating potential issues.
A month in which the known author of the guidelines could have responded to people's questions. A month in which she could have put people's minds at rest. It is surely what any decent person would do?
Instead we have had nothing. Zilch. Nada. Oh we've had the mutterings of a few self appointed fire fighters, who for their part seem only to have fanned the flames and attempted to stifle reasoned debate. From the Queen Bee though, nothing. She is, it would appear, above reproach.
There are people who could shed some light on the goings on, but we seem to be firmly in the midst of a conspiracy of silence. Whilst this may sound dramatic, I think that anyone who has been drawn into this episode would find it hard to disagree that elements of these effects are evident within parts of the HE *Community*.
Those who are directly suffering, or causing others to suffer, perpetuate their cycle of harm and suffering
Those who have suffered have their suffering extended by having their condition ignored or minimized, and are not considered seriously or redressed appropriately
Lessons that might be learned for future are not learned
Apparently the reason no one will speak out is because they are too frightened to *stick their heads above the parapet*. If those involved had the courage of their convictions then they would not seek to hide behind what they must perceive to be the safety of anonymity, they would be willing to defend their actions. That they are not suggests that self interest is at the heart of the whole sorry mess. We can only wonder at the possible motives involved, but top of the list would surely have to be financial gain. Maybe not immediately, that would be too obvious, but perhaps there is a longer term game plan afoot here?
Words like slander, libel and defamation are flying around the ether; friendships are being torn apart; suspicion is rife. Ed Balls's government couldn't have done a better job of creating such a rift. Meanwhile, silence.
Words couldn't express it better than this photo:
I would ask that the person responsible stand up and own her actions, but I know all too well that I would be ignored. Reprehensible doesn't begin to cover it.
Of course this post is probably just another example of me *Doing a Tech*.
Of course this post is probably just another example of me *Doing a Tech*.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
What's In A Word?
Guidance Guidelines what's the difference?
Guidance is statutory that is it is prescribed or authorized by statute. The CME (Children Missing Education) guidance is statutory because there is a clause in the original act which directs the relevant authority to take note of the contents of any guidance issued. It would appear that this is a neat way of altering the law without having to keep changing the primary legislation.
Guidelines are not statutory, and are basically just advice as to how to carry out particular duties.
GuidANCE trumps guideLINES.
As I understand it, HE cannot have statutory guidance because there is nothing in statute which refers an authority to any guidance. So to have statutory HE guidance we would need a change to the primary legislation.
It seems to me that this would not be a good thing, as each new guidance issued alters the legal situation - if I have misunderstood this PLEASE tell me, and explain to me how.
We have a situation where the 2007 HE Guidelines specifically state "The guidance issued makes it clear that the duty does not apply to children who are being educated at home." This was in relation to CME and pointed to the 2007 guidance on CME.
3.3.16. If it becomes known that a child identified as not receiving education is being home educated, this should be recorded on the local authority's database and no further action should be taken unless there is cause for concern about the child's safety and welfare. Monitoring arrangements already exist for children being educated at home. Where there are concerns about the child's safety and welfare, Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures must be followed.
However, the guidance was updated and so now it is the 2009 guidance which is the one that must be adhered to, and this is where the problems arise.
2009 CME guidance gives over a whole section to Home Education I would like to draw attention to this particular section:
92. In order to discharge their duties in relation to children not receiving an education, local authorities should make inquiries with parents about whether their home educated children are receiving a suitable education. The Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities make clear that parents who home educate may take a number of equally valid approaches to educational provision for their children.
So in one fell swoop we have gone from a case of - "record the fact that the child is home educated and that's all you need to do", to "make inquiries".
It would seem from looking at the websites of various local authorities that they have interpreted this new duty by immediately referring HEers to the CME department. North Yorkshire for instance was certainly a week or two ago advising headteachers not to deregister a child 'on demand' but to instead pass the details onto the CME team.
"2.1 Regarding the Headteacher's duty to inform the LA before deleting pupil who is to be home educated from the register. In such cases please inform: Julie Fenny, CME coordinator"
Unless I have misunderstood the law regarding deregistration, the headteacher is supposed to remove the child from the register immediately the deregistration letter has been received, and then notify the LA, not vice versa.
If we look at what is happening in Bedfordshire, it's an even worse scenario:
"When parents withdraw their child from school to EHE, the child’s name can only
be deleted from the admissions register when the parents inform the school in
writing (section 8 (d) of the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006)
giving reasons for decisions. The Head Teacher/Governor has to inform the LA of
withdrawal together with reasons before the child’s name is deleted."
Compare that with the actual law:
"It is then the duty of the proprietor of the school to inform the LA within 10 working days under Regulation 13 (3): “when the name of a pupil has been deleted from the admission register in accordance with regulation 9(1)(c) the proprietor shall make a return to the local education authority giving the full name and address of that pupil within the ten school days immediately following the date on which the pupil's name was so deleted”.
Arse about face isn't it? (You can see the full details here)
More and more cases are turning up where HEers are being *found out* having come into contact with local authority services. It would seem to be the case that everyone with a connection to children's services has a duty to inform the CME department about any HE children they come across in the course of their work. Previously, as far as I understand it, the librarian, school nurse, health visitor, hospital, gp etc etc could choose to *shop* you if they felt that way inclined, but equally could choose to do nothing and let you go on your merry way with no further hassle. It would seem that the CME guidance has changed all that, so unless you are able to avoid all public services you stand a very good chance of becoming known. If all LAs follow N Yorks lead and report straight to CME officers before deregistering a child, and it seems unlikely that N Yorks are acting as a maverick authority, then we effectively have non voluntary registration.
Whilst the 2007 EHE Guidelines are not statutory, they do stand as a clear reminder that HE was not to be conflated with CME. If we put in place new, updated guidelines, will that particular element be removed? If it is, are we left with not a leg to stand on when it comes to challenging the CME guidance, which is what I believe we need to do before we even think about putting new guidelines in place.
Thanks to Gill for laying this out on this blog piece, and to Elaine for digging out the dodgy LA practices.
ETA: thinking about it further, would it even be possible to refer to outdated guidance in new guidelines? I would imagine not, so it would seem that that particular section will have to go.
Another addition: I have had a message passed to me via a third party from Alison Sauer:
"You might, if you are brave enough, like to suggest to Tech that she revisits her blog post and quotes the correct law........which sadly means that all these policies are actually technically correct. I'd really hate her to look daft. And this is not a sarcastic comment, it's genuine otherwise I would be on there correcting her.
Tech is quoting 1995 regs not 2006 ones. And the guidance accompanying it is poisonous and confusing. It tells schools to notify LAs ASAP and if the dereg is with immediate effect to delay dereg for 2 days.
I went ballistic when they changed it but it had no effect........
Alison Sauer"
Which is interesting as the section I quoted came Derbyshire Council's website screenshot linked to above and here too.
Elaine has posted this rather clear graphic dated 01/09/08, along with some other interesting information on the forums
Guidance is statutory that is it is prescribed or authorized by statute. The CME (Children Missing Education) guidance is statutory because there is a clause in the original act which directs the relevant authority to take note of the contents of any guidance issued. It would appear that this is a neat way of altering the law without having to keep changing the primary legislation.
Guidelines are not statutory, and are basically just advice as to how to carry out particular duties.
GuidANCE trumps guideLINES.
As I understand it, HE cannot have statutory guidance because there is nothing in statute which refers an authority to any guidance. So to have statutory HE guidance we would need a change to the primary legislation.
It seems to me that this would not be a good thing, as each new guidance issued alters the legal situation - if I have misunderstood this PLEASE tell me, and explain to me how.
We have a situation where the 2007 HE Guidelines specifically state "The guidance issued makes it clear that the duty does not apply to children who are being educated at home." This was in relation to CME and pointed to the 2007 guidance on CME.
3.3.16. If it becomes known that a child identified as not receiving education is being home educated, this should be recorded on the local authority's database and no further action should be taken unless there is cause for concern about the child's safety and welfare. Monitoring arrangements already exist for children being educated at home. Where there are concerns about the child's safety and welfare, Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures must be followed.
However, the guidance was updated and so now it is the 2009 guidance which is the one that must be adhered to, and this is where the problems arise.
2009 CME guidance gives over a whole section to Home Education I would like to draw attention to this particular section:
92. In order to discharge their duties in relation to children not receiving an education, local authorities should make inquiries with parents about whether their home educated children are receiving a suitable education. The Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities make clear that parents who home educate may take a number of equally valid approaches to educational provision for their children.
So in one fell swoop we have gone from a case of - "record the fact that the child is home educated and that's all you need to do", to "make inquiries".
It would seem from looking at the websites of various local authorities that they have interpreted this new duty by immediately referring HEers to the CME department. North Yorkshire for instance was certainly a week or two ago advising headteachers not to deregister a child 'on demand' but to instead pass the details onto the CME team.
"2.1 Regarding the Headteacher's duty to inform the LA before deleting pupil who is to be home educated from the register. In such cases please inform: Julie Fenny, CME coordinator"
Unless I have misunderstood the law regarding deregistration, the headteacher is supposed to remove the child from the register immediately the deregistration letter has been received, and then notify the LA, not vice versa.
If we look at what is happening in Bedfordshire, it's an even worse scenario:
"When parents withdraw their child from school to EHE, the child’s name can only
be deleted from the admissions register when the parents inform the school in
writing (section 8 (d) of the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006)
giving reasons for decisions. The Head Teacher/Governor has to inform the LA of
withdrawal together with reasons before the child’s name is deleted."
Compare that with the actual law:
"It is then the duty of the proprietor of the school to inform the LA within 10 working days under Regulation 13 (3): “when the name of a pupil has been deleted from the admission register in accordance with regulation 9(1)(c) the proprietor shall make a return to the local education authority giving the full name and address of that pupil within the ten school days immediately following the date on which the pupil's name was so deleted”.
Arse about face isn't it? (You can see the full details here)
More and more cases are turning up where HEers are being *found out* having come into contact with local authority services. It would seem to be the case that everyone with a connection to children's services has a duty to inform the CME department about any HE children they come across in the course of their work. Previously, as far as I understand it, the librarian, school nurse, health visitor, hospital, gp etc etc could choose to *shop* you if they felt that way inclined, but equally could choose to do nothing and let you go on your merry way with no further hassle. It would seem that the CME guidance has changed all that, so unless you are able to avoid all public services you stand a very good chance of becoming known. If all LAs follow N Yorks lead and report straight to CME officers before deregistering a child, and it seems unlikely that N Yorks are acting as a maverick authority, then we effectively have non voluntary registration.
Whilst the 2007 EHE Guidelines are not statutory, they do stand as a clear reminder that HE was not to be conflated with CME. If we put in place new, updated guidelines, will that particular element be removed? If it is, are we left with not a leg to stand on when it comes to challenging the CME guidance, which is what I believe we need to do before we even think about putting new guidelines in place.
Thanks to Gill for laying this out on this blog piece, and to Elaine for digging out the dodgy LA practices.
ETA: thinking about it further, would it even be possible to refer to outdated guidance in new guidelines? I would imagine not, so it would seem that that particular section will have to go.
Another addition: I have had a message passed to me via a third party from Alison Sauer:
"You might, if you are brave enough, like to suggest to Tech that she revisits her blog post and quotes the correct law........which sadly means that all these policies are actually technically correct. I'd really hate her to look daft. And this is not a sarcastic comment, it's genuine otherwise I would be on there correcting her.
Tech is quoting 1995 regs not 2006 ones. And the guidance accompanying it is poisonous and confusing. It tells schools to notify LAs ASAP and if the dereg is with immediate effect to delay dereg for 2 days.
I went ballistic when they changed it but it had no effect........
Alison Sauer"
Which is interesting as the section I quoted came Derbyshire Council's website screenshot linked to above and here too.
Elaine has posted this rather clear graphic dated 01/09/08, along with some other interesting information on the forums
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Guidance Connivance
Gill has already done an excellent blog post about all this. Read it here.
For my part, all I want to say is this:
People who think they are qualified to write such things on behalf of the rest of us, without telling us, should at the very least be known to their LA, and have gone through the process of providing information to them. Training them in how to deal with the rest of us does not equal expert knowledge unless you have actually sat on both sides of the fence and come through the other side. It's the difference between theoretical knowledge and actual experience.
ETA: GS apparently has this to say about it all:
"For home education I think we need new guidance issued by the government to local authorities (LAs) which lays to rest, once and for all (hopefully), the agitation by LAs for more powers and encourages a new culture of support and humility ...from LAs rather than suspicion and distrust. I have spoken to a number of different people about this (including the Minister) and hope to come forward with a proposal for everyone to look at, dispute, improve etc to deliver the above aims. I have initially asked a few people to help come up with a first draft before opening out to the full drama of HE community input. Fundamental to anything I come up with will be the primacy of parents in determining their child's education and a complete rejection of compulsory registration and all the other "licensing" facets of the last government's approach. I think we have a real opportunity to settle this issue in a way that LAs can live with and which makes the chance of future action by government unlikely so that the Badman proposals are never resurrected."
For my part, all I want to say is this:
People who think they are qualified to write such things on behalf of the rest of us, without telling us, should at the very least be known to their LA, and have gone through the process of providing information to them. Training them in how to deal with the rest of us does not equal expert knowledge unless you have actually sat on both sides of the fence and come through the other side. It's the difference between theoretical knowledge and actual experience.
ETA: GS apparently has this to say about it all:
"For home education I think we need new guidance issued by the government to local authorities (LAs) which lays to rest, once and for all (hopefully), the agitation by LAs for more powers and encourages a new culture of support and humility ...from LAs rather than suspicion and distrust. I have spoken to a number of different people about this (including the Minister) and hope to come forward with a proposal for everyone to look at, dispute, improve etc to deliver the above aims. I have initially asked a few people to help come up with a first draft before opening out to the full drama of HE community input. Fundamental to anything I come up with will be the primacy of parents in determining their child's education and a complete rejection of compulsory registration and all the other "licensing" facets of the last government's approach. I think we have a real opportunity to settle this issue in a way that LAs can live with and which makes the chance of future action by government unlikely so that the Badman proposals are never resurrected."
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Machinations and Networking
This dropped into my inbox a short while ago:
"We are having a meeting at the Department of Education at their request with significant civil servants next week on the subject of home education.
If you have reports from your local education authority advisers or inspectors which you would be willing to make available to us to give to the Department of Education if they ask us could you send us copies? Scanned versions and email might be the only way we could do this at this stage. (Our meeting is on Wednesday 29th, next week.) But if you are able to help we would be grateful to receive."
It is apparently a communication from Teach, sent to those who use their ACE programme.
I suppose this meeting could be a good thing. Perhaps the new department is planning on pulling all those misbehaving LAs into line. LAs like Lancashire who were very disappointed not to see Badman implemented:
"In June 2009, Badman's report on the Review of Elective Home Education in
England was published. An overview of the Badman report was included at
Appendix B to the report now presented. Twenty Eight recommendations had
been made and accepted by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and
Families. Many of the recommendations in the task group's report were mirrored
in the Badman report. The Badman recommendations were far reaching for local
authorities and strengthened the right of local authority officers to have "right of
access to the home" and "speak to the child alone if appropriate.
"The Children, Schools and Families Bill, had been progressing through
parliamentary procedures and it had been expected to become law in the ‘washup’
period (the last few days of a Parliament, after the election had been
announced but before dissolution). However, it was now reported to the
committee that not everything in the Bill had been enacted as expected and that
the elective home education element had been dropped."
"Mike Hart, Director of Children's Strategy and Resources came to the table and
explained that whilst the passage of the Bill in its entirety would have provided a
clear legislative basis to progress the recommendations of the EHE Task Group,
it was important to now look at the issues raised by the task group within the
existing framework.
"It was emphasised that the county council had a legal responsibility to safeguard
children and that it would do all that it could within the current framework to fulfil
that responsibility. One member urged that the county council should press the
next government to ensure that Badman's recommendations were enacted as
soon as possible.
"It was suggested that a further report be brought to the Children and Young
People Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the summer to set out how the
recommendations of the EHE Task Group would be addressed in light of the
EHE elements of the Children, Schools and Families Bill not being passed into
legislation."
Lancashire LA already run CRB checks on all the adults in a HE household:
"TM asked if there are any checks made on the family and home circumstances. AR advised that there were, home visit are made within the first month and parents are engaged to work through any difficulties. A CRB check is also made as well as a check of agency records with regard to any adults in the home; this information is covered in a parent's questionnaire."
I've been told that the EHE advisor is quite vehement that parents fill in and sign these questionnaires on the spot. One can only presume that they are using these forms as de facto permission to carry out the CRB check, without informing the parents that this is what is going to happen. Naughty.
Quite clearly these people are not going to let it lie just because a little thing like the law isn't currently on their side.
Going back to the email about the up and coming meeting, the bit about *significant civil servants* concerns me. I made some enquiries last week to see if Penny Jones was still *in charge* of HE over at the new department, and I was sent confirmation back that it is indeed part of her portfolio. I find this somewhat of a worry not least because PJ has been in this role for the past several years with the pinnacle of her career being her role as Badman's right hand woman during the review last year. Information released under the FOI Act show that much of what the CSF Bill wanted to implement was already in the pipeline for us as far back as 2006, with Badman just being the latest in a long line of attempts to bring in the extra powers that many LAs have sought for years. Will the civil servants who have plotted and schemed for all these years suddenly have had a moment of enlightenment with the change of government I wonder? I find this rather unlikely, especially when their colleagues on the ground are pushing for more power. Old habits die hard, and people with power who are defeated often become all the more determined to win.
So we have a situation, once again, where our children's futures are being discussed without their knowledge or ours. Unless you're a member of Teach that is, an organisation who have at least had the decency to inform their members what is going on, albeit with rather limited information. What other HE orgs will be present at this meeting? Have they informed their members? If so, why is this not general knowledge? Why is this meeting and the implications not being widely discussed? Something stinks.
Thank goodness the HE networks that proved so successful at disseminating information during the Badman review are still alive and kicking. Is it time to roll out the Just Say No campaign again?
ETA: I've been reminded about the HEYC meeting with Penny Jones back in 2009, which they've helpfully transcribed here after being refused permission to share the video of the meeting. I know it's naughty to take just one line out of a whole conversation but I'm going to do it anyway because I think this one line says all we need to know ;)
PENNY JONES: Well, want or not, I am a government official, and these five outcomes are government policy. [loud crosstalk from all sides]
"We are having a meeting at the Department of Education at their request with significant civil servants next week on the subject of home education.
If you have reports from your local education authority advisers or inspectors which you would be willing to make available to us to give to the Department of Education if they ask us could you send us copies? Scanned versions and email might be the only way we could do this at this stage. (Our meeting is on Wednesday 29th, next week.) But if you are able to help we would be grateful to receive."
It is apparently a communication from Teach, sent to those who use their ACE programme.
I suppose this meeting could be a good thing. Perhaps the new department is planning on pulling all those misbehaving LAs into line. LAs like Lancashire who were very disappointed not to see Badman implemented:
"In June 2009, Badman's report on the Review of Elective Home Education in
England was published. An overview of the Badman report was included at
Appendix B to the report now presented. Twenty Eight recommendations had
been made and accepted by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and
Families. Many of the recommendations in the task group's report were mirrored
in the Badman report. The Badman recommendations were far reaching for local
authorities and strengthened the right of local authority officers to have "right of
access to the home" and "speak to the child alone if appropriate.
"The Children, Schools and Families Bill, had been progressing through
parliamentary procedures and it had been expected to become law in the ‘washup’
period (the last few days of a Parliament, after the election had been
announced but before dissolution). However, it was now reported to the
committee that not everything in the Bill had been enacted as expected and that
the elective home education element had been dropped."
"Mike Hart, Director of Children's Strategy and Resources came to the table and
explained that whilst the passage of the Bill in its entirety would have provided a
clear legislative basis to progress the recommendations of the EHE Task Group,
it was important to now look at the issues raised by the task group within the
existing framework.
"It was emphasised that the county council had a legal responsibility to safeguard
children and that it would do all that it could within the current framework to fulfil
that responsibility. One member urged that the county council should press the
next government to ensure that Badman's recommendations were enacted as
soon as possible.
"It was suggested that a further report be brought to the Children and Young
People Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the summer to set out how the
recommendations of the EHE Task Group would be addressed in light of the
EHE elements of the Children, Schools and Families Bill not being passed into
legislation."
Lancashire LA already run CRB checks on all the adults in a HE household:
"TM asked if there are any checks made on the family and home circumstances. AR advised that there were, home visit are made within the first month and parents are engaged to work through any difficulties. A CRB check is also made as well as a check of agency records with regard to any adults in the home; this information is covered in a parent's questionnaire."
I've been told that the EHE advisor is quite vehement that parents fill in and sign these questionnaires on the spot. One can only presume that they are using these forms as de facto permission to carry out the CRB check, without informing the parents that this is what is going to happen. Naughty.
Quite clearly these people are not going to let it lie just because a little thing like the law isn't currently on their side.
Going back to the email about the up and coming meeting, the bit about *significant civil servants* concerns me. I made some enquiries last week to see if Penny Jones was still *in charge* of HE over at the new department, and I was sent confirmation back that it is indeed part of her portfolio. I find this somewhat of a worry not least because PJ has been in this role for the past several years with the pinnacle of her career being her role as Badman's right hand woman during the review last year. Information released under the FOI Act show that much of what the CSF Bill wanted to implement was already in the pipeline for us as far back as 2006, with Badman just being the latest in a long line of attempts to bring in the extra powers that many LAs have sought for years. Will the civil servants who have plotted and schemed for all these years suddenly have had a moment of enlightenment with the change of government I wonder? I find this rather unlikely, especially when their colleagues on the ground are pushing for more power. Old habits die hard, and people with power who are defeated often become all the more determined to win.
So we have a situation, once again, where our children's futures are being discussed without their knowledge or ours. Unless you're a member of Teach that is, an organisation who have at least had the decency to inform their members what is going on, albeit with rather limited information. What other HE orgs will be present at this meeting? Have they informed their members? If so, why is this not general knowledge? Why is this meeting and the implications not being widely discussed? Something stinks.
Thank goodness the HE networks that proved so successful at disseminating information during the Badman review are still alive and kicking. Is it time to roll out the Just Say No campaign again?
ETA: I've been reminded about the HEYC meeting with Penny Jones back in 2009, which they've helpfully transcribed here after being refused permission to share the video of the meeting. I know it's naughty to take just one line out of a whole conversation but I'm going to do it anyway because I think this one line says all we need to know ;)
PENNY JONES: Well, want or not, I am a government official, and these five outcomes are government policy. [loud crosstalk from all sides]
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Child Abusers, Again.
A link to this article from community care was left on Kelly's blog. If you scroll to the bottom of the page there is ever such an attractive check list of *risk factors*. Highlighted in red in the victims section is *home educated*.
Looks like those made up statistics of Mr Badman's have been doing the rounds then. Whosoever is behind this lovely little chart is clearly suffering from a particularly bad case of FSBP (flawed statistic based policy).
ETA: Ali has posted an excellent piece about this on the HE Forums here.
Looks like those made up statistics of Mr Badman's have been doing the rounds then. Whosoever is behind this lovely little chart is clearly suffering from a particularly bad case of FSBP (flawed statistic based policy).
ETA: Ali has posted an excellent piece about this on the HE Forums here.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Happy Freedom In Education Day!
I can't believe that this nearly passed me by, after all, I set this blog up just over a year ago specifically to celebrate freedom in education day.
So spurred on by this rather glowing blog post from my friend Kelly here is just a brief post to mark the day.
Today we didn't really do much to celebrate we just got on with the business of living, but this year we were able to do that without the deep seated fear that we were in the final days of the freedom that we have taken for granted over the past 10 years.
I don't think we will ever feel as carefree as we did in the preceding years, because the last year and a bit has made us realise just how much we need to protect freedom. It's not something that can or should ever be taken for granted.
Tomorrow we are meeting some HE friends for a picnic, mini sports day, bubble blowing, circus skills, messing around and enjoying life kind of day. The irony of this is that we will be doing all of these things in a playground that was largely funded by the DCSF. It feels like a final bit of defiance in the face of that blasted rainbow that caused us all so much heartache last year.
And because I'm currently listening to it whilst I cook tea here is my personal life anthem for your delectation and delight :D
So spurred on by this rather glowing blog post from my friend Kelly here is just a brief post to mark the day.
Today we didn't really do much to celebrate we just got on with the business of living, but this year we were able to do that without the deep seated fear that we were in the final days of the freedom that we have taken for granted over the past 10 years.
I don't think we will ever feel as carefree as we did in the preceding years, because the last year and a bit has made us realise just how much we need to protect freedom. It's not something that can or should ever be taken for granted.
Tomorrow we are meeting some HE friends for a picnic, mini sports day, bubble blowing, circus skills, messing around and enjoying life kind of day. The irony of this is that we will be doing all of these things in a playground that was largely funded by the DCSF. It feels like a final bit of defiance in the face of that blasted rainbow that caused us all so much heartache last year.
And because I'm currently listening to it whilst I cook tea here is my personal life anthem for your delectation and delight :D
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thank You :)
I've now got 40 responses to my request for opinions on the affects of the badman review. That's so fantastic thank you all so much.
Still room for more though, if anyone feels up to it - positive, negative, bit of both it's all good :)
freedomined@gmail.com
Still room for more though, if anyone feels up to it - positive, negative, bit of both it's all good :)
freedomined@gmail.com
Friday, August 13, 2010
Help needed
I'm currently working on a project that I would really appreciate some help with.
I'm looking to collect people's opinions about how the badman review and it's aftermath affected them (and their families too).
A paragraph or two is fine, as is more than a couple of paragraphs if you find it flows once you start writing!
Anonymous or named both fine.
If you're up for doing this, please email your opinions to me at freedomined@gmail.com
thank you :D
I'm looking to collect people's opinions about how the badman review and it's aftermath affected them (and their families too).
A paragraph or two is fine, as is more than a couple of paragraphs if you find it flows once you start writing!
Anonymous or named both fine.
If you're up for doing this, please email your opinions to me at freedomined@gmail.com
thank you :D
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