HE and Diversity Survey

Results of a recent survey relating to home education and religious diversity. Families were asked to tick all religions/life philosophies that applied to their particular families, hence the % figures totalling more than 100.

The question asking if families taught their children about other religions/life philosophies wasn't terribly well worded, and most of the families who answered *unsure* explained in the comments box how their particular families covered other religions/life philosophies, and whilst they did not *teach* in the traditional sense, they did cover these issues by the use of discussion etc.

No Retreat No Surrender

Gill with a good summary of the situation.

Well, we bursted out of class
Had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a 3-minute record, baby
Than we ever learned in school
Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound
I can feel my heart begin to pound
You say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes
And follow your dreams down

Chorus:
Well, we made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Like soldiers in the winter's night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender

Well, now young faces grow sad and old
And hearts of fire grow cold
We swore blood brothers against the wind
Now I'm ready to grow young again
And hear your sister's voice calling us home
Across the open yards
Well maybe we'll cut someplace of own
With these drums and these guitars

'Cause we made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Blood brothers in the stormy night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender

Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in
There's a war outside still raging
You say it ain't ours anymore to win
I want to sleep beneath
Peaceful skies in my lover's bed
With a wide open country in my eyes
And these romantic dreams in my head

Once we made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Blood brothers in a stormy night
With a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender

Only One Way

When you're looking at life on the brim
And trying to figure out if you remember how to swim
You only find out if you jump right in
That there's only one way, only one way

When the writing on the road says slow
And the people in the back seat ask which way to go
The truth is they already know
That there's only one way, only one way

CHORUS
We have to break all the rules they make
And take all the risks they say we won't take
We have to make all the trouble we can
Only one way
Only one way

And when every single sound you hear makes no sense
And your arse is sore with sitting on the fence
And the scale of the problem is larger than immense
There's only one way

And when a genocidal maniac talks about grief
And you kinda get the feeling that there's nothing underneath
But you can't believe a man would lie through such nice teeth
Only one way

CHORUS X 2
And when you're thinking that there's nothing you can do
But eat what they feed you like a monkey in the zoo
Just remember that they want you to believe that's true
And there's only one way, only one way

CHORUS X 3

No! Non! Nein!

And if those 3 aren't enough, here are 520 more ways of saying NO!

Lisa has written one of the best blog posts I think I have ever read, there is no way I could ever hope to emulate it, so I will quote a small section right from the end and urge you to bob over and read it all, let it soak in, let it rouse you, then make a stand.

"Brown, Balls, Badman, Morgan, Atkinson and every single other one of you - you have a serious fight on your hands. We are not just a vociferous minority - we are everyperson, everywhere."

Jem has also written an excellent blog on the submissions to the Select Committee - read the two blog posts pointed to here in conjunction with each other if you can't understand exactly why it is that we are all so pissed off.

Then wander over to The Ministry and be horrified at just what is happening before our very eyes to this once great country. This once strong, defiant country, the country that took on the might of the fascists so that our children and our children's children might know freedom. Not the kind of freedom that Brown nauseatingly waxed lyrical about in front of the Brandenburg Gate last night though, real, true freedom.

"Let me first say to the people of Berlin, you tore down the wall and you changed the world - the wall that for a third of a century imprisoned half a city, half a country, half a continent, half a world and because of your courage two Berlins are one, two Germanies are one, and now two Europes are one. And no one can ever again imprison a people who know what it is to be free.

This wall was torn down not by the demands of political leaders, not by dictat from on high, not by the force of military might but by the greatest force of all — the unbreakable spirit of the men and women of Berlin. You dared to dream in the darkness. You know that while force has temporary power to dominate, it can never ultimately decide. You proved that there is nothing that cannot be achieved by people inspired by the power of common purpose.

And let me thank you, the people of Berlin, for sending a message to every continent that no abuse, no crime, no injury need endure for ever.

Let me thank you, the people of Berlin for demonstrating that injustice is not "the final word on the human condition."

Dave Cameron made an interesting comment yesterday too:

"It is to their courage and their determination that we pay tribute today - not least as we remember all those who still struggle for their freedom and their rights in so many parts of the world."

Are they serious? Hypocrites the pair of them. Well, at least we can stand and say that we have the countenance of our Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader as we stand and say NO! Even MPs are starting to stand up and make a noise about the loss of our freedoms, so it's clearly not just a vociferous minority.

To end I will point back to yesterday's post about Home Educators being *secretive*. In the comments section Su made this point:

"A significant number of home educators are vociferous bloggers, eloquent writers and spirited supporters of freedom and liberty. No hiding there! We're risking our families, not just hiding behind a title, job or role. We're actually giving of ourselves, the real us.

Home educators are crawling all over the media, responding to consultations and reviews, turning up at the Houses of Parliament, writing to MPs, DCSF officials, the press, each other... and we're secretive?"

She is quite right. *They* know where I live - I respond to consultations, I submit evidence to the Select Committee, I lobby my MP via letter and in person, I travel to London to talk to the Select Committee, I appear in national and local newspapers, I blog, I twitter, I facebook, I boycott my LA in protest against the Badman Review. My name is unusual, I am all over the internet. I am not secretive, far from it. Others might be too scared to stand up and be counted, perhaps I should be too, but I cannot stand by and say and do nothing when my children's freedom is at stake. I sincerely hope others will decide that the risks of speaking out are worth taking too.

Are Home Educators *Secretive*?

Apparently this is one of our *problems*, we are too secretive.

What does *secretive* mean?

one definition says: "inclined to secrecy or reticence about divulging information"

Why would many home educators be reticent about divulging information I wonder?

Apart from the fact that we are just getting on with our lives; happily and lawfully, and the minutiae of people's everyday lives is really nothing to do with anyone else, there are a multitude of reasons for being reticent about divulging information.

I'll blog some of my thoughts, but would be grateful if others would add theirs in the comments box.

The old postcode lottery cliché. Yes this is definitely in play across the country. Some LAs are understanding and even respectful, but many are anything but. They can and do make people's lives a never ending battle over the course of many years, and so quite understandably people who live in such an LA would be quite sensible to avoid contact. I have heard some really horrible tales over the years from families who are horribly bullied by LA officials, many of these families have fled to other counties to get away from the stress they are put under by officious officials. What is so frustrating is that these cases aren't rare, and if the Badman recommendations become law, these same officious LA folk will be in seventh heaven with the legal right to lord it over families who are doing nothing wrong.

The problem is that many people who take on the HE *inspector* roles come from school backgrounds. Often they are former headteachers - just like Mr Badman. I don't know what the headteachers were like when you were at school, but the ones I knew were mainly very authoritarian, and brooked no dissent. The problem with people like this is that they take this attitude into all other areas of their work, and many treat HEing parents as recalcitrant children who must be broken to fit their mold.

As their only experience of education is the school model, they simply cannot (and often will not) understand that there are other models of education that are equally (I might say more) successful and far more sustainable than the school one. Many see it as a personal affront to a lifetime's professional position to find that unqualified parents can and do as good (or better) a job than they ever did for all their years of chasing academic qualifications.

Then there are the *inspectors* who allow personal prejudices to influence the treatment of individual families. Some don't like religious families, some don't like single parent or same sex families, some don't like coloured families, some don't like those who live in council houses, some don't like those who don't use computers, some don't like those who paint their toe nails pink. Ok, the last one was me being flippant, but you get my point. They make personal value judgements about families that can have far reaching effects. This happens even in *good* authorities, and is more likely to happen when the family loses control of the information they provide - for instance by allowing home visits.

Now that last sentence might bring out the *if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear* brigade, but just stop and think before trotting that one out. Do you have a disapproving mother in law who will find fault and criticise every little thing about your home? (Thankfully mine isn't like that, in case she's reading!) If you do then take the thought of how that feels and give it the power of a local authority employee who can bring the threat of social services to your door. Then you might be some of the way to understanding why we wouldn't want someone coming into our homes making judgements about us and the way we as a family live.

Right now i need to go and enjoy the sunshine with my children, so I will stop there and hope that others will put forward their reasoning in the comments box.

The Geezer's Got Previous Mate

No we haven't turned into a bad episode of the Sweeney.

An interesting little exchange occurs:

"Graham Badman: When you have a strong partnership between schools, authorities should not be afraid to use their powers of direction. We can direct admissions where there are special educational needs or looked-after children, and I do. That applies to Academies as well.

Q179 Paul Holmes: Surely you cannot direct admissions to Academies. You can ask them to take the children; you cannot direct them.

Graham Badman: Under the new code, they would find it very hard to refuse the admission of a looked-after child, for example.

Q180 Paul Holmes: None the less, even under the new code, you cannot direct Academies. You can ask but not direct, whereas you can direct mainstream schools.

Graham Badman: Well, please do not tell them in that case."

February 2008 - giving evidence to the Select Committee

Fast forward to October 2009 and we find Mr Badman writing to the Select Committee to apologise for providing them with incorrect information.

Hmm, is it just me, or is this providing of incorrect information becoming something of a habit? Rather like his habit of creating expensive and unnecessary schemes.

Incidentally, I wonder when Home Educators can expect their apology for all the slanderous and misleading statistics and comments Mr Badman has made. My feeling is that it will be a very snowy day in hell, but I'm happy to be mistaken.

Clutching at Straws

From an old proverb: *Drowning men will grasp at straws"

Definition: "depend on something that is useless; to make a futile attempt at something."

That's what this sorry shower have been doing don't you think? Shall we count some of the ways?

1. Call people you don't like rude names[1] in the press and before the select committee and hope that some of the mud sticks[2].

2. Fall back on tried and tested[3] methods from your past[4], and accuse people you don't like of being mentally ill[5].

3. Tell children[6] that they have to do something because you are from the government and you say so.

1. "However, there are concerns that some children are not receiving the education they need. And in some extreme cases, home education could be used as a cover for abuse. We cannot allow this to happen and are committed to doing all we can to help ensure children are safe, wherever they are educated."

2. 'Khyra Ishaq was electively home educated and withdrawn from the roll of her school in Birmingham, and within 10 weeks she had starved to death. ''

3. "While in Buckinghamshire there were only 540 initial assessments, in Kent the number was 12,510. Even allowing for differences in their populations, parents in Kent were 10 times more likely to be investigated over child protection issues. The report argues this discrepancy may be explained by some areas disregarding the MSBP hypothesis, “whereas in others it is taken as gospel and applied with zeal”"

4. Graham Badman was until recently Managing Director of the Children, Families and Education Directorate for Kent County Council.

5."At our first interview Mr Badman was interested in what I had to say. His opening question was to ask me if home educating mothers suffered from Munchhausen's by Proxy. I thought this to be a curious starting point - that of questioning whether home education is a symptom of mental illness. I am not medically qualified, but I was able to inform Mr Badman that there is no research evidence available that I am aware of, which makes this link."

6. JONATHAN PRIOR: I want to read you a section of annex C: “The review will look in particular at if and how far home educated children have access to the five Every Child Matters outcomes.”

PENNY JONES: Ahh, I see, okay.
GARETT ROSS: I don’t want them.
PENNY JONES: Well, want or not, I am a government official, and these five outcomes are government policy."

Some great blogs about covering these issues:

Crystal Balls for Badman

Münchausen Syndrome by Proxy?!

Graham Badman, King of Projection

Go Against the Government? Mentally Ill.

so home-educating mothers have Münchhausens by proxy badman actually asked

Now I have Munchhausen's Syndrome by Proxy

I'm sure there will be many more to follow.

Thanks to JD for the graphic.