HEdline

HEdline has today sent this letter to Barbara Benson raising it's concern about their policy review and how it is being done.  The letter has been copied to other senior officers including the Assistant Directors for Education and the head of the Research and Consultation Team at Brighton and Hove City Council, whose procedures this work needs to comply with.

We have also copied in our colleagues in Education Otherwise Government Policy Group and AHed. 

HEdline has been asking Brighton & Hove Children?s and Young People?s Trust to consult the local home education community as the first stage in the development of a new Trust-wide policy on home education. We wanted an acknowledgement that officers of the Trust working in the Education Welfare Service, Social Services and the Health Service may come into contact with home educating families, and should therefore have an understanding of the law on home education.  These staff should have an overarching policy that gives them guidance as to how to behave respectfully and lawfully when dealing with home educators.

The process announced by the EOTAS team falls far short of this aim, and we are disappointed that the Trust has not responded to our repeated requests for a full consultation.

Nevertheless, there are serious problems with the current policy of the EOTAS team, and we urge all local home educators to respond to the consultation.

HEdline?s proposal for a new EOTAS policy statement can be read here. We suggested this revision to the council in July 2007 (at their invitation), but there have clearly been no changes made to the document in response to our input.

The main problems as we see them are:

We say: this is not true. The law gives parents the responsibility to ensure that children receive a suitable education, not the local council.

The Trust say: ?The LEA is committed to ? fulfil our legal duty by tracking the arrangements made by home educators?.

We say: They have no such duty.  In fact the DCSF guidelines for local authorities, issued in November 2007, state clearly that ?Local authorities have no statutory duties in relation to monitoring the quality of home education on a routine basis.? (para 2.7).

The Trust say: ?A home education programme should include, as a minimum, basic life skills ? literacy, numeracy, physical activity and social interaction, so that children can grow up healthily and function to their potential in society?

We say: It is not up to the council to dictate what parents should include in their ?home education programme?. The only standard that applies is the one set out in Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 ? that the education should be efficient, full-time and suitable to the age, aptitude and ability of the child.

What is suitable for an individual child, especially one with special needs and/or particular talents, may look very different indeed to the ?one size fits all? that has to apply in school.  Only the people who know a child best can say what is suitable to that child.

The Trust say: ?We will offer an initial home visit to: ? establish whether the parents have a fair picture of their children?s needs?

We say: How can an officer who has never met a child before possibly establish this?

The Trust say: ?We will arrange to agree with parents how we will continue to keep up to date with a child?s home education programme, an annual visit being the minimum contact?

We say: The Trust cannot insist on visiting home educating families.  This is made very clear in the new guidelines from central government, and deliberately NOT made clear in the Brighton & Hove guidelines.  In fact, this policy relies on home educating parents either not knowing their rights, or feeling too intimidated to assert them. 

In fact, it is entirely up to the family to decide how they will provide information (if asked) - and there are several families in Brighton & Hove who already choose to send information to the EOTAS team in writing.   The policy should reflect the law, which is that home educators have a free choice about how to provide information to the council.

You can make your own views known by:

• Writing to Barbara Benson at Kings House, Grand Avenue, Hove, BN3 2SU
• emailing Barbara.benson@brighton-hove.gov.uk
• emailing eotas@brighton-hove.gov.uk.  If you are not already on the Trust?s list of home educators, and wish to remain unknown, we suggest you use a hotmail account or something similar to respond in this way
• talking to others at any home education groups you attend in order to put together a group response
• offering to participate in a small ?reference group? of home educators being set up by Barbara Benson.

We were pleased with the constructive tone of the meeting, and the acceptance by all the officers present that there is a need for a Trust-wide policy on home education, which will be developed through a full consultation process with the home education community, and that the implementation of the policy will include a programme of staff training and awareness raising about home education, across all Trust services.  In addition, the officers acknowledged a) that the fact of a child being home educated is not in itself a cause for concern about the child?s welfare, and b) that safeguarding children?s welfare is primarily the responsibility of parents, and that the Trust has a role only when there is cause for concern.  The officers assured us that the specific cases we highlighted in our dossier would be looked at, and appropriate procedural changes made where relevant.

• Barbara Benson to prepare a proposal on how to consult with home educators on a new Trust-wide policy
• Barbara and HEdline to meet to discuss this proposal on November 14th.  This meeting also to discuss HEdline's disappointment with the response of Brighton & Hove Council to the recent government consultation on home education guidelines
• Barbara Benson to pass on HEdline's criticisms of the Children Missing Education strategy at the meeting of the CME strategy group on November 1st, and at her regular meeting with Maggie Baker (Senior EWO) on 16th November.
• Agreed consultation process to begin by the end of November, with the aim of entering a drafting phase of the new policy early in the new year
• Jo Lyons to act as 'champion' of home education issues within the Trust
• This steering group to reconvene in February - Maggie Baker to be invited to that meeting

Letters sent to home educators

We reiterated that we were pleased with the changes made to the letters (see http://tinyurl.com/386t3l  for the text of the new letters), and thanked Barbara for responding to our concerns about the content and tone of the previous letters.  We suggested that she change the letter called "Appointment letter for first visit" so that it includes the same wording as the third letter, which is:

"We will need some information about the programme you are providing. You can present this information in a variety of ways. Many parents choose to be visited at home."

We explained that the existing wording in that letter ("most parents choose to be visited at home") will have the effect of making people feel they are stepping out of line if they choose not to have a visit.  Barbara said she would make that change.

We also asked what their standard practice would be if someone replied to their appointment letter declining a visit and sending information about the family's home education.  They said they would accept this.  We asked what they would do if they weren't happy with the written information given and they said they would write back to ask for more information.  They said that this situation had never occurred.

Current government consultation on HE guidelines

We asked if we could see a copy of the council?s response to the consultation.  Barbara said that she has drafted a response and sent it to the senior managers for their comments.  She said she would check with everyone involved whether it would be OK to send it to us.  We said we would send her a copy of our response when we had written it. 

Barbara said that her main concern about the guidelines was that they did not give clear direction to people in her position about how to fulfil their duties under the Education Act 1996, the Education Act 2002, the Children Act 2004 and the Education and Inspections Act 2006.  She feels that these various laws are in conflict and that the government should be providing clear guidance so that the way home educators are treated is not so different from one authority to another. 

We agreed that the guidelines should be clear on this issue, but we said that we feel there is not a conflict between the different laws, as the later Acts do not require people in Barbara?s position to seek out welfare concerns.

B&H Council survey of home educators

We asked about the recent survey.  They said the results had not yet been collated but they thought it had been a useful exercise.  They thought there had been around a 50% response rate.

Development of a new policy for Brighton & Hove

Barbara and Jan are off work for the whole of the school summer holidays, so they won't be able to do anything until September, but they asked for our ideas about how to begin a consultation process.  We suggested that they put out publicity asking open-ended questions about how the Trust should approach HEers and what services they would like from the Trust.  They should explicitly welcome anonymous responses, and they should put an online form on their website, which would also accept anonymous submissions, to reassure people that this is a genuine consultation process and not an attempt to get everyone's names and addresses.  This process could then feed into a drafting stage, which could include one or more focus groups of home educators. 

Barbara said that the process (and indeed the final wording of the policy) would have to be decided by senior managers and councillors, but that she would give serious thought to our suggestion and would put it forward to them.  We offered to write this up as a formal proposal, and she said that would be helpful.

We also discussed the current policy.  Barbara said that one of her targets for this year had been to redraft the policy in line with the new government guidelines.  She was not sure how this would be affected by the delay in publication of the new guidelines.  She has made some minor changes to the document given out at the meeting last month (eg removing the word 'monitoring'), and she invited us to send in our comments on the current wording, as she is planning to make further revisions before the end of term.

We have since done this, and our suggested revised policy can be seen on at http://tinyurl.com/33tl2c (opens Word document)

Other issues arising from the recent meeting with the Assistant Directors

We discussed possible ways forward for staff training and awareness raising, particularly for social services staff.  Barbara said that although Jo and Gil had said they weren't happy for us to offer a training session before the new policy has been developed, she thought it might be productive for us to approach social services staff for a more informal meeting.  She also offered to meet with Liz Rugg (Assistant Director, Child Protection), following our planned meeting with her.  We said we would find it extremely helpful if the education and social services departments could agree some kind of protocol for social workers dealing with HE families, so that any educational concerns are referred straight to Barbara.

Barbara said she would like to see HEdline News before it is published - not because she wants to control what is in it, but just so that she can see what is being said about her.  We said we would make sure she got a copy, either before publication or at the same time.  Winnie asked if it would be OK for her to write an article about our process here for the EO national newsletter, and everyone said it would. 

We gave Barbara a copy of our letter to Jo Lyons and Gil Sweetenham.

Next steps

• We are currently discussing the details of our proposal for how B&H Children?s Trust should consult home educators about a new policy.  If anyone has ideas they would like to see included, please suggest them by contacting us on enquiries@hedline.org.uk, or join our email discussion list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hedline.
• HEdline will be submitting a group response to the government?s consultation on home education guidelines, and would encourage all local home educators to send in their own personal responses.  The deadline is July 31st 2007
• We are arranging a date for a meeting with Liz Rugg, to discuss our concerns about the treatment of home educators by some social services staff. We are keen to hear of any relevant experiences from local home educating families.

Elective home education ?

You have requested information about the elective home education process in Brighton & Hove, and I now enclose a brief parents? leaflet that explains your responsibility as a parent to ensure that your child receives an appropriate education (either at school or ?otherwise?).  I have also enclosed a sheet of names and addresses of organisations that you might find helpful.

If, having considered all your options carefully, you do decide to home educate and your child is registered at school, by law you must inform the school in writing.

It would be helpful if you would let me know as well.

Once I receive official confirmation that you have chosen elective home education for your child I will be in touch again as we will need some information about the programme you are providing.

If you have any other queries about elective home education please telephone me on the number above.

Yours sincerely

 FORMTEXT

Elective home education ? child's full name FFFFFFFF000000000000050054006500780074003600000011006300680069006C006400270073002000660075006C006C0020006E0061006D00650000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 (date of birth FFFFFFFF00000000000005005400650078007400350000000D00640061007400650020006F00660020006200690072007400680000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 ) FORMTEXT FORMTEXT

Thank you for letting me know that you are educating child's first name FFFFFFFF000000000000050054006500780074003700000012006300680069006C0064002700730020006600690072007300740020006E0061006D00650000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 at home. FORMTEXT

I am writing to you to introduce myself as the person responsible for working with home educating families. Should you have any questions or need any help or support from the local authority please feel free to contact me. My contact details are on the top of this letter.

In the mean time I am enclosing a brief leaflet, information about local groups and some useful contacts.

As you have recently deregistered child?s name I understand you will need some time to get your home education programme established. I will be in touch again in a couple of months to offer you the chance to meet up to discuss your programme.

I hope the enclosed information helps you to find any support you need. I wish you success with your home education programme and look forward to meeting you soon.

Yours sincerely

 FORMTEXT

Elective Home education ? child's full name FFFFFFFF000000000000050054006500780074003600000011006300680069006C006400270073002000660075006C006C0020006E0061006D00650000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 (date of birth FFFFFFFF00000000000005005400650078007400350000000D00640061007400650020006F00660020006200690072007400680000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 ) FORMTEXT FORMTEXT

I understand you are educating child?s name otherwise than at school.

I am writing to you to introduce myself as the person responsible for working with home educating families. Should you have any questions or need any help or support from the local authority please feel free to contact me. My contact details are on the top of this letter.

In the meantime I am enclosing a brief leaflet, information about local groups and some useful contacts.

We will need some information about the programme you are providing. You can present this information in a variety of ways. Many parents choose to be visited at home.

We would appreciate the chance to meet with you to discuss Child?s name education programme. We would welcome the opportunity to meet Child?s name and talk to him/her. If you do not want us to visit you at home we would be happy to find an alternative venue or you can come to our offices if you prefer.

I propose to write to you again in a month to suggest a date.

Yours sincerely

4. "Appointment letter for first visit"

Dear

Elective Home education ?

I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you to discuss Child?s name education programme. I would welcome the opportunity to meet Child?s name and talk to him/her. Most parents choose to be visited at home but I would be happy to find an alternative venue or you can come to our offices if you prefer.

I would like to suggest we meet on Date at time at your home.

If this is not suitable for you please would you ring Sarah Barker or Emma Heaps on 01273 293484.

Yours sincerely

5. "General appointment letter"

Dear

Elective Home Education

I would like to visit you to discuss your home education programme for

Please would you ring Sarah Barker on 01273 293484 to confirm that this is convenient for you.

Yours sincerely

Kate, Dani and Winnie, on behalf of HEdline, met on Wednesday 20th June with two Assistant Directors (Jo Lyons and Gil Sweetenham), Barbara Benson (Head of EOTAS, who mainly deals with home educators), and Jacqueline Coe (Barbara Benson?s line manager).

We discussed a range of issues:

·                How the Children?s Trust can develop a clear policy on home education, which is in line with the law and is developed in consultation with the home ed community

·                How the Trust intends to respond to the current DfES consultation on new guidelines

·                The need to raise awareness about home education among all the staff of the Trust, including social workers and health professionals

·                how the Trust?s initiative to identify Children Missing Education is having an impact on home educating families

We felt the meeting was a step forward in raising awareness of these issues at a high level within the Trust, and that the two assistant directors were interested in our point of view.

However, there is still a long way to go before we have a clear and legal policy which is applied consistently across the whole of the Children?s Trust ? in health services, social services and education.

HEdline remains concerned about:

·                the tone and content of the letters sent to home educators by the EOTAS team and the leaflet that is published on the council?s website.  The letters and leaflet misrepresent the local authority?s legal responsibilities and powers, and give the impression that families must agree to home visits, at least once a year, from members of the EOTAS team.  While we are aware that visits are often fine, and that Barbara Benson has a good understanding of the wide diversity of educational approaches within the HE community, there are many families who would prefer not to give information by means of a home visit, and some who have found the experience very stressful and unpleasant.

·                Differences in the way different families have been treated, both by the EOTAS team and by the Trust as a whole.  In the absence of a clear policy, it is all too easy for institutional discrimination and individual prejudice to have an effect on the way families are treated.

·                Several instances we have been told about, in which social workers have made ignorant comments about home education or treated it as a cause for concern in their dealings with HE families

·                The blatant discrimination against home educating families in the way the Children Missing Education initiative is being implemented.  When Trust staff (for example in hospital) ask about where a child is being educated, information from parents about which school they use is not checked up on, but a statement that a child is home educated is checked against the list held by the EOTAS team.  If a home educating family is not on the list, they are then contacted by the EOTAS team.

The meeting resulted in:

·                A commitment from Jo Lyons that the Trust would continue to work with HEdline to improve the wording of the letters and information sent out by the EOTAS team and published on the website.

·                An agreement that there would be a further meeting between HEdline and Liz Rugg, the Assistant Director responsible for child protection, specifically to discuss our concerns about the attitudes of some social workers towards home education.  If anyone has experience in this area that they are willing to share with us, please contact us on enquiries@hedline.org.uk.  If we can use the specifics of your case to explain the problem to Liz Rugg, we would be very grateful.  If you are willing to tell us about it but not for us to discuss it with her, we are still keen to hear about your experience, but will of course respect your confidence.

·                Assurances that the Trust will develop a policy and that there will be a consultation process leading up to this.  However, there were no details agreed about how or when this would happen.

·                A commitment to organise training/awareness raising sessions for Trust staff, but no firm agreement about how or when to do this.  We offered to organise a presentation about home education, at our own expense, but this was not taken up.  We were instead invited to participate in possible internal training sessions, focused either on the development of a home ed policy, or the wider issue of personalised learning.  We didn?t think this would allow us to go into enough detail or to demonstrate the wide diversity of home education.  We will continue to discuss the options with Jo Lyons.

We also learned a couple of other things, that we think are of interest:

·                Barbara Benson has been to a regional meeting of Local Authority officers who deal with home education, and there was apparently a lot of criticism of the DfES draft guidelines on HE at that meeting.  The impression we got was that Local Authorities who would like stronger powers to insist on home visits and to prescribe the form and content of home education will be lobbying strongly for this in the consultation process.  It is essential that home educators respond to the consultation in large numbers, to put forward the case for clear guidance that is in line with the law, not with what Local Authority officers wish the law was.

·                Barbara Benson and Jan Lord (her new assistant) have been sending out evaluation surveys to home educating families on their list.  They said they have been receiving overwhelmingly positive responses to this survey.  If you have been sent a survey form, we would be very interested to hear about it, and to know what the questions are.  If you are known to the EOTAS team but haven?t had a survey, that would also be interesting to know.

Our next scheduled meeting with Barbara Benson is on July 19th.  We will be following up the issue of the letters and leaflet, and other issues that arose from this meeting.  As always, if anyone else would like to get involved in this process in any way, please contact us.  You can

·                join the HEdline email list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hedline

·                email us on enquiries@hedline.org.uk

·                read the latest news and all back issues of HEdline News on our website at www.hedline.org.uk